Why Does Bangladesh Clothing Industry Become A "Blood Meat Industry"?

"P > April 24, 2013, a 8 story" a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > clothing < /a > in Sarwar Town, a suburb of Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed. At the time of the incident, there were 5 clothing factories and more than 3000 workers in the building.

By May 10th, the number of victims has risen to more than 1000, most of whom are women workers in garment factories.

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In the past two years, "sweatshops" were frequently exposed in Bangladesh. In 2007, the tragedy of a building collapsed in the town of Salva, Bangladesh, when 64 garment factory workers died. In December 15, 2010, a fire broke out at a garment factory near Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, killing at least 20 people and injuring many people.

In November 24, 2012, a fire in a Bangladesh a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/index_c.asp" garment factory < /a > caused 112 deaths. In April 24, 2013, the 8 floor garment factory building collapsed, killing thousands of people. The former was not cold. In May 8th, an underwear garment factory caught fire at night, resulting in 8 deaths.

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Why is p always < strong > why is it always a garment factory? Why did it happen in Bangladesh? < /strong > /p >

Less than 20 years ago, Bangladesh had almost no clothing export industry. Now Bangladesh is the world's second largest garment exporter after China, and exports account for 78% of the total export trade volume of Bangladesh.

In 2012, Bangladesh clothing industry provided 4 million 400 thousand direct jobs, 80% of which were women. If the garment industry was driven by the surrounding industry, it would provide 40 million jobs, almost 27% of Bangladesh population. "Basically every Bangladeshi's life is closely related to the clothing industry".

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< p > there are observers who believe that the collapse accident has sounded a safety alarm for the country's clothing industry.

But some people say that it is only part of a series of tragedies, and the security issue will not be improved.

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Who should be responsible for the endless security incidents? Are Bangladesh government, or local garment factories? Or are these famous Brand Company outsourcing the clothing production? Should consumers resist these clothes? < /p > p

< p > strong > some European brands have responded.

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< p > Global > a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > dress < /a > Dachang Inditex group and H&M promise to sign safety plan to improve labor safety in Bangladesh workshop.

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Inditex, which owns Zara and other popular brands, says that the purpose of the agreement is to raise the health and safety standards of the industry through the promise of Bangladesh "a target=" _blank "href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "> textile /a industry participants (global apparel and big factories).

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< p > Inditex indicates that it has passed the global trade union trench, indicating that the company will "comply fully with the agreement on safety and fire protection".

H&M said the plan includes the designate of an independent chief examiner to "design and implement a reliable and effective fire safety inspection plan".

The plan was proposed in 2012 for a period of 5 years.

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< p > Linda Scott, Professor of Saeed School of business at University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, believes that the improvement of security cannot be achieved without the cooperation of Bangladesh government. Otherwise, no matter what efforts the western Brand Company will make, there will be no result, because these companies are only contractors.

Besides, the local trade union is also an important force.

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< p > Scott pointed out that it is not wise to move factories to other countries, which will only pfer the problem to other countries and cause a large number of Bangladeshi people to lose their jobs.

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< p > Anna MacMullen, a spokesman for the British Labor Union behind the trademark, believes that the main responsibility of the safety incidents lies in these international a target= "_blank" href= "http://www.91se91.com/" brand clothing /a company, but she does not agree with the practice of boycotting the country's clothing.

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< p > Mike Mullen said that these companies are responsible for ensuring workers' health and safety, paying enough salaries, and doing fire prevention measures well.

Besides, the garment industry should be more pparent.

Consumers need to know where the garments come from, who sews, where the factory is, and who makes the audit for the manufacturers.

All aspects of the supply chain should be alert and responsible to the problem.

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Jamie Telsey, head of Bangladesh, the aid organization "care international", believes that the major accident reflects the failure of the whole system, which involves the responsibilities and faults of many parties. P

It is useless to select any person or organization. This problem involves too wide and complicated.

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< p > Telsey said that security issues require multidimensional efforts, including the Bangladesh government, the public, the owners of clothing factories, buyers and consumers in western countries.

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< p > CNN reported that the EU is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh.

In April 30th, the EU proposed to take trade action against Bangladesh to encourage the country to raise safety standards and labor conditions.

A spokesman for the US State Department also said that the collapsed plant had business relations with the US and European companies, and they would work with them to improve the working environment of garment factories in various countries including Bangladesh.

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< p > clothing industry is a pillar industry in Bangladesh.

The country's < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/ > clothing industry < /a > annual output value is US $20 billion.

Most of its garment factories are suppliers of western famous clothing brands.

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< p > according to the anti sweatshop network "The Clean Clothes Campaign", the list of companies that sign the agreement has not yet been disclosed. However, the famous brand named Tommy Hilfiger and Kevin Clay (Calvin Klein)'s American PVH group and Germany's Tchibo group are among the first to sign.

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< p > it can be envisaged that under the attraction of cheap labor in Bangladesh, multinational companies and international brands are coming to build factories for foundries (Bangladesh's minimum monthly salary is only a few dozen dollars, even if the average monthly wages of skilled workers in clothing factories are only 100 dollars); the local factory owners are eager to expand their production capacity, regardless of production conditions and safety measures; more than tens of thousands of rural women, or ignorant girls, or children's mothers, or even young child labors, are driven by the dream of having enough food and clothing, and they rush into these sweatshops from all over the country every day.

Coupled with inadequate government supervision, disasters frequently occurred.

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< p > Yes, this is the main cause of the accident, but it is only a superficial reason.

The "sweatshops" in Bangladesh are ultimately derived from the demand for cheap clothing all over the world: the consequences of "cheap" are finally borne by women workers in Bangladesh garment factories, the EU, the most important export market of Bangladesh's garment manufacturing industry, and are prepared to reconsider the trade preferences system in Bangladesh to ensure that they comply with international labour standards; some Western companies have begun to consider shifting production bases.

After years of cheap labor, these irresponsible decisions will undoubtedly bring disastrous blow to thousands of poor Bangladeshi people.

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< p > May 10th, < a href= "http://www.91se91.com" > Bangladesh textile < /a > and jute minister Siddiqui announced the closure of 18 garment factories, and said they would close more factories with potential safety hazards, "will ensure that the standards of the International Labour Organization are observed."

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< p > CNN analysis shows that the international apparel industry relies on cheap labor to gain greater profits.

The supply chain they use is complex and decentralized, which brings risks to workers' safety.

In some cases, the big brands are not even sure which factory they are producing, so they can not know whether the factory has complied with the relevant safety standards.

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< p > the ILO said that in Bangladesh and other countries with low development level, the owners of garment factories have no incentive to improve their working conditions due to the short contract period and unstable orders.

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Judi P Gil, executive director of the international labor forum, said: "these factories do not have enough capital to improve their working conditions or to have unstable relations with the suppliers."

They do not know whether they will be able to receive orders from WAL-MART in the next three years or whether they have the ability to continue to invest.

In fact, this is a problem in the whole supply chain of the whole world.

Those international brands take a far away attitude from factory workers and are unwilling to shoulder any responsibility.

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< p > in fact, the problem of the fire is not confined to Bangladesh.

For decades, labor organizations in various countries have been advocating legislation to strengthen safety. However, there are still many security risks in factories in Asia.

In September, fire broke out at a garment factory in Karachi, Pakistan, killing nearly 300 people. It is the worst industrial accident in Asia so far.

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"People do not think about strengthening the supervisory function of the relevant agencies, but trying to solve the security problem through a self regulatory mechanism. From the above example, we can see that this method is not effective," said P, executive director of Asia's information research center.

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< p > sang Jeff ban Chi Da believes that the system of protecting workers in these countries is still not perfect and requires further attention and efforts from the government, local employers and foreign investors.

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< p > for most consumers, "refuse to bargain" is just empty talk.

We can advocate thrift, but we can not prevent people from spending. We can advocate humane care, but we can not solve all problems with moral moralism.

Ultimately, solving problems still depends on effective policies and economic means.

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Less than P, the smoke from the Bangladesh garment factory gradually dispersed, and millions of Bangladesh women garment workers returned to a href= "http://www.91se91.com" > sewing machine < /a >.

What kind of tomorrow will be waiting for them? < /p >