Bangladesh Garment Industry Reintegrated Into Security Crisis

(P) in November last year, a eight storey commercial building collapsed in the town of Sarwar, a suburb of Bangladesh, in Dhaka, after a heavy fire in a garment factory in the suburbs of Dhaka, Bangladesh. In April 24th,

There are hundreds of shops, several garment factories and a bank in the building.

According to China News Service reported on May 6th, the number of victims of the accident has reached 622, and another more than 2500 people were injured. It is the most serious building collapse accident in Bangladesh.

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At the time of P, Bangladesh was regarded as "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "target=" _blank "textile" /a "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "target=" href= ".

In the process of rapid industrial rise, some garment factories are lagging behind the supporting facilities and bad production environment, but it is difficult to keep pace with the development of the industry.

In the process of pursuing low cost advantages, lack of awareness of safety production and imperfect management system have become the biggest hidden danger of industrial development.

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< p > < strong > a avoidable tragedy < /strong > < /p >

< p > the collapsed commercial building is a shopping center called Rana. There were eight floors before it collapsed, one of which was the market, there were hundreds of stores, the two level was banks, and three to eight floors were all garment factories.

According to reports, the building was built in 2006, when the authorities only approved the construction of four stories, but the owners built fifth to eighth floors in violation of the regulations since 2008, and there were no load-bearing walls.

At about 9 a.m. on April 24th, the floor of the four floor of the building was first broken, and then the whole building collapsed vertically. Only the bottom two tier structure remained intact.

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< p > it is understood that one day before the collapse accident, a spider web crack appeared on the outer wall of the building, but the owner of the garment factory ignored the warning and allowed the workers to enter the building on the 24 th.

Selim Miah, a 19 year old garment worker who works in a garment factory on the three floor of the building, recalled: "when the building began to shake, I realized that the building might collapse, and many people were running around."

Miah said that before the accident, the Bangladesh government had ordered the building to be closed and no entry was allowed.

However, only two banks of Braque bank were allowed to comply with the ban. The owners and other garment manufacturers only gave half a day off to workers, but they still asked them to come to work the next day.

"If the factory owners obey the ban, the tragedy will not happen."

Miah said.

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In the special period of economic downturn, in order to gain more market and higher profits, many western international brands continue to reduce the processing prices of overseas foundries, while the orders manufacturers disregard the health and safety of workers to reduce production costs in the special period of economic downturn. P

Some factory owners are reluctant to pay for the old machines or repair damaged factories because of the downward pressure on their incomes.

On the other hand, because of the weak awareness of government production management and the severe punishment, the government has also laid a hidden danger for this tragedy.

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< p > < strong > international buyers' original sin < /strong > /p >

In addition to the factory owners and property managers who can not escape the blame, what responsibility should the European and American clothing brands make to the garment factories in the accident? At present, there is such a phenomenon in the international clothing production chain. Many factories with higher standard of production are subcontracted to some small factories to reduce the cost and meet the delivery time of customers. P

The wages of workers in these small factories are very low, or even less than the minimum monthly salary of 38 dollars in the Bangladesh garment industry.

Secondly, factory sites are often located in some illegal buildings with poor fire prevention facilities and lack of enough escape exits.

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"P" in the process of the formation of this production chain, international buyers may be able to unknow and push off.

But in pursuit of low cost, ignoring the safe production environment of the factory is a common problem for retailers.

Even retailers who have requirements for production conditions will not be as harsh as domestic companies when they check the relevant inspection certificates of the foundry factories.

Because everyone knows well about infrastructure construction, it is bound to push up a certain cost of production.

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< p > according to the relevant provisions of the United Nations, the government and large companies must be responsible for protecting workers' rights.

That is to say, in addition to the government, those western brands with production orders must also shoulder the responsibility to solve these problems.

Kirena, Secretary General of industriALL, said: "if you can't create a safe labor environment, there will be no workers and trade unions."

He appealed to brands and retailers to make more efforts to pay wages that guarantee quality of life.

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< p > it is reported that the garment factory in the collapsed building is an OEM for "new weaving tide" and "Mirage Costume".

These companies take orders from some well-known clothing retailers, including Dressbarn in the US, Primark in Britain and Mango in Spain.

In the collapsed ruins, we also saw costumes marked with Benetton and Cato fashion labels.

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At present, British fashion retailers Primark and Matalan, as well as Canadian brand Joe Fresh, have agreed to compensate suppliers who have been killed in collapsed buildings and provide food and assistance to the victims. P

Other clothing retailers and brands have agreed to complete the fire and construction safety plan for OEM factories later this month to prevent the recurrence of disasters.

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< p > < strong > clothing exports or affected < /strong > < /p >

After the P incident, officials of the United Nations International Labour Organization urged the country to strengthen supervision and close the garment factories lacking safe production conditions in May 4th.

The EU side said that they are considering appropriate actions, including the adoption of the GSP policy to restrict Bangladesh's export duty exemption and quota free exports to the EU, in order to promote the "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/news/index_p.asp "Bangladesh" /a "garment industry to improve the production environment.

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< p > Bangladesh has 5000 textile and garment factories and 4 million textile production workers.

The garment industry creates an annual export volume of US $19 billion, which accounts for 80% of the total export volume of the country.

Among them, the EU is an important export market for Bangladesh.

According to the EU trade data, in 2012, the European Union imported textiles and clothing from Bangladesh to 8 billion 560 million euros, an increase of 7.3% over the same period last year.

A statement issued by EU officials earlier this month pointed out that as the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, the EU is very concerned about the labor conditions, health and safety regulations in Bangladesh's textile and garment factories.

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"P > EU Trade Commissioner Carlo Degucht said:" this disaster has exposed the problems of Bangladesh garment manufacturers.

After a few months ago, a fire broke out in a textile factory, which killed more than 100 workers, and the tragedy was repeated again.

In view of the above events, the EU called on Bangladesh authorities to take immediate action to ensure compliance with international labour standards across all parts of the country, including the provisions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

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At the present stage, if the European Union or other buyers impose stringent trade measures on Bangladesh's "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/news/index_f.asp "clothing" /a "export, it will lead to millions of workers losing their jobs, and the blow to Bangladesh's clothing industry is not enough.

The Ministry of Commerce has asked the European Union not to impose severe sanctions against the collapse of the building, so as to avoid hurting the garment processing industry playing an important role in its economy.

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