tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/rana-plaza-5430/articlesRana Plaza – The Conversation2023-08-01T21:00:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069232023-08-01T21:00:35Z2023-08-01T21:00:35ZLearning from Lululemon: If Canada wants to get serious about forced labour, disclosure laws won’t do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531197/original/file-20230609-15-z5uk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5711%2C3274&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A recent investigation into Lululemon casts doubt on the ability of Canada's new Modern Slavery Act to tackle labour abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/learning-from-lululemon-if-canada-wants-to-get-serious-about-forced-labour-disclosure-laws-wont-do" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Canadian government recently passed <a href="https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/S-211/third-reading">the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act</a>. The new law is designed to address forced labour and child labour in supply chains by requiring companies to disclose their efforts in eliminating labour abuse from their supply chains. </p>
<p>The legislation, known colloquially as Canada’s Modern Slavery Act, does not require large Canadian companies to actually take actions to prevent or reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their supply chains.</p>
<p>The act also doesn’t hold companies accountable when forced labour is found. Similar weak disclosure laws in <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/SB657">California</a>, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">the United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153">Australia</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12512">have already been found to be ineffective</a> by academic researchers.</p>
<p>Our recent investigation at the <a href="https://gflc.ca/">Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains Project</a> into the Canadian apparel company Lululemon Athletica casts doubt on the ability of this new law to tackle labour abuse.</p>
<p>The new law falls short of what is required to make large corporations exercise due diligence to prevent labour abuse from occurring within their supply chains. </p>
<h2>Remembering Rana Plaza</h2>
<p>This new Canadian law comes a decade after the tragic collapse of the nine-storey Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh that killed nearly 1,130 garment workers and injured over 2,500. The disaster <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">raised concerns about the ability of voluntary corporate initiatives</a> to address labour rights violations and protect workers.</p>
<p>In response to the tragedy, an agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions called <a href="https://wsr-network.org/success-stories/accord-on-fire-and-building-safety-in-bangladesh">the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a> was established. The accord was designed to improve workplace safety and prevent future accidents in the garment sector. </p>
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<img alt="A group of people march down a street with protest signs and a large banner written in Bengali." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bangladeshi garment workers, activists and relatives of workers participate in a protest marking the four-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh in August 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)</span></span>
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<p>Building on this initiative, <a href="https://internationalaccord.org/about-us">the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry</a> — with 198 brand and retailer signatories — was introduced in 2021.</p>
<p>Remarkably, only one Canadian garment company — <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2023/04/29/10-years-after-the-rana-plaza-disaster-canada-needs-to-do-more-to-protect-worker-rights.html">Loblaw Companies Ltd., the parent company of the Joe Fresh brand</a> — has signed the accord. Other Canadian companies prefer their own voluntary initiatives. </p>
<p>Legislation aimed at addressing forced labour in supply chains has the potential to address these weak corporate initiatives — but only if the law is strong enough.</p>
<h2>Lululemon report</h2>
<p>Our report, <a href="https://gflc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Lululemons-Conundrum_GFLC_final.pdf"><em>Lululemon’s Conundrum: Good Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives and the Persistence of Forced Labour</em></a>, examines Lululemon’s efforts to address potential labour abuse in its supply chain.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://knowthechain.org/about-us/">KnowTheChain</a> — which evaluates companies’ efforts to address forced labour risks in their supply chains based on international labour standards — <a href="https://knowthechain.org/wp-content/uploads/2021-KTC-AF-Benchmark-Report.pdf">ranked Lululemon first among 129 apparel and footwear companies</a> for its measures to address forced labour risks. </p>
<p>Despite being recognized as an industry leader in this area, an investigation by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England found that <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/helena-kennedy-centre-international-justice/research-and-projects/all-projects/laundered-cotton">Lululemon was at a high risk of sourcing from the Xinjiang region</a> in China — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/un-expert-concludes-forced-labour-has-taken-place-xinjiang-2022-08-18/">which has been associated with forced labour and human rights abuses</a> — that same year.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/responses-to-uflpa-outreach/">response to this accusation</a>, Lululemon stated it had zero tolerance for forced labour, was committed to all the workers in its global supply chain and regularly monitored vendors globally through a due diligence process.</p>
<h2>Lululemon supplier concerns</h2>
<p>Lululemon does not own or operate any of the manufacturing or raw materials facilities used to make its apparel. <a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/%7E/media/Files/L/Lululemon/lululemonSupplierListFinal050923.pdf">Its April 2023 supplier list</a> revealed the company sourced from suppliers located in four out of the 10 <a href="https://files.mutualcdn.com/ituc/files/ITUC_GlobalRightsIndex_2021_EN_Final.pdf">worst countries for workers’ rights violations</a> according to the 2021 Global Rights Index created by International Trade Union Confederation: Bangladesh, Colombia, the Philippines and Turkey.</p>
<p>According to the supplier list, one of Lululemon’s largest manufacturing facilities is in Bangladesh, with over 13,000 workers — 70 per cent of whom are women. Despite this, Lululemon has not signed the 2021 International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry.</p>
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<img alt="A person wearing a face mask and work uniform picks a large spook of yarn up from a pile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A worker packages spools of cotton yarn at a Huafu Fashion plant, as seen during a government organized trip for foreign journalists, in Aksu in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in April 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/reports/charter-link-clark-inc">Two reports found that from 2018 to 2019</a>, workers at a Lululemon supplier factory had to work two to three nights without being allowed to go home or take necessary breaks. </p>
<p>While a <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Charter-Link-Verification-Report-MO-Final-4-27-22.pdf">2022 follow-up investigation</a> determined this situation had been rectified by Lululemon and the supplier, some workers reported they still felt unable to refuse overtime requests.</p>
<p>According to the follow-up report, the supplier at the same factory also engaged in serious union-busting tactics, including firing the union’s elected leaders and reports from workers that some managers had threatened to close the factory if the workers unionized.</p>
<p>The follow-up report found that while many of the anti-union issues had been addressed, some supervisors reportedly made comments that could be construed as still discouraging workers from joining the union.</p>
<h2>Corporate transparency issues</h2>
<p><a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/reporting-and-governance/reporting-and-disclosure/policies-and-guidelines">Lululemon has several codes and policies in place to address forced labour</a>. One is the Lululemon Global Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which states that employees and vendors are to adhere to labour and employment standards in the countries they operate in, unless the code sets a higher standard.</p>
<p>Employees are encouraged to report any violations to this code internally through Lululemon or externally using third-party tools such as the international Integrity Line. This phone line allows employees to anonymously report complaints at any time. </p>
<p>However, third-party complaint avenues pose challenges, including requiring tech access, trusting unfamiliar third parties and filing a complaint that protects one’s anonymity while still providing enough detail about worker issues.</p>
<p>Another code Lululemon has in place is the <a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/%7E/media/Files/L/Lululemon/our-impact/vendor-code-of-ethics/vcoe-supporting-benchmarks.pdf">Vendor Code of Ethics</a> and its accompanying Benchmarks policy.
Vendors are responsible for enforcing key aspects of the code of ethics, including creating grievance and disciplinary systems for violations and training workers on the policy’s content. When vendors use subcontractors, they are the ones responsible for ensuring subcontractors adhere to the policy.</p>
<p>While Lululemon can conduct unannounced visits to monitor their compliance with the Vendor Code of Ethics, this is rarely done. Only <a href="https://pnimages.lululemon.com/content/dam/lululemon/www-images/Footer/Sustainability/lululemonKnowTheChainDisclosure_20210302.pdf">one per cent of assessments in 2019 were unannounced</a>. Lululemon also works with third-party auditors sometimes, which can be problematic since these auditors rely on their clients to stay in business, <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501754524/private-regulation-of-labor-standards-in-global-supply-chains/">raising questions about the authenticity of auditing reports</a>.</p>
<h2>Reliance on local labour laws</h2>
<p>Lululemon’s measures to address forced labour largely rely on the labour laws in the countries in which the suppliers are located. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2021.2008763">Relying on local labour laws is a major shortcoming of many corporate initiatives</a>, since they often fall short of international legal norms and are not well enforced.</p>
<p>In California, the United Kingdom and Australia, Lululemon is required by law to report on its efforts to detect, remedy and eradicate forced labour in its supply chains. However, the information necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives is not available to researchers, the public or workers.</p>
<p>Crucial information about all the participants and purchasing practices in a supply chain, such as the amount of lead time suppliers are given for orders and whether suppliers get paid on time, are not provided. Additionally, information on how workers navigate Lululemon’s policies and grievance mechanisms is not publicly available.</p>
<h2>Due diligence legislation needed</h2>
<p>Our study raises concerns about the effectiveness of current transparency and disclosure laws as an effective tool for combating forced labour in supply chains. </p>
<p>Disclosure laws, like those in Canada’s new act, will not require Lululemon to reveal the type of information needed to ensure its suppliers are not abusing workers. Nor does the new law require large multinational corporations to take any steps to eradicate labour abuses in the supply chains.</p>
<p>Our study suggests disclosure laws are a form of window dressing that can be used by companies to project an image of social responsibility to consumers, rather than genuinely improving the working conditions for supply chain workers.</p>
<p>It’s time to require companies to take real steps to rid their supply chains of labour abuse. If Canada is to truly eradicate force labour in global supply chains, it needs mandatory due diligence legislation that involves supply chain workers at every stage of the process — before another disaster like Rana Plaza occurs.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Prior to publishing this story, The Conversation sought comment from Lululemon about how the company is complying with the new Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, as well as some other issues raised in this article. Lululemon did not respond.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judy Fudge receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gayathri Krishna and Kaitlyn Matulewicz do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study suggests disclosure laws to prevent forced labour in the clothing industry are a form of window dressing designed to ease the conscience of consumers rather than protecting workers.Gayathri Krishna, PhD Candidate, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityJudy Fudge, LIUNA Enrico Henry Mancinelli Chair of Global Labour Issues, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityKaitlyn Matulewicz, Researcher, Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains ProjectLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044812023-04-27T13:15:58Z2023-04-27T13:15:58Z10 years after the Rana Plaza collapse, fashion has yet to slow down<p>This week marks at once the <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/frw-2023/">annual campaign of the Fashion Revolution</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-ten-years-after-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse-we-are-no-closer-to-fixing-modern-slavery-203774">10th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building</a>. The event, which <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/bangladesh-disaster-ranaplaza/feature-a-decade-after-rana-plaza-bangladesh-garment-workers-fight-on-idINL8N36O4IR">killed over 1,100 garment workers and injured two thousand more</a>, sparked a global debate at the time about the true cost of the fast fashion industry. Everyday brands such as Benetton, Mango, Zara, Walmart, and C&A <a href="https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Rana-plaza-ten-years-later-has-the-fashion-industry-learned-its-lesson-,1506162.html">were revealed</a> to have resorted to factories inside of the faulty eight-story building, setting many on a racetrack to reclaim their ethical and environmental credentials since. </p>
<h2>The fashion industry, ten years on from the disaster</h2>
<p>But ten years on, has anything changed? There is widespread agreement to the contrary. In fact, it would appear the pace in the fashion industry has accelerated. This is evident from the rise of ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein, which carries the fast paced logic of the field to extremes by adding <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/">several thousand new items per day</a>. In this regard, no one can deny it is important we have a public conversation about the toll fast fashion is taking on people and the environment. However, too often that conversation ends with individual responsibility and customers’ “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/rana-plaza-garment-worker-rights-accord/index.html">hunger for cheap clothing</a>.” The chorus is now a familiar one, as civil society calls on consumers to stop buying fast fashion and those who still do struggle with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/fashion/fast-fashion-sustainable-clothing.html">feelings of guilt</a>. As marketing scholars specialised in <a href="https://em-lyon.com/en/verena-gruber/research">sustainable consumption</a> and <a href="https://www.hec.ca/en/profs/marie-agnes.parmentier.html">fashion</a>, we argue that it is misguided to focus on consumer responsibility to solve systemic issues that seem <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/06/patagonia-labor-clothing-factory-exploitation/394658/">too large even for companies to address</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, studies show focusing on consumers as scapegoats further <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322001928?casa_token=UFWlu3zOpjsAAAAA:g67306857pcmSwTKbDK3vMqCeUF1di8s_Z6-rErJH4HebWpGCn3ZLPxaFvfYQyw1vgU9OnNH">reinforces power imbalances</a> that exist in the industry, as the focus distracts from the financial and technical resources that powerful corporations possess. Rather than empowering consumers to solve the problem, the approach often leaves them feeling <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-3795-4">demoralized</a>, in prey to shame and and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucac037/6663865?redirectedFrom=fulltext">confusion</a> over the multitude of choices spread before their eyes. Started in early 2022, our ongoing research on slow fashion shows that there is a more beneficial way to move away from fast fashion. </p>
<h2>A closer look at consumers’ perspective</h2>
<p>Everyone needs clothes, but for consumers the choice of clothing has become a moral minefield. Consumers are held responsible for issues that they are not the architect of. Rather, we argue they are the victims of a system that glorifies outfit variety and makes exposure to fast fashion items unavoidable. Aggressive social media advertising keeps consumers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/18/ultra-fast-fashion-retail-sites-shein">addicted</a> and influencer-generated content of <a href="https://greenisthenewblack.com/shein-ultra-fast-fashion-consumerism-tiktok-influencer/">#sheinhauls</a> further normalizes enormous volumes of disposable fashion. </p>
<p>Even when consumers try to step out of this treadmill, they often struggle to orientate themselves toward ethical options. The power relations in the fashion industry go in hand with an information asymmetry and consumers often have no possibility to know how and by whom their <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611479/unraveled-by-maxine-bedat/">clothes are made</a>. Initiatives such as the <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/">Fashion Transparency Index</a>, which ranks fashion brands and retailers according to the information they disclose on their supply chain operations, are laudable but even when possessing all necessary information, consumers are still constrained by parameters outside their control, not least economic ones. </p>
<p>Indeed, fast fashion is often the only clothing affordable especially to younger consumers for whom <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/169800-why-freedom-to-experiment-with-fashion-as-a-teenager-is-so-important">expressing themselves with fashion</a> is an important part of their personal development. Rising inflation has made the financial accessibility of fast fashion clothes even more attractive. According to recent studies by customer research company Untold Insights, the majority of Generation Z and Millennials are <a href="https://hypebae.com/2023/4/gen-z-millennials-sustainable-fashion-cost-of-living-crisis-study-findings-details">unable to shop sustainably</a> as a result of the rising cost of living. Sustainable fashion is simply <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/teen-walrus-fast-fashion/">out of reach</a>. Even among those individuals privileged enough to afford fair fashion, turning to cheap clothes is perpetuated by psychological mechanisms, such as our ability to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.3.266">purposefully ignore</a> ethical product aspects to prevent potential negative feelings or to retrospectively <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-know-sweatshop-clothing-is-bad-and-buy-it-anyway-heres-how-your-brain-makes-excuses-192944">find arguments</a> that justify our decision. Last, social considerations such as the acceptability of <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/confessions-of-an-outfit-repeater-rules-tiffany-haddish-kate-middleton">outfit repeating</a> and the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/11/11190896/plus-size-vintage-resale-shops">difficulty to find size-inclusive preloved clothing</a> have pushed some consumers to turn to fast fashion. </p>
<p>If the only accessible option is fast fashion, the problem at the base is the productive model and not the person who looks for a practical solution. So, what are the potential pathways left for consumers who care?</p>
<h2>Slow fashion tips from experts</h2>
<p>Rather than asking consumers to shop more ethically and guilt-tripping them over certain brands, our research shows slow fashion practices offer us the best chance to reboot our relationship with clothes. Our aim is to better understand how slow fashion practices empower individuals and help them gain a sense of control by decelerating the pace of their fashion consumption. To explore this, we are currently following 14 slow fashion consumers and observing their practices, from carefully picking fabrics and threads to patch their clothes to patiently rummaging clothing racks at thrift stores. </p>
<p>Slow fashion is about <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02761467221116294">mindfulness and attentiveness</a> and can help consumers “get out of the frenzy in which [they] are in,” as one of our interviewees puts it. To get started, consumers should turn to their wardrobes and look at what they already have. Then, they can explore practices that are ready-to-hand: If you wear mainstream sizes, organize a clothing swap party with friends or join one of the events organized via platforms such as <a href="https://www.meetup.com/topics/clothesswap/">Meetup</a>. </p>
<p>Clara, one of our interviewees, consider them a “fantastic way to satiate your appetite for something new.” Don’t hesitate to bring the fast fashion pieces that might be banned from resale sites such as <a href="https://www.vestiairecollective.com/journal/our-fight-against-fast-fashion/">Vestiaire Collective</a>. The longer clothes are kept in circulation, the better. If the clothes needs touching up, and you have the time to do so, repair them with guidance from online tutorials such as <a href="https://fixing.fashion/">#fixingfashion</a> or in one of the local workshops that have popped up across Europe. </p>
<p>Fancy making a statement? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/may/17/patch-me-if-you-can-how-to-mend-clothes-creatively">Visible mending</a> is a trend that allows to show your creativity while extending your clothes’ lives. Our research shows that the manual activity and process of craft allows consumers to regain a sense of control and empowerment in a system Lara, one of the slow fashion practitioners we spoke to, describes as “suffocating”. This week represents a great opportunity to explore slow fashion practices and do something for individual, collective, and planetary well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Ten years after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, scholars find slow fashion practices hold the keys to a more sustainable, joyful relationship with clothes.Verena Gruber, Associate Professor of Marketing, EM Lyon Business SchoolMarie-Agnes Parmentier, Professor of Marketing, HEC MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015382023-04-22T16:20:10Z2023-04-22T16:20:10ZFast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry’s many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522252/original/file-20230421-26-yyte0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists in Dhaka demand safe working conditions in 2019, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/industry-all-bangladesh-council-activists-protest-to-news-photo/1139075620?adppopup=true">Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22476774">killing more than 1,000 workers</a> and injuring another 2,500. It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.</p>
<p>Several factories inside the complex <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/26/these-retailers-involved-in-bangladesh-factory-disaster-have-yet-to-compensate-victims/?sh=3444108c211b">produced apparel for Western brands</a>, including Benetton, Primark and Walmart, shining a spotlight on the unsafe conditions in which a sizable portion of Americans’ cheap clothing is produced. The humanitarian tragedy hit home as wealthy nations’ shoppers wrestled with their own complicity and called for reforms – but a decade later, progress is still patchy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ravi-anupindi">a professor of operations and supply chain management</a>, I believe it is important to understand how the complex and fragmented supply chains that are the norm in the clothing industry create conditions where unsafe conditions and abuse can flourish – and make it difficult to assign responsibility for reforms.</p>
<h2>Shamed into action?</h2>
<p>Rana Plaza was <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/06/05/the-worst-industrial-disasters-in-bangladesh-since-2005">not the first garment industry accident in Bangladesh</a>. While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” <a href="https://ces.ulab.edu.bd/sites/default/files/Building_Code_Analysis-hi.pdf">they were rarely enforced</a>. Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.</p>
<p>Yet the fact that the Rana Plaza collapse was not only a humanitarian crisis, but a public relations crisis, prompted swift action by international organizations and Western brands and clothing retailers. A campaign for <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">full and fair compensation</a> for families of victims was launched immediately, facilitated by <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm">the International Labor Organization</a>, a U.N. agency. Within a few months, two initiatives were designed to bring garment factories in Bangladesh up to international standards: the European-led <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord for Fire and Building Safety</a>, and the American-led <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uniformed rescue workers stand on top of a slab on top of a collapsed cement building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rescue and recovery personnel on the site of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BangladeshBuildingCollapse/7f235631839d40e4ad3cbba1e0825166/photo?Query=(renditions.phototype:horizontal)%20AND%20%20(%22rana%20plaza%22)%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=297&currentItemNo=295">AP Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span>
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<p>While the two initiatives differed in some important ways, both shared the common goal: to improve building and fire safety by leveraging the purchasing power of the member companies. In other words, Western brands would insist that production partners get up to standard or take their business elsewhere.</p>
<p>Altogether, the two agreements covered about 2,300 supplier factories. The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements. The initiatives also laid the groundwork to form worker safety committees <a href="https://iosh.com/news/bangladesh-project-success-story/">and to train workers</a> to recognize, solve and prevent health and safety issues. Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/issues/faq-safety-accord">negotiated commercial terms</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alliance-sets-plan-to-finance-bangladesh-factory-upgrades-1417791607">facilitated low-cost loans</a> for factory improvements.</p>
<p>Both were five-year agreements: the Alliance <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">was sunsetted in 2018</a>, whereas the Accord operated for a few more years before handing operations over to the locally created <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-rmg-sustainability-council-to-take-over-accord-operations-after-281-days/">Readymade Sustainability Council</a> in June 2020.</p>
<h2>The record since</h2>
<p>The onus and expense of making these improvements, however, were largely to be borne by the suppliers – a substantial financial burden for many factories, especially considering the low cost and slim profit margins of the clothes they were producing. </p>
<p>Under the Alliance and the Accord, thousands of factories were inspected for building and fire safety, identifying problems such as lack of fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, improper fire exits, faulty wiring and structural issues. At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">85%-88% of safety issues were remediated</a>. Around half of the factories completed more than 90% of initial remediation, while over 260 of the original 2,300 factories under the initiatives were suspended from contracting with member companies.</p>
<p>In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">through the Rana Plaza Arrangement</a>, receiving an average of about US$6,500.</p>
<p>Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront. In terms of infrastructure improvements, however, while there has been decent progress, much still needs to be done; for example, the initiatives covered just about <a href="https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Etwadhwa/bangladesh/downloads/beyond_the_tip_of_the_iceberg_report.pdf">one-third of all the garment factories in Bangladesh</a>. Importantly, neither addressed company sourcing practices.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a pink shawl stares at the camera, with a green field amid tall buildings behind her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Family of Rana Plaza victims look at their relatives’ graves as they mark the disaster’s anniversary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2017-relatives-of-rana-plaza-news-photo/672595062?adppopup=true">Rehman Asad/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Clothes yesterday and today</h2>
<p>To understand why so much apparel manufacturing takes place in substandard conditions, we need to understand the underlying economic forces: extensive outsourcing to countries with low wages in the quest to meet demand for more – and cheaper – clothing to sell to customers in the West.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, the average American family <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/7939/madeinamerica">spent 10% of its income on clothing</a>, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States. Fifty years later, around the time of the Rana Plaza disaster, the average household was spending only about 3.5% of its income on clothing – but buying three times as many items, 98% of which were imported.</p>
<p>Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles. Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.</p>
<p>On a $30 shirt, for example, a typical retailer markup is close to 60%. The factory makes a profit of $1.15, and the worker <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">makes barely 18 cents</a>. Were a similar shirt produced in the U.S., labor costs would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/asia/bangladesh-us-tshirt/index.html">be closer to $10</a>.</p>
<p>As labor costs rose in China, Bangladesh became <a href="https://qz.com/389741/the-thing-that-makes-bangladeshs-garment-industry-such-a-huge-success-also-makes-it-deadly">a very appealing alternative</a>. Garment exports now account for 82% of <a href="https://bgmea.com.bd/page/Export_Performance">the country’s export total</a>, and the industry <a href="https://www.bsr.org/en/blog/what-if-all-garment-workers-in-bangladesh-were-financially-included">employs 4 million people</a>, about 58% of whom are women. </p>
<p>The growth of this sector has <a href="https://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/482">reduced poverty</a> significantly and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.01.006">empowered women</a>. To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits. </p>
<h2>Everyone and no one</h2>
<p>A common way that foreign companies source products from low-cost countries like Bangladesh is through intermediaries or agents. For example, when a brand places a large order with an authorized factory, the factory in turn may <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">subcontract part of the production to smaller factories</a>, often without informing the brand.</p>
<p>This highly competitive environment, with people at each step of the process looking for the lowest price and no guarantee of longer-term relationships, gives suppliers incentives to cut corners – particularly when under extreme pressure to deliver on time. This can translate into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-worker-rights/bangladesh-urged-to-stop-worker-abuse-in-garment-industry-idUSKBN20W25O">exploitative labor practices</a> or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman cries, her face hidden in her brightly colored headscarf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, during a 2018 interview with AFP in her small tea stall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photograph-taken-on-april-17-2018-nilufer-begum-an-news-photo/949797208?adppopup=true">Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In their constant quest for lower prices, buyers may turn a blind eye to these practices. The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices. Since the 1990s, international <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501727290-004/pdf">scrutiny of labor conditions</a> has grown, but reform efforts largely ignored building and fire safety, the prime reason for the Rana Plaza collapse. Because multiple buyers would often use the same factory, no single buyer felt obligated to invest in the supplier to ensure better conditions.</p>
<p>Garments traverse a complex global supply network by the time they reach stores thousands of miles away. Workers are caught in this web, exploited by factory management that is seldom held responsible by governments either <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/05/09/182637164/bangladeshs-powerful-garment-sector-fends-off-regulation">unwilling or unable to enforce laws</a>. Western brands escape the scrutiny of their governments by outsourcing production to low-cost countries and absolve themselves of direct responsibility. And consumers, eager for a bargain, shop for the lowest price. </p>
<p>This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ravi Anupindi is affiliated with Fair Labor Association. </span></em></p>Ten years after the collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the garment industry’s deadliest disaster, reforms are incomplete. The opaqueness of today’s complex supply chain is part of the problem.Ravi Anupindi, Professor of Technology and Operations, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2037742023-04-21T09:06:03Z2023-04-21T09:06:03ZRana Plaza: ten years after the Bangladesh factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery<p>It’s ten years since the tragic collapse of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-work-injury-compensation-still-missing-in-bangladeshs-labour-standards-107123">Rana Plaza building</a> near Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed at least 1,132 garment workers and injured several thousand more. The collapse of the eight-storey building on April 24 2013, which housed five factories making clothes for western high street brands like <a href="https://help.accessorize.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360027314892-Rana-Plaza">Accessorize</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/16/primark-payout-victims-rana-plaza-bangladesh">Primark</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/may/15/walmart-opts-out-bangladesh-rana-plaza">Walmart</a>, was the worst of its kind in the world. </p>
<p>The owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/bangladesh-factory-collapse-engineer-arrested-as-death-toll-passes-500-8602036.html">had allegedly been</a> told by an engineer the day before that the building was not safe and should be evacuated. Ten years on, the <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/hc-grants-rana-plaza-owner-bail-murder-case-3290596">murder trial</a> against him and another 35 defendants has still not been concluded. </p>
<p>The tragedy shed a light on the appalling conditions that sometimes exist in the global retail supply chain. Wealthy countries have unveiled lots of initiatives in the ensuing years to make things better. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved. So where are we going wrong?</p>
<h2>The response to Rana</h2>
<p>Immediately after the tragedy, various global initiatives <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/20/inspections-garment-factories-bangladesh-fashion-business-accord-alliance">were launched</a> to ensure the safety of garment workers in the country, such as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. These focused on things like increasing building fire and safety audits and inspections, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/business/bangladesh-worker-safety-accord.html">some success</a> in factory safety for workers. </p>
<p>There have also been moves to curb exploitation and forced labour. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_855019/lang--en/index.htm#:%7E:text=Modern%20slavery%2C%20as%20defined%20for,deception%2C%20or%20abuse%20of%20power">Forced labour</a>, which is often referred to as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fashion-production-is-modern-slavery-5-things-you-can-do-to-help-now-115889">modern slavery</a>, includes situations where workers are not in a position to give informed consent to their conditions, and where they will be penalised if they refuse. Without getting into the fine detail of exactly where this applies, it arguably includes Rana Plaza. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rack of jeans in a shop window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Retailers now have to disclose how they are tackling modern slavery in their supply chains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/display-window-vintage-shop-brick-lane-1609399642">I Wei Wang</a></span>
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<p>Many wealthier jurisdictions including <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">the UK</a>, <a href="https://respect.international/french-corporate-duty-of-vigilance-law-english-translation/#:%7E:text=In%202017%20the%20French%20Parliament,publish%20annual%2C%20public%20vigilance%20plans.">France</a>, <a href="https://www.csr-in-deutschland.de/EN/Business-Human-Rights/Supply-Chain-Act/supply-chain-act.html">Germany</a>, <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0071">the EU</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153">Australia</a> have enacted legislation to tackle forced labour. This requires companies within those countries to produce things like annual modern slavery statements or due diligence reports to show they are managing their supply chains properly and ensuring workers are treated fairly. </p>
<p>Much of this legislation is disappointing. The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10551-021-04878-1.pdf">only applies</a> to companies with upwards of £36 million annual turnover. Companies have to disclose what steps they are taking to deal with slavery risks in their supply chains, but don’t have to specify which abuses have taken place. There is also no penalty for failing to make the necessary disclosures. </p>
<p>On the other hand, <a href="https://www.csr-in-deutschland.de/EN/Business-Human-Rights/Supply-Chain-Act/supply-chain-act.html">Germany has made it mandatory</a> for companies to enforce standards within their supply chains to make sure their suppliers are ethical employers and providing safe working conditions, as opposed to the UK approach of simply requiring a disclosure. Germany also imposes fines of up to €8 million (£7 million) or 2% of annual turnover, whichever is higher. It only applies to companies with turnover in excess of €400 million, however. There <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0071">are also proposals</a> for a mandatory due diligence directive across the EU, though it’s not yet clear whether this will go ahead. </p>
<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235420300162?via%3Dihub">Numerous</a> studies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00014788.2017.1362330?journalCode=rabr20">have shown</a> that – despite all the social audits, ethical codes, corporate social responsibility disclosures and moral narratives global fashion retailers use – workers’ human rights have not improved. Indeed, the situation was aggravated by COVID 19. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernslaverypec.org%2Flatest%2Fcovid-women-garment-bangladesh&data=05%7C01%7Cazizul.islam%40abdn.ac.uk%7C63d2249f77114b58b29508db1bcaf710%7C8c2b19ad5f9c49d490773ec3cfc52b3f%7C0%7C0%7C638134332717286053%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UNJ9DqLyehWXzfKwc6%2BbFE22bMwVa0NUlw2qI%2BYMWqc%3D&reserved=0">some colleagues and I</a> interviewed Bangladeshi garment workers and people in trade unions and NGOs, we found that the pandemic had led to job losses and increased people’s financial burdens. This made it harder for women workers to support themselves and their families. </p>
<p><a href="https://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2164/19814/Impact_of_Global_Clothing_Retailers_Unfair_Practices_on_Bangladeshi_Suppliers_During_COVID_19_VOR.pdf;jsessionid=5CB5116D1658EEDD382FE1670279703D?sequence=1">In December 2021</a> we then surveyed 1,000 garment factories and found that more than half during the pandemic had endured retailers suddenly cancelling orders, delaying payments, reducing what they were willing to pay or refusing to pay for completed goods. Retailers on the list included (but were not limited to) Aldi, Asda, Asos, Bestseller, Costco, H&M, Kik, Lidl, New Look, Nike, Next, Pep&Co, Primark and Zara. </p>
<p>Yet no suppliers took customers to court for cancellations or refusing to pay for goods. Three-quarters of factories were still selling to brands at the same prices as in March 2020. Nearly one in five factories also struggled to pay the Bangladeshi minimum wage.</p>
<h2>The situation today</h2>
<p>Since the pandemic, suppliers <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernslaverypec.org%2Flatest%2Fcost-of-living-vulnerable-modern-slavery&data=05%7C01%7Cazizul.islam%40abdn.ac.uk%7C63d2249f77114b58b29508db1bcaf710%7C8c2b19ad5f9c49d490773ec3cfc52b3f%7C0%7C0%7C638134332717286053%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cDrMPp5cgtWV48O66R1AnfJSmRwxFzc5FYX1s%2Fq11ps%3D&reserved=0">continue to struggle</a> amid high inflation. <a href="https://www.just-style.com/news/bangladesh-unions-demand-wage-board-and-increase-for-garment-workers/">In Bangladesh</a>, unions are demanding that the legal minimum wage for garment workers be almost tripled, but so far with no success. Garment exports <a href="https://pciaw.org/ready-made-garment-bangladesh-increase/">have increased</a> more than 35% since the start of the pandemic yet wages and employee numbers have stayed the same. </p>
<p>The collapse of British online retailer Misguided in 2022 gave more insight into the unfairness of the supply chain when it was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/12/missguided-collapse-pakistani-garment-workers-left-destitute-and-starving">revealed that</a> clothing producers in Pakistan were shipping consignments and not getting paid until later. When Misguided went under, this meant not getting paid at all, leading to hundreds of workers being made redundant. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/global-modern-slavery-trafficking/">International Labour Organization-led</a> estimates suggest that the number of people in forced labour around the world rose from 24.9 million to 27.6 million between 2016 and 2021. Many workers in poor conditions in the retail supply chain would not be categorised as forced labour, but this rise is certainly not encouraging. Overall, these are various signs during and since the pandemic that suggest the modern slavery legislation is not having the desired effect. </p>
<p>So what can be done? Instead of more transparency regulations, we need <a href="https://www.transform-trade.org/fashion-watchdog">a watchdog</a> to investigate unfair practices around the world and punish companies that are found guilty. As well as investigating forced labour allegations, it would penalise companies for doing cut-price deals that prevent workers from receiving a living wage. It would also prevent companies from delaying payments for long periods or refusing to pay for completed goods. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-07-13/debates/86436DD6-DABD-401C-B150-7F8B8533A05B/FashionSupplyChain(CodeAndAdjudicator)">bill was tabled</a> in the UK parliament to establish such an adjudicator last July. It has been <a href="https://www.transform-trade.org/fashion-watchdog">publicly supported</a> by more than 50 MPs and is expected to be put back before the House of Commons in the near future. For the longer term, to harmonise practices between different countries, it would also make sense to establish an international fashion watchdog. </p>
<p>It is unavoidable that COVID and high inflation have adversely affected supply chain workers, and no one is denying that exploitation by suppliers is part of the problem. But an international watchdog that puts more pressure on retailers to treat their supply chains fairly is an essential part of the puzzle. Until a regime is in place with genuine teeth to ensure retailers toe the line, the modern slavery behind high-street fashions will only continue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Muhammad Azizul Islam receives funding from UKRI/AHRC, GCRF- Scottish Funding Council, University of Aberdeen, The UK Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre. He is affiliated with the University of Aberdeen Business School. He is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. Professor Islam is a Civil Society Representative, Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), The UK Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI UK). He is also an advisory member of GRI’s (Global Reporting Initiative) standard-setting committee on human rights and labour disclosure standards. The article is partly based on work done in collaboration with Transform Trade, UK. </span></em></p>At least 1,132 workers died when the Rana building collapsed in Bangladesh, while several thousand more were injured.Muhammad Azizul Islam, Chair in Accountancy and Professor in Sustainability Accounting and Transparency, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2031222023-04-13T13:09:39Z2023-04-13T13:09:39ZFast Fashion: Why garment workers’ lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519920/original/file-20230407-22-j62yrw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">That cheap statement piece comes at a price: the industry has a 'murderous disregard for human life.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Clockwise: AP/Mahmud Hossain; AP/Ismail Ferdous; Unsplash/Markus Spiske; Unsplash/Clem Onojeghuo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/ad814240-69ec-47f4-b6b5-05e21ad97582?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>Fast fashion is that ever-changing need to have the latest beautiful thing at a bargain price — that club-ready piece of clothing, that status symbol shoe or that must-have top you just found at the mall. </p>
<p>But that cheap statement piece comes at a price. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035161">The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world, after the oil and gas sector.</a> It’s also famously unfair to its workers, the majority of whom are women. Although there has been a lot of talk about female empowerment, the reality is that most women who toil on the factory floor remain in poverty for most of their lives. </p>
<p>Ten years ago this month, much attention turned to the global garment industry when a group of garment factories collapsed at Rana Plaza near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The accident, called a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/apr/24/bangladeshi-police-target-garment-workers-union-rana-plaza-five-years-on">“mass industrial homicide”</a> by unions in Bangladesh, killed 1,124 people and injured at least 2,500 more. </p>
<p>Most of the people who went to work that day were young women, almost all were supporting families with their wages and all were at the bottom of the global production chain.</p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/fast-fashion-why-garment-workers-lives-are-still-in-danger-10-years-after-rana-plaza">This week on <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, we look back at the Rana Plaza disaster to explore how much — or how little — has changed for garment worker conditions since.</p>
<p>The industry has a “<a href="https://www.brown.edu/academics/race-ethnicity/events/fast-fashion-and-racial-capitalism-power-and-vulnerability-global-supply-chains-gender-and">murderous disregard for human life.</a>” That’s how this episode’s guest, Minh-Ha Pham, puts it. She is an associate professor in media studies at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the author of <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/why-we-cant-have-nice-things"><em>Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.</em></a></p>
<p>Also joining us is Dina Siddiqi, a feminist anthropologist and an expert on labour in Bangladeshi garment factories. She is an associate professor at New York University.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Social media campaigns like ‘I made your clothes’ can help to raise awareness but don’t necessarily address structural issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Fashion Revolution)</span></span>
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<h2>‘Murderous disregard for life’</h2>
<p>The collapsed buildings at Rana Plaza had shown signs of cracks the day before. While other tenants in the buildings — the banks and shops — sent their workers home, the garment factories’ managers insisted their people come to work to meet the relentless deadlines of clothing manufacturing. </p>
<p>Ten years ago, but also today, Siddiqi says garment workers are left with impossible choices: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They did not feel they had the right to say no because they were threatened with dismissal. They were owed wages already. Those are everyday conditions in the garment industry…their choice was: risk dismissal and possible starvation…or risk their lives.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Approximately five million people in Bangladesh work to produce clothing for hundreds of major international brands, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/11/fashion-brands-paid-less-than-production-cost-to-bangladesh-firms">including Zara, H&M and GAP</a>. It is the second largest global producer of clothing and has the lowest wages. </p>
<p>Garment factories also exist in the Global North. Last week the United States Department of Labor released a report on garment workers in Los Angeles that said <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-04/garment-industry-los-angeles-low-wages-violations-us-department-of-labor-report">some were getting paid as little as $1.58 an hour</a>. </p>
<h2>Corporate solutions fall short</h2>
<p>While many corporations have now signed the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/business/garment-worker-safety-accord.html">Bangladesh Accord</a> in an attempt to make things safer, Minh-Ha Pham says the accord has a narrow definition of worker safety. The focus is on structural integrity of buildings and corporate liability. But Pham says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you talk to workers, safety means having a workplace free of physical, sexual verbal assault. Safety is getting paid on time. Not having the freedom of association, not having child care, not having maternity leave…create unsafe conditions of labour. [These are things that] initiatives like the Bangladesh accord don’t even begin to imagine.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The focus on corporate-led solutions, such as the accord, allows clothing brands to appear socially responsible in spite of the reality on the ground. Pham says that without oversight and regulation, these types of initiatives “make brands that are signing on to these initiatives…look good. Consumers feel good about these brands. But there’s no follow through.”</p>
<h2>Western saviour complex</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352893724_The_fashion_scandal_Social_media_identity_and_the_globalization_of_fashion_in_the_twenty-first_century">Social media campaigns</a> to hold brands accountable to their workers have proliferated in the last decade. </p>
<p>However well intended, Pham says these campaigns — primarily led by those in the Global North — don’t address the structural and systemic nature of exploitation inherent to the global garment industry. </p>
<p>She says the campaigns can actually take the attention away from the structural problems. “They make us feel like if we could just tweak this thing, then everything else will be okay. It actually legitimizes the system because (it says) the system is basically okay, but for A, B, and C things that we can fix.” </p>
<p>And Siddiqi says in the last 10 years, brands have actually paid Bangladeshi garment workers increasingly lower prices to make the exact same product. “So brands are squeezing Bangladesh at the same time that they’re telling Bangladesh factory owners that they must be better to their workers.”</p>
<p>Both Siddiqi and Pham also caution against the idea that this is solely a Bangladeshi problem. They say racist assumptions see the Global South as inherently corrupt and “backwards.” But these notions overshadow the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-04/garment-industry-los-angeles-low-wages-violations-us-department-of-labor-report">exploitation of and resistance by</a> racialized and gendered workers in the West, in places like Los Angeles. </p>
<p>Pham says “it’s easy to think of, you know, oh gosh, those people over there…They don’t care about humanity. They don’t care about safety. [But] this happened in California.” </p>
<p>For example, in 2020, Pham says, garment workers were being “held up as heroes because factories shifted to making masks for a while when we were wearing cloth masks. But (workers) oftentimes (were) coming in without health insurance, without safety protocols, oftentimes without masks risking COVID, (working) in California, for piece rate wages.” </p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>Both scholars say those who want to help to alleviate pervasive exploitation in the global garment factory industry must make efforts to understand an intentionally opaque supply chain system. This includes learning about brand contracts, international trade and labour laws and immigration and border policies. It also involves the necessary but difficult task of explicitly naming capitalism as a structural problem. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Pham and Siddiqi say western advocates must support collective actions initiated by the workers themselves.</p>
<h2>From The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fashion-production-is-modern-slavery-5-things-you-can-do-to-help-now-115889">Fashion production is modern slavery: 5 things you can do to help now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-businesses-and-consumers-can-do-to-tackle-modern-slavery-in-supply-chains-200694">Here's what businesses and consumers can do to tackle modern slavery in supply chains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-fashion-industry-keeps-failing-to-fix-labour-exploitation-87356">Why the fashion industry keeps failing to fix labour exploitation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-secret-does-it-again-cultural-appropriation-87987">Victoria's Secret does it again: Cultural appropriation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547915000101">“Starving for Justice”</a> by Dina Siddiqi</p>
<p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/153596/fix-fashion-industrys-racism">“How to Fix the Fashion Industry’s Racism”</a> by Minh-Ha Pham</p>
<p><a href="http://www.taslimaakhter.com/garment_workers_life_struggle/">Taslima Akhter: Documentary photographer and activist </a></p>
<p><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/turn-up-the-heat-on-fairness-american-garment-workers-deserve-better/">“Turn Up the Heat on Fairness: American Garment Workers Deserve Better”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://remake.world/stories/news/colonialism-in-fashion-brands-are-todays-colonial-masters/">“Brands are Today’s Colonial Masters”</a></p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
We look back to the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,124 people and discuss how much — or how little — has changed for garment-worker conditions today.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592242021-04-22T06:16:28Z2021-04-22T06:16:28ZYears after the Rana Plaza tragedy, Bangladesh’s garment workers are still bottom of the pile<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395941/original/file-20210420-19-18tfdll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C544%2C5266%2C2637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this picture taken June 14, 2013, Henna Begum holds a picture of her daughter Akhi Akhter, a garment worker in the Rana Plaza building in Savar when it collapsed. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Frayer/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse, killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring 2,600 more, is the clothing industry’s worst ever industrial incident.</p>
<p>It is not just the body count, though, that made the collapse of the Rana Plaza, a nine-story building in the Bangladeshi industrial city of Savar (near <a href="https://theconversation.com/signals-from-the-noise-of-urban-innovation-in-the-worlds-second-least-liveable-city-56925">Dhaka</a>), capture global attention (briefly) and spur activism around the world to improve the treatment of garment workers. </p>
<p>This had been an accident waiting to happen. Structural cracks in the building had been discovered the day before. Businesses on the lower floors (shops and the bank) were closed immediately. The five garment factories on the upper floors made their workers keep working. On the morning of April 24 2013 there was a power outage. Diesel generators at the top of the building were turned on. Then the building collapsed.</p>
<p>The official death toll is 1,132. But these things are never clear-cut. That number doesn’t include, for example, Nowshad Hasan Himu, a volunteer who spent 17 days in the rescue work that pulled more than 1,000 survivors from the rubble. Some could be only be freed by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651472/">amputating limbs</a>. Himu rescued dozens alive, and also moved the dead. On April 24 2019, the sixth anniversary of the disaster, <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/bangladesh-nowshad-hasan-himu-face-of-rana-plaza-rescue-operation-commits-suicide">he committed suicide</a>.</p>
<p>He could not forget. We should not forget.</p>
<h2>Global attention</h2>
<p>The Rana Plaza collapse briefly shone a spotlight on the underbelly of the global fashion business, a US$2.4 trillion industry that employs about 40 million of the world’s poorest workers, often in dangerous and degrading conditions. About 4 million of them are in Bangladesh, the second-biggest “ready made garment” exporter in the world, after China. </p>
<p>Activist groups such as <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/about">Clean Clothes Campaign</a> lobbied for compensation for the victims – many still <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651472/">suffer from their injuries</a> – and better conditions for garment workers generally. For this was no isolated incident. Garment workers routinely died in factory fires and faced other dangers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Relatives arrive to collect the body of garment worker Mohammed Abdullah on April 27 2013 at the makeshift morgue set in a schoolyard near the Rana Plaza site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396259/original/file-20210421-17-1k8vmse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relatives arrive to collect the body of garment worker Mohammed Abdullah on April 27 2013 at the makeshift morgue set in a schoolyard near the Rana Plaza site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Frayer/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At least 29 global brands were identified as doing business with one or more of the five factories in the Rana Plaza building. </p>
<p>Each was “a complicit participant in the creation of an environment that ultimately led to the deaths and maiming of thousands”, said <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/past/rana-plaza">Clean Clothes Campaign</a>. Yet the problem was far wider than just those brands. It was a systemic problem. In a sense every shopper choosing clothes on the basis of cheapest price was complicit. </p>
<p>The industry vowed to do better. Within a month <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/2018/07/20/achievements-2013-accord/">222 companies signed</a> the <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a>, a legally binding agreement meant to ensure garment workers had safe workplaces. </p>
<p>Things have improved. But not enough. Eight years on, the fundamental problems in global supply chains – the disconnect between profits, accountability and responsibility – remains.</p>
<h2>Compliance a charade</h2>
<p>This disconnect was glaring when we interviewed Bangladesh manufacturers and Australian retailer in 2018 as part of our research. </p>
<p>Retailers maintained they were living up to their obligations by only sourcing garments from manufacturers complying with the <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a>.</p>
<p>But manufacturers told us their compliance was often a charade. As one said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Changes brought in after Rana Plaza, such as limiting the worker overtime hours and availability of a nurse and a childcare worker in the facility, are often only done for the day of auditing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The reason: to keep costs low. As another manufacturer said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Though we are complying to the rules established by the retailer to promote safe production practices, price and quality still plays an important role in getting the orders. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Pocketing the profits</h2>
<p>Here’s the problem illustrated in terms of a T-shirt. </p>
<p>According to Clean Clothes Campaign – an organisation backed by 230 unions, non-government organisations and research bodies – <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/poverty-wages">just 0.6% of the retail price</a> of a t-shirt goes to the worker. The factory owner takes 4% as profit. The brand label takes 12%. But the retailer takes 59%.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396477/original/file-20210422-21-1gzk2hu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Clean Clothes Campaign/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>These numbers are, of course, averages. They don’t claim to be the exact profit split for every shirt. But they do give a fair impression of how the system is weighted. Next time you see a t-shirt for less than $10, therefore, think about how much the maker made.</p>
<p>Improving conditions for workers must certainly involve internal reforms in Bangladesh, both through more stringent labour and health and safety laws as well as regulation and enforcement. But easing the incessant pressure placed by buyers on suppliers to cut costs is also crucial.</p>
<p>Factory operators told us they wanted buyers to insist on better conditions for workers, and to pay enough to ensure that could happen. They welcomed contracts that stipulating spending money on safer building and higher pay.</p>
<h2>Economic pressures increasing</h2>
<p>But it is the pressure to cut costs that has intensified with the COVID crisis.</p>
<p>Between March and June 2020, brands cancelled clothing orders <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/19/coronavirus-worsened-the-reality-for-bangladesh-garment-workers.html#:%7E:text=Finding%20Solutions-,%27Vulnerable%27%20garment%20workers%20in%20Bangladesh%20bear%20the,brunt%20of%20the%20coronavirus%20pandemic&text=Garments%20are%20a%20major%20source,most%20vulnerable%20in%20the%20country.&text=Between%20March%20and%20June%20thi">worth billions of dollars</a> to Bangladeshi makers. By September more than 357,000 of the nation’s 4 million garment workers had lost their jobs, and many more were forced to accept lower pay. (Total textile exports for 2020 <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/covid-bangladeshs-textile-industry-hit-hard-by-pandemic/a-56552114">were down nearly 17%</a>, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.) </p>
<p>In November 2020, Oxfam <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-AC-006-WSM-Research-Report_Digital_FA_Pages.pdf">in partnership with Monash University</a> published a report raising “serious questions about the commitment of brands to ensuring workers in their supply chains are paid living wages and work in decent conditions”.</p>
<p>Based on about 150 surveys and 22 in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders, it rated purchasing practices of Australia’s 10 leading fashion retailers.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Overall rating of Australia's top 10 fashion retailers' purchasing decisions, rated from 0 to 4." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396442/original/file-20210422-23-rv4b44.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overall rating of Australia’s top 10 fashion retailers’ purchasing decisions, rated from 0 to 4.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-AC-006-WSM-Research-Report_Digital_FA_Pages.pdf">Oxfam</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Overall, manufacturers rated H&M Group the best (3 out of 4). Big W, Kmart and Target Australia got 2.5. Best&Less, Cotton On, Inditex and Myer scored 2.</p>
<p>Worst performers were The Just Group (Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E, Peter Alexander, Portmans, Dotti) and Mosaic Brands (Millers, Rockmans, Noni B, Rivers, Katies, Autograph, Crossroads and Beme). These two companies, along with Myer, also declined to participate in the research. </p>
<p>To solve the disconnect between profits, accountability and responsibility, retailers and brands must be much more closely involved in knowing and caring about what goes on in the factories they source from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse is the clothing industry’s worst ever industrial incident. Not enough has changed for garment workers.Shams Rahman, Professor of Supply Chain Management, RMIT UniversityAswini Yadlapalli, Lecturer in Supply Chain Management, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158892019-04-24T22:59:13Z2019-04-24T22:59:13ZFashion production is modern slavery: 5 things you can do to help now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270758/original/file-20190424-121220-1iv1c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3605%2C2632&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Consumers should ask: "who made my clothes" so that they remember the modern slavery conditions imposed on many garment workers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fashion shouldn’t cost lives and it shouldn’t cost us our planet. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html">Yet this is what is happening today</a>. Globalization, fast fashion, economies of scale, social media and offshore production have created a perfect storm for <a href="https://truecostmovie.com/learn-more/environmental-impact/">cheap, easy and abundant</a> fashion consumption. And there are few signs of it slowing down: <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/a-new-textiles-economy-redesigning-fashions-future">clothing production has nearly doubled in the last 15 years.</a> </p>
<p>With Earth Day and Fashion Revolution week upon us, fashion lovers need to reflect on how their consumption has an undeniably negative impact on both planet and people.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/commentisfree/2019/apr/22/who-made-my-clothes-stand-up-for-workers-rights-with-fashion-revolution-week">Fashion is rife with gender inequality, environmental degradation and human rights abuses</a> — all of which are intrinsically interconnected. <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/">The Fashion Revolution campaign</a> began because of the unresponsiveness of the fashion sector to the continuous tragedies that occur in the making of clothing, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/rana-plaza-bangladesh-collapse-fashion-working-conditions">the death of 1,138 garment workers when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 24, 2013</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270767/original/file-20190424-121254-okw9dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fashion production is rife with inequalities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fashion Revolution aims to bring awareness to these injustices by highlighting the hands and faces of those behind the things we wear. </p>
<h2>Fashion: Labour intensive modern slavery</h2>
<p>Fashion is one of the most <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_008091/lang--en/index.htm">labour-intensive industries</a>, directly <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgkell/2018/06/04/can-fashion-be-sustainable/#3972bb68412b">employing at least 60 million people</a>. </p>
<p>Handicraft artisan production is the second largest employer across the Global South. <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/india-inc">India counts some 34 million handicraft artisans</a>. Women represent the overwhelming <a href="http://www.artisanalliance.org/research-archive/2016/12/9/2014-impact-report">majority of these artisans and today’s garment workers</a>. <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/">The Global Slavery index </a> estimates 40 million people are living in modern slavery today, many of whom are in the Global South working in the supply chains of western clothing brands. </p>
<p>Modern slavery, though not defined in law, “<a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/methodology/overview/">covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices and human trafficking.</a>” It refers to situations like forced to work overtime without being paid, children being forced to pick cotton by the Uzbekistan government when they should be in school, women being threatened with violence if they don’t complete an order in time and workers having their passports taken away until they work off what it cost for their transportation to bring them to the factory, their living quarters and food.</p>
<p>Fashion is one of five key industries <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/">implicated in modern slavery by advocacy organizations</a>. G20 countries imported $US127.7 billion fashion garments identified as at-risk products of modern slavery. Canada has been identified as one of 12 G20 countries not taking action against modern slavery. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270774/original/file-20190424-121258-8hpokr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The campaign Fashion Revolution highlights the labour in the fashion sector.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fashionrevolution.org">Fashion Revolution</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-plastic-is-a-function-of-colonialism">Colonialism and enviromental racism</a> must be addressed if we are to tackle climate change, gender inequality, environmental degradation and human rights abuses. The poorest people on the planet and their cheap labour are exploited to make fashion clothing. </p>
<p>These workers are <a href="https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/working-conditions">the ones who work overtime without pay</a> and return home to <a href="http://riverbluethemovie.eco/">contaminated toxic waterways from the factories</a>. <a href="https://www.commonobjective.co/article/death-injury-and-health-in-the-fashion-industry">They suffer from diseases caused by living in devastatingly polluted areas</a>. </p>
<p>When “we,” the western world, are finished with our fashions, we export back our unwanted clothing to these nations in the Global South. These “donations” destroy these communities by filling up their landfills and deteriorate <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo47192063.html">their local economies as local artisans and businesses cannot compete with the cheap prices of our discarded donations</a>. </p>
<h2>Transparency and traceability is key</h2>
<p>Transparency and traceability by companies is key. Transparency involves openness, communication and accountability. As citizens of this planet, we need to demand transparency and accountability. </p>
<p>We can no longer afford to live the same lifestyle we have become accustomed to. According to a report by the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/a-new-textiles-economy-redesigning-fashions-future">Ellen MacArthur Foundation</a>, the fashion industry produces 53 million tonnes of fibre each year, more than 70 per cent of that ends up in landfills or bonfires and less than one per cent of it is used to make new clothes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270770/original/file-20190424-121220-w438xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fast fashion often ends up in landfills. New York, Times Square, H&M store, March 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than half of “fast” fashion produced is disposed of in less than one year. A truckload of clothing is wasted every second across the world.</p>
<p>The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36 per cent in 15 years. Polyester is the most common fibre used today, as a result, half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released per year from washed clothes — <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/a-new-textiles-economy-redesigning-fashions-future">16 times more than plastic microbeads from cosmetics — contributing to ocean pollution</a>.</p>
<h2>Five things you can do now</h2>
<p>We cannot keep chasing the cheapest labour and exploiting natural resources forever. Business as usual is no longer an option. In light of the positive change that is needed to tackle climate change and create an equitable future for everyone, here are five things you can do:</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270772/original/file-20190424-121233-1f2oafh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Who made my clothes?</span>
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<p><strong>1. Ask questions: #whomademyclothes?</strong></p>
<p>Ask questions, educate yourself and act consciously. Who made your clothes? How will this product end its life? How long am I going to use this product for? Do I really need it? What is it made from? Does the price reflect the effort and resources that went into this?</p>
<p><strong>2. Wear what you have</strong></p>
<p>Don’t throw away your clothes, shoes and accessories. There are ways to keep them out of landfills (reuse, resell, swap, repair, tailor, donation, hand me downs). Can it be repaired? Tailored? Learn to care for your clothes, the longer we keep wearing items, the more we reduce the emissions footprint of our closet. </p>
<p><strong>3. Find alternative ways to be fashionable</strong></p>
<p>Buy vintage, reduce, rent, resell, reuse, swap, repair, tailor or share. Think about the impact you want to make and whether you can sustain that? E.g. reducing plastic use, using less animal products or supporting local businesses.</p>
<p><strong>4. Build a personal style</strong></p>
<p>Knowing what works for you, your body and your lifestyle will have you feeling fabulous all the time (regardless of what the latest “trends” are). </p>
<p><strong>5. Support ethical producers — but only if you need something</strong> </p>
<p>You can’t buy your way into sustainability. Overconsumption has led us to an unsustainable ecosystem. We need to reconsider what are “our needs” are vs. “our wants.” The abundance offered to consumers is far greater than any need. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/livia-firth-every-time-you-shop-always-think-will-i-wear-this-a/">Consider Livia Firth’s #30wears campaign</a> which encourages consumers to ask: Will I wear this item a minimum of 30 times? <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/what-to-wear/a41158/how-to-be-sustainable-fashion/">“If the answer is yes, then buy it. But you’d be surprised how many times you say no.”</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anika Kozlowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fashion Revolution week puts a spotlight on the modern slavery conditions of the fashion industry and encourages fashion consumers to ask, “who made my clothes.”Anika Kozlowski, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Ethics and Sustainability, School of Fashion, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1145692019-04-08T21:36:12Z2019-04-08T21:36:12ZHow current and future business executives link sustainability and global strife<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267926/original/file-20190406-115785-ek8bf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this April 2013 file photo, Bangladeshi rescue workers search for victims amid the rubble of a collapsed building in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. A new study shows a gender gap in how female and male business students viewed the role that business played in the disaster.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global business environment has become increasingly turbulent, with international alliances and trading blocs fragmenting, extreme political candidates gaining popularity, climate change intensifying, all as the growth of developing economies declines and civil instability grows in many regions.</p>
<p>We recently surveyed more than 200 executive MBA and undergraduate business students in Alberta about their views on business, sustainability and the aforementioned turbulence. </p>
<p>With Alberta currently in the midst of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-election-1.5062451">contentious provincial election</a> campaign, where pipeline and business interests are being contrasted with environmental and social concerns, our survey offers timely insights into the opinions of current and future business managers on the integration of profit, planet and people.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618335388">Our survey</a> found that executive and undergraduate business students have now gone beyond connecting how business actions impact a corporation’s sustainability performance to how those very same actions increase or decrease environmental and societal turbulence. </p>
<p>The data also reveals some interesting gender differences that suggest women business leaders are more empathetic, providing guidance on how to tailor corporate teams and business school education.</p>
<h2>Aligning business education & societal values</h2>
<p>With turbulence from environmental, social, economic and political uncertainty intensifying, business education is increasingly feeling societal pressure to better inspire <a href="http://www.unprme.org/">responsible management</a>. </p>
<p>The recent growth and global spread of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/shockwaves-from-french-yellow-vest-protests-felt-across-europe-108578">“yellow vest” protest movement</a>, who contend the working class should not bear the burden of problems they believe have been caused by multinational corporations, is yet another example of this growing societal pressure. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yellow-vest-protests-erupt-in-iraq-bulgaria-and-beyond-but-dont-expect-a-yellow-wave-110692">Yellow vest protests erupt in Iraq, Bulgaria and beyond – but don't expect a 'yellow wave'</a>
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<p>Accordingly, business education has recently become focused on how best to prepare managers for navigating these increasingly turbulent times. Such an approach, however, inherently positions the turbulence as a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jmed/42/4">completely external factor</a> that businesses cannot influence. Yet our survey found current and future managers believe the opposite.</p>
<h2>Conservative views of business sustainability?</h2>
<p>We studied executive MBA students who are currently managers and undergraduate business students (future managers) after they completed a required global supply chain course that emphasized sustainability throughout. </p>
<p>They viewed the globalization of supply chains as directly contributing to the current global turbulence (92 per cent and 79 per cent respectively). And, conversely, they believed that sustainable supply chains could help reduce that turbulence by bringing about positive change on both environmental and social fronts (87 per cent and 91 per cent respectively).</p>
<p>Rather than viewing turbulence as external, both groups made a connection between specific actions of global supply chains and how those actions can increase or decrease global environmental and societal turbulence. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267925/original/file-20190406-115794-1by6us2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students overwhelmingly connect the globalization of supply chains as contributing to global strife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mikael Kristenson/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>As one executive MBA student in our survey summarized it: “Business has more capacity to affect change than all the NGOs put together.”</p>
<p>Both groups also strongly believed that sustainability considerations should be embedded in business education (95 per cent and 91 per cent respectively). </p>
<p>That such views are now so strongly held in a traditionally conservative-minded province, with an economy primarily based on energy extraction, could signal a shift of historical views on the integration of profit, planet and people.</p>
<h2>Gender differences</h2>
<p>We compared views on the general importance of sustainability with specific views on a global supply chain example, namely <a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-does-it-take-a-tragedy-to-make-businesses-responsible-50439">Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza clothing factory collapse in 2013</a>. </p>
<p>Both male and female undergraduates showed strong alignment in their views —79 per cent and 81 per cent respectively believed that western clothing corporations who were sourcing their products at Rana Plaza were culpable — but a significant gender difference was found among executives.</p>
<p>When asked about the specific Rana Plaza example, female executives’ views were aligned (83 per cent believed culpability). But their male counterparts’ strong general support for the importance of sustainability significantly declined for the specific Rana Plaza example (only 57 per cent believed culpability).</p>
<p>Viewing specific incidents as “allowable exceptions” to sustainability ideals could pose huge risks for a corporation. Correspondingly, corporations should consider seeking gender diversity in their supply chain teams to mitigate this risk.</p>
<h2>The need for sustainability education</h2>
<p>Sustainability content in business education was found to significantly increase global awareness and empathy for both undergrads and executive MBAs, but we also found some interesting nuances in the data.</p>
<p>First, undergraduates and managers alike had similar starting points for global awareness despite different life and work experiences. This indicates that business schools need not vary their global content by level of management program, since it’s equally valued by both MBA students and undergraduates. </p>
<p>Secondly, females in both groups exhibited significantly greater empathy than their male peers. This provides additional encouragement for corporations and business schools to implement gender diversity in their supply chain teams and classroom groups. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Even in the heart of conservative Canada, both current and future managers strongly believe sustainability needs to be embedded in business programs and that individual business actions impact the global turbulence we are all experiencing. </p>
<p>One wonders how such changing views on the integration of profit, planet and people could influence election results as Albertans head to the polls next week. </p>
<p>Furthermore, with robotics and artificial intelligence predicted to increase societal turbulence by bringing about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/11/robots-jobs-employees-artificial-intelligence">significant labour market changes</a>, corporations and business schools would be wise to expand and embed sustainability — or face the risk of even more public outcry in the very near future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a recent survey, Alberta business students believed that sustainability should be embedded in business education. That could signal a shift in views on the integration of profit, planet and people.Brent Snider, Teaching Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of CalgaryRosanna Cole, Lecturer in Sustainable Supply Chain Management, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1071232018-11-23T09:50:42Z2018-11-23T09:50:42ZRana Plaza: work injury compensation still missing in Bangladesh’s labour standards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246050/original/file-20181117-194488-1v0qg03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much has changed since the Rana Plaza disaster but a compensation scheme still to be brought in.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2013-rescue-1005950362?src=voykx7U06dOQNuWyOZZXCQ-1-3">Sk Hasan Ali/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the five years since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building in Bangladesh – in which more than 1,134 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured – a variety of strategies have been developed to improve labour conditions and prevent another such disaster. The most prominent of these efforts are <a href="https://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/impact/developing-sustainable-supply-chains-through-social-dialogue/report-industrialdemocracy/">private programmes</a> to inspect and upgrade factory buildings where government safety regulations have fallen short.</p>
<p>Much less attention has been paid to another approach to improving labour standards that could have a big impact in Bangladesh: workers’ compensation.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1888620/">Workers’ compensation</a> is the payment of cash benefits to injured workers or the families of those killed on the job. Though these payments are minimal – usually covering only lost wages and costs of medical care – workers’ compensation ensures that occupational injuries do not result in secondary health problems and destitution. </p>
<p>Underpinned by a system of <a href="https://amchamtt.com/resources/Pictures/Employment%20Injury%20Schemes%20-%20the%20ILO%20Perspective.pdf">employment injury insurance</a> (EII), these compensation payments are guaranteed and automatic rather than fought for in the courts. The modern system of workers’ compensation was first established in Otto von Bismarck’s Germany in the 1880s, which entitled injured workers to limited benefits and employers to protection from liability in what is seen as a basic <a href="https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/rutlr69&section=28">bargain between capital and labour</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-years-after-deadly-factory-fire-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-vulnerable-88027">Five years after deadly factory fire, Bangladesh's garment workers are still vulnerable</a>
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<p>At the time of Rana Plaza’s collapse, compensation law for Bangladeshi workers was <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/how-much-workers-life-worth-1393882">weak and widely unenforced</a>. In response, the International Labour Organization (ILO) spearheaded a singular effort to pay compensation to the injured workers and families of those killed. The <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">Rana Plaza Arrangement</a> was a collaborative, voluntary agreement between global apparel companies, trade unions, the Bangladesh government, local employers and labour rights NGOs to make certain that those affected by Rana Plaza would receive at least the minimum standards of compensation specified in the ILO’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C121">Employment Injury Benefits Convention No. 121</a>. The Rana Plaza Arrangement completed payments to affected workers and families in 2015.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246051/original/file-20181117-35171-1ubitic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Activists in New York in March 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-city-march-25-2015-263973575?src=voykx7U06dOQNuWyOZZXCQ-1-6">a katz/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Funded mostly by companies that source goods from Bangladesh, the Rana Plaza Arrangement ensured that injured workers and bereaved families received the minimum social protection that is widely accepted as a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dhaka/Whatwedo/Projects/WCMS_240343/lang--en/index.htm">basic labour right</a>.</p>
<p>Today, the Bangladesh labour movement and its supporters are pushing for the adoption of a national <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/business/working-towards-employment-injury-protection-all-1286536">employment injury insurance</a> system to guarantee workers’ compensation that is automatic, fair and meets international standards. It can be difficult to advocate for employment injury insurance because it conjures up images of occupational injuries and deaths that everyone wants to see prevented. But, <a href="https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Bangladesh-Safety-Incident-Chart.4.9.18.pdf">as the Solidarity Center reported</a> in March 2018, at least 477 workers have been injured and 47 killed in Bangladesh’s garment factories since Rana Plaza. </p>
<p>As Bangladeshi labour activist <a href="https://twitter.com/kalponaakter">Kalpona Akter</a> <a href="https://apparelinsider.com/labour-groups-call-for-compensation-scheme-in-bangladesh/">recently said</a> in a statement from the Clean Clothes Campaign: “All these disasters we have seen, with difficult compensation process and only limited options for compensation in Bangladesh labour law, show how much we need a national employment injury insurance scheme.” She called on the Bangladeshi government to pass and enact legislation as soon as possible.</p>
<h2>Moving towards state solutions</h2>
<p>As <a href="http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/74288/1/Compensation%20Report%20Prentice%20FINAL%202018.pdf">my research</a> on the Rana Plaza Arrangement shows, workers compensation is a basic, sometimes meagre form of compensation. Because it is a mechanism to deliver automatic benefits for occupational injuries and fatalities, it leaves out matters of liability and negligence, excludes from compensation the “pain and suffering” of bereaved families or disabled workers, and does not award punitive damages. </p>
<p>In the face of a rapacious global industry that routinely underpays Bangladeshi workers – even after a recent <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/livingwage/afw/news/clean-clothes-campaign-disappointed-at-new-bangladesh-minimum-wage-level">increase in the minimum wage</a> which represents only half what is considered a living wage in the country – the gains to be made with national employment injury insurance can seem small. But an automatic mechanism to disburse basic benefits after an industrial incident can mean the difference between a vulnerable family getting by or falling into destitution.</p>
<p>An additional benefit of national employment injury insurance is that it obliges the government to take responsibility for social protection. Critics of top-down safety initiatives such as the <a href="http://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a> (signed between global trade union federations and multinational apparel companies in 2013) argue that they erode state institutions and trample on sovereignty by marginalising the Bangladesh government and local employers. In contrast, a national employment insurance system will require the robust engagement of state institutions and factory owners.</p>
<p>As a Bangladeshi labour leader I interviewed in 2016 put it, making such a scheme permanent requires changes to labour law that will specify the obligations of government and employers: “We need to update the labour law to reflect the need for compensation for injured workers. Not just a short-term project from international organisations. It needs to be changed in [Bangladesh] law.”</p>
<p>Bangladeshi garment workers need a greater voice and legal support for the formation of trade unions and collective bargaining. The ILO has been advocating for these labour rights even as it now focuses efforts to bring about <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_632364.pdf">employment injury insurance</a>. If the Bangladesh government and local employers can make employment injury insurance a reality, it will be a positive sign that the environment for workers in Bangladesh is improving. We should demand that global brands and retailers support these efforts too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107123/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Prentice has received funding from the ESRC, the C&A Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.</span></em></p>Five years on from the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, improvements have been made. But workers compensation is still to happen.Rebecca Prentice, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/897102018-08-07T11:42:23Z2018-08-07T11:42:23ZWhat is corporate social responsibility – and does it work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230013/original/file-20180731-136649-u009qy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-holding-green-heart-leaf-business-483371239?src=uPLbo7y92S6dNZuXjh1A1A-1-3">Wk1003mike/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you purchase a product, I imagine you hope that the product was made with attention to human rights: that production occurred without unfair wages, human trafficking, forced or child labour, discrimination, abuses, or safety hazards. Perhaps you also hope that the company producing the item is conscious of avoiding environmental and ecological damage. But in reality, many products are made in factories where conditions are far from humane or ethical. In many instances, we know very little about the way products are made.</p>
<p>In some cases, this can lead to disaster. Take the 2013 <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/rana-plaza-5430">Rana Plaza</a> disaster in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,100 workers who were engaged in productions of garments for big brands such as Inditex, Mango, Loblaw, Primark, and Walmart. Such a devastating incident reminds us that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be a matter of life and death.</p>
<p>The idea that corporations should respect human rights and the environment has been around for a long time. But it only started to be seen in legal terms fairly recently. The term CSR began to be widely used in 1990s, when sweatshops supplying garments to Nike came to the world’s attention through widespread <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00014788.2010.9663388">media coverage</a>. It gains further traction each time the world experiences corporate social and environmental problems (BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/20/deepwater-horizon-key-questions-answered">oil spill</a> for example).</p>
<p>Early scholars <a href="https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:6705/Islam.pdf">defined</a> CSR as a self-regulatory mechanism ensuring that corporations voluntarily conduct their business in a way that is socially responsible, ethical and takes care of the environment. But these scholars gradually <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00014788.2010.9663388">observed</a> that in the absence of regulatory pressures, companies only conducted CSR and related disclosure activities (including pouring billions of dollars into building CSR teams) whenever they experienced greater pressure from the public and social movements. Because of the absence of regulatory expectations, CSR activities were not regular or frequent. </p>
<p>But over the past decade, CSR has in some instances become a mandatory corporate activity. CSR now means that many corporations now legally have to comply with particular social disclosure legislation.</p>
<h2>Modern CSR</h2>
<p>New forms of regulation have emerged all over the world. For instance, both the 2010 California Transparency in Supply Chain Act (CTSCA) and the UK’s 2015 <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">Modern Slavery Act</a> require companies to disclose the actions they take to tackle modern slavery, child labour, human trafficking throughout their production chains (including supply chains overseas). Such actions are not just confined to the global north. Section 135 of the <a href="http://www.mca.gov.in/SearchableActs/Section135.htm">Indian Companies Act</a> (2013) prescribes Indian companies to spend 2% of their pre-tax profit on CSR. </p>
<p>These new forms of CSR regulation mark a major shift in corporation law. For the first time, <a href="http://www.vlbr.org/issues/44-v8n1/146-a3">certain disclosures</a> are required to be made, regardless of whether these are relevant to shareholders or not. The aim of this is to achieve transparency for wider groups (NGOs, media, local community, consumers and so on) on issues of human rights and social responsibility.</p>
<p>In addition, companies are now often required not only to take action to eliminate modern slavery or human trafficking or human rights violations in their home countries, but also to prevent such irresponsibility in their production locations (or supply chains) in developing countries.</p>
<p>Such regulations are therefore <a href="https://www.cips.org/en-GB/supply-management/news/2015/april/adidas-terminates-deals-with-13-suppliers-in-asia-over-non-compliance/">discouraging companies</a> from sourcing products from factories similar to Rana Plaza. For many suppliers in developing nations, such regulations exert <a href="http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319099965">mandatory social compliance</a> on them from their buyers (companies) in the West.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230015/original/file-20180731-136646-1nzgjbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The collapsed Rana Plaza building, Bangladesh, April 24 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2013-top-797806150?src=3tIA4ReUS9Kjg5k3Jyd37w-1-7">Sk Hasan Ali/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Does it work?</h2>
<p>So now that compulsory CSR has been around in some countries for a few years, do they actually work? I have been researching whether CSR actually advances corporate social transparency and accountability as expected.</p>
<p>First, myself and colleagues <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3364-7">investigated the CTSCA</a>. This mandated CSR disclosure requires US firms based in California to disclose, at minimum level, efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains on an annual basis.</p>
<p>Based on a sample of 105 US retail companies subject to the CTSCA, we found that in CTSCA’s first year, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3364-7">83% of firms</a> disclosed their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking, but disclosures in general were not detailed. Extensive disclosure for any of the specific categories was quite limited, with only 4% firms including extensive information disclosure across all five required items investigated. As such, to ensure greater corporate transparency and accountability, it is important that regulators enforce extensive disclosure requirements.</p>
<p>Then, in another <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368217301149?via%3Dihu">international collaboration</a>, we looked at how the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/opa/Article/2012-2012-163htm---related-materials.html">US Conflict Mineral Rule</a> (Section 1502) affects corporate disclosure pertaining to the elimination of human trafficking and slavery in global mineral supply chains. Like the CTSCA, Section 1502 requires minimum disclosure by relevant firms. This means that at a minimum level they have to disclose what they are doing or not doing to prevent human trafficking in their supply chains. </p>
<p>Focusing on a sample of global companies that deal with electronics from 20 countries, we found that companies’ conflict mineral disclosures tended not to be extensive, but that social movements (via NGO collaborations or activist protests) lead to more comprehensive, and more transparent, disclosures. </p>
<p>This has practical and policy implications: improved corporate transparency is the result of social movement actions via NGOs. This means that regulation on its own may not result in comprehensive and quality CSR disclosures.</p>
<p>While social movements have led regulators to enact new CSR regulation, regulation on its own may not create much improvement of CSR. This means that continuous monitoring of corporate compliance with CSR legislation by social activists is necessary to achieve the regulatory objective of CSR.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Azizul Islam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many products are made in factories where the conditions are far from humane or ethical.Muhammad Azizul Islam, Professor in Accountancy and Business School Lead Research and Innovation, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/873562017-11-19T19:07:08Z2017-11-19T19:07:08ZWhy the fashion industry keeps failing to fix labour exploitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194508/original/file-20171114-27635-7nqrtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Four years after the Rana Plaza tragedy and there are still reports of worker exploitation in the garment industry. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Worker exploitation is rampant in the global fashion industry, according to countless <a href="https://apnews.com/e41d4976b67f4616be772b118a9cb947/Unpaid-Turkish-clothes-makers-tag-Zara-items-to-seek-help">investigations</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/04/20/follow-thread/need-supply-chain-transparency-garment-and-footwear-industry">studies</a> and <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/media/2017/10/poverty-the-real-cost-of-fashion-in-australia-oxfam-report/">reports</a>. So why haven’t fashion brands cleaned up their acts?</p>
<p>Even if brands want to be part of the solution (as they are frequently <a href="http://theconversation.com/bangladesh-disaster-shows-why-we-must-urgently-clean-up-global-sweat-shops-13899">asked to be</a>) they are hindered by the current legal system. The problem is if brands are to eradicate labour exploitation, they must take more control of their supply chains. But if they take more control over their supply chains, they open themselves up to the risk of tremendous legal liability.</p>
<p>To effect real change in the global fashion industry, the countries where brands are headquartered need to reconsider their legal policies. The existing liability rules need to be amended to incentivise the brands’ direct involvement in labour issues in their chains.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-supply-chains-link-us-all-to-shame-of-child-and-forced-labour-33593">Global supply chains link us all to shame of child and forced labour</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/media/2017/10/poverty-the-real-cost-of-fashion-in-australia-oxfam-report/">recent report</a> from Oxfam found that garment workers earn as little as 2% of the price of clothing sold in Australia - a A$27 billion industry. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, shoppers at a Zara store in Istanbul <a href="https://apnews.com/e41d4976b67f4616be772b118a9cb947/Unpaid-Turkish-clothes-makers-tag-Zara-items-to-seek-help">allegedly</a> found messages in the clothing that garment workers had hidden in protest of unfair wages. The messages read “I made this item you are going to buy, but I didn’t get paid for it”.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/asia/report-on-bangladesh-building-collapse-finds-widespread-blame.html">Rana Plaza tragedy</a> saw more than 1,000 people killed when a garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed. This occurred more than four years ago.</p>
<p>These are just a few examples from a long list of horrors. But still the problem has not been fixed.</p>
<h2>Global value chains</h2>
<p>Over the past few decades, the production process for garments (and other things) has evolved and become <a href="https://www.oecd.org/tad/gvc_report_g20_july_2014.pdf">very complicated</a>. These “<a href="https://globalvaluechains.org/concept-tools">global value chains</a>” include all the activities that are necessary to a product’s life-cycle - designing, making, selling, and sometimes even recycling.</p>
<p>When it comes to the relationship between these vast networks of suppliers and the law, there is a connection between responsibility and liability. Generally, a brand is only legally responsible for the actions of suppliers if the brand directly controls that supplier. In a global value chain, most suppliers are typically outside of the brand’s direct control.</p>
<p>Like many activist organisations, Oxfam <a href="http://whatshemakes.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Living-Wage-Media-Report_WEB.pdf">places</a> the onus on Australian fashion brands to improve the labour practices of their subsidiaries and suppliers in developing countries.</p>
<p>For instance, Oxfam calls for brands to implement a “living wage” - a wage that is sufficient for workers to meet their basic needs. Their report estimates that enforcing a living wage will only increase the final product price by 1%. This, they suggest, could be absorbed by the chain in order to keep prices from rising.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-exactly-is-a-living-wage-86927">Explainer: what exactly is a living wage?</a>
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<p>The key is this: to ensure individual garment workers receive a living wage, brands would need to exert additional oversight and coordination of their suppliers and subsidiaries. In other words, brands would have to take stronger control not only of their suppliers but also of their suppliers’ suppliers, and their suppliers’ suppliers’ suppliers, and so on. </p>
<p>This is known as chain integration. </p>
<p>And in fact, in certain respects, brands themselves are also <a href="http://ilreports.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/sobel-read-global-value-chains.html">keen to integrate their supply chains</a> but for different reasons. From the brands’ perspective, integration can help ensure production efficiency, product quality control and effective management of brand reputation.</p>
<p>In many ways then, activists and the brands want the same thing: greater chain integration.</p>
<p>What then is stopping the brands from doing so? The answer is the legal landscape that risks exposing the brands to colossal liability as a consequence of their efforts. </p>
<p>It is impossible to put an exact number on how much such liability might cost a fashion brand. But by analogy, an Australian court has ordered a domestic company to <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/work/melbourne-sex-harassment-payout-worker-kate-mathews-wins-13-million-in-personal-injury-damages/news-story/e907ad0aa910fb1cce2d74c8a921e2c9">pay over a million dollars</a> for workplace misconduct that occurred against a <em>single</em> employee. </p>
<p>So one can understand why brands might fear being liable for all the misconduct directed against <em>every</em> overseas worker in their supply chains.</p>
<h2>What will it take to create change?</h2>
<p>In this regard, brands are in something of a Catch-22. As the law currently stands (and because brands consequently limit integration), brands are rarely liable when a supplier or subsidiary in their chain commits a wrong.</p>
<p>The problem for brands is that they are likely to lose these legal defences if they proactively take control of their chains. This is true whether the control is for purposes of what they selfishly want (more efficient supply chains) or what activists want (better labour practices).</p>
<p>This dilemma played out following the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy, when many European brands signed a <a href="http://bangladeshaccord.org">safety accord</a> that seeks to protect Bangladeshi workers from unsafe working conditions. Some American and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/major-retailers-refuse-to-sign-bangladesh-agreement-20130516-2jnzp.html">Australian</a> fashion brands refused to sign the accord precisely because of the fear of future liability. </p>
<p>Oxfam’s estimation of a 1% price increase certainly does not account for the enormously expensive risk of litigation that brands may expose themselves to if they promise a living wage to workers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-years-on-from-rana-plaza-disaster-and-little-improvement-in-transparency-or-worker-conditions-58216">Three years on from Rana Plaza disaster and little improvement in transparency or worker conditions</a>
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<p>To get brands on board with improving their supply chains and stopping worker exploitation, we must first recognise the complex landscape that brands operate in. In the current environment, it is often safer for brands to limit their involvement in labour issues, hiding behind third-party <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-laws-needed-to-safeguard-rights-of-factory-workers-14390">“monitoring” and “audits”</a>. </p>
<p>We must instead find ways to transform what are now risks of action into incentives for change. Although it is of course right to seek to hold companies responsible for labour abuses, brands must also not be punished with potential liability where they take control of their chains for the purpose of bettering the lives of workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the fashion industry may want to address worker exploitation in their supply chains, it would open them up to tremendous legal liability. This needs to change.Kevin B Sobel-Read, Lecturer in Law and Anthropologist, University of NewcastleGeorgia Monaghan, Research Assistant, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/774892017-06-05T16:38:07Z2017-06-05T16:38:07ZHow divestment campaigns can change the rules in a profit-driven world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168961/original/file-20170511-32607-1cgksvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spanish activists protest against retailers using factories in a building in Bangladesh which collapsed, killing more than 600 people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Albert Gea</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a globally integrated economy where national governments are often unwilling or unable to control corporations. How then can governments, trade unions or environmental groups protect people and environments from exploitation or abuse? What mechanisms might prevent the proverbial <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/race-bottom.asp">“race to the bottom”</a>? </p>
<p>Strong institutional mechanisms for restricting corporate power rarely cross national borders. So activists working on global issues have increasingly turned to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122414540653">“shaming movements”</a> – broad public campaigns that seek to punish unethical corporations by urging people to reject tainted products or profits. </p>
<p>Shaming campaigns generally take the form of consumer boycotts. Individual consumers are asked to avoid specific products or brands. Divestment campaigns, which call on individuals and institutions to sell or dump their shares in a particular company or industry, are another method. </p>
<p>Shaming movements have a long history. In the late 18th century, British abolitionists refused to drink tea sweetened with <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Bury_the_Chains.html?id=YYsGlsSGRy8C&redir_esc=y">sugar</a> grown on slave plantations. During India’s independence struggle in the 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi urged his countrymen to boycott <a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago">commercially-produced salt</a> rather than pay British taxes. </p>
<p>Half a decade later activists boycotted <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/121/4/1196/2581604/Milking-the-Third-World-Humanitarianism-Capitalism">Nestle chocolate</a>. They were protesting the company’s reckless promotion of infant formula to the world’s poorest women. And the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s showed that divestment campaigns could focus global attention on international issues, pushing powerful companies and even governments to change their behaviour. </p>
<p>The rise of globalisation, coupled with increased corporate power, has seen ever more calls for consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns. But do they work? The answer is neither a simple yes nor an outright no. </p>
<p>Consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns have certainly been successful in attracting attention to global issues. In some cases they have forced profit-seeking companies to adopt new norms. But the challenge for activists today is what to do once the shaming has succeeded. Will companies actually adhere to these new norms, or will they simply return to business as usual?</p>
<h2>Fickle consumers and voluntary agreements</h2>
<p>Over the past 30 years most global brands have shifted to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2013.873369">global supply chains</a>. This involves outsourcing production to different suppliers around the world. There have been repeated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india">scandals</a> about working conditions and environmental degradation among those suppliers – scandals often highlighted by transnational “shaming campaigns”.</p>
<p>The threat of “shaming” has prompted many brands to voluntarily adopt corporate codes of conduct, promising to respect national labour laws and basic safety codes. Global brands began to hire <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-myth-of-the-ethical-shopper/">factory monitors</a> to assess working conditions at supplier factories and certify that goods are ethically produced.</p>
<p>But do these voluntary corporate monitoring schemes really change the treatment of workers or the environment? Increasingly, the answer appears to be “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Limits-Private-Power-Comparative/dp/1107670888">no</a>”. Even corporations which boast about a strong commitment to social responsibility can easily <a href="http://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/seidman">overlook</a> suppliers’ violations. This sometimes happens with the complicity of factory monitors. </p>
<p>When a scandal occurs, the threat of a consumer boycott may prompt global brands to act. But once the world’s eyes turn away, the commitment to ethical production tends to fade. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Now that the world’s attention has turned away, many brands have failed to fulfill post-disaster pledges to help the families of Rana Plaza’s dead and injured workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Andrew Biraj</span></span>
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<p>Bangladesh’s 2013 <a href="http://www.globallabourrights.org/campaigns/factory-collapse-in-bangladesh">Rana Plaza collapse</a>, which killed over 1000 workers, is a tragic reminder. Despite clear evidence that “codes of conduct” and even national building codes were being violated, brands continued to rely on suppliers who regularly endangered their workers. The disaster and accompanying scandal prompted <a href="https://business-humanrights.org/en/the-accord-on-fire-and-building-safety-in-bangladesh">loud promises</a> from companies around the world. Consumers were assured that Bangladeshi factory conditions would be transformed. </p>
<p>But many of those post-disaster pledges remain <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/30/525858799/4-years-after-rana-plaza-tragedy-whats-changed-for-bangladeshi-garment-workers">unfulfilled</a>. Workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry remain vulnerable and unprotected. </p>
<p>This raises real questions about voluntary monitoring schemes, prompting many activists to explore <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100250150&fa=author&person_ID=5324">new mechanisms</a> that might subject multinational brands to legal controls or regulatory mechanisms. </p>
<h2>Divestment: challenging global rules</h2>
<p>Successful divestment campaigns have a different dynamic from consumer boycotts. Instead of urging individual consumers not to buy particular brands or products, these campaigns mobilise local communities to put pressure on institutional investors. </p>
<p>Universities, municipalities or pension funds are urged to reject profits from specific locations linked to amoral activities, or from controversial industries such as tobacco, fossil fuels or private prison companies. </p>
<p>Divestment campaigns make collective, institutional demands. In doing so, they prompt community discussions about whether specific business practices – and profiting from them – can be ever be considered acceptable. They mobilise global support for new norms, reshaping collective understandings. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loosing-Bonds-Robert-Kinloch-Massie/dp/0385261675">anti-apartheid divestment campaign</a> offered a remarkably successful example. Students, church groups and trade unions called on local institutions to sell any shares tied to apartheid-linked companies. </p>
<p>Communities around the world were forced to debate the morality of profiting from investments that involved businesses operating under apartheid, accepting the system’s legalised racism. </p>
<p>Corporate boards spent hours debating the moral and financial value of their South African ties. Corporate directors faced questions about apartheid from their children over the dinner table. As public pressure mounted, banks and multinational companies cut once-profitable ties, and pushed national governments to impose mild sanctions on South Africa. And in South Africa itself, business leaders who feared international isolation began to support a transition to democracy. </p>
<p>The power of divestment campaigns is that they stigmatise both immoral behaviours and those who would profit from them. It’s a strategy that often infuriates business leaders, as it can push policymakers to rewrite the rules of ordinary capitalism.</p>
<p>The anti-apartheid campaign, as well as the pro-Palestinian <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/">Boycott Divestment and Sanctions</a> (BDS) movement and today’s surprisingly effective <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13549839.2015.1009825?needAccess=true">fossil fuel divestment movement</a> show the power of this approach. </p>
<h2>Shaming is only the first step</h2>
<p>To be truly successful, “shaming movements” must move beyond mobilising public opinion to reach a point where national governments or international agencies are forced to adopt and enforce new norms, both within national boundaries and beyond. </p>
<p>This means that transnational activists must ensure that new mechanisms are designed to protect communities and environments. </p>
<p>Shaming may be a first step in challenging global corporate practices, but it is only a <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1eEADQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA351&dq=Naming,+Shaming,+Changing+the+World+Gay+Seidman&ots=RIxWbeJiEp&sig=mHo1tsdbu2pSFX9-_fPwAPljkHQ#v=onepage&q=Naming%2C%20Shaming%2C%20Changing%20the%20World%20Gay%20Seidman&f=false">first step</a>. </p>
<p>Increasingly, we need to think harder about what comes next. How do we create global institutions to protect all of us from what the great political economist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/economics-creditcrunch">Karl Polanyi</a> might have called the ravages of “savage capitalism”? How do we prevent the drive for private profit from destroying the communities and the environment on which we all rely?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gay Seidman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Shaming campaigns” have been successful in attracting attention to transnational issues like inhumane working conditions and environmental degradation. But shaming guilty corporations is only the first step.Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/654212016-09-21T08:52:18Z2016-09-21T08:52:18ZIndustrial accidents in Bangladesh are another symptom of an unequal society<p>Bangladesh, <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/11/bangladesh">once dismissed as a “basket case”</a> for development, has made remarkable progress in many aspects of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11694599">human</a> and <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/06/20/bangladesh-reduced-number-of-poor-by-16-million-in-a-decade">economic development</a> in the last couple of decades. </p>
<p>The people of Bangladesh are a key element in this remarkable advancement. They work hard on scarce farming land, risk their lives in ready-made garment factories and other labour-intensive industries, and take on low-skilled jobs abroad to send money home.</p>
<p>But as well as being one of the key drivers for making Bangladesh an emerging success story, the general population is the group that often pay the heaviest price for development.</p>
<p>Death and destruction hit workers at factories in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/the-rana-plaza-disaster">Rana Plaza in 2013</a> (official death toll: 1,126) and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25483685">Tazreen Fashion in 2012</a> (official death toll: 117). The latest addition to this grim list is <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/factory-boiler-blast-at-tampaco-foils-bangladesh-packaging-plant-kills-dozens/a-19541729">the explosion at a packaging factory Tampaco Foils</a> in September 2016, where the reported number of dead people was 34, with many others critically injured. </p>
<p>It seems that people die in large numbers in Bangladesh, especially in industrial accidents. Accidents do happen but when such a trend persists it is worth questioning the social structure behind it.</p>
<p>Any of these incidents, in an advanced democracy, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/south-korea-chung-hong-won-resigns-ferry-sinking">would have resulted in a major governmental shake up</a>. Sadly, in Bangladesh, this is not the case. Apart from a bit of rhetoric about investigations, a few messages of sympathy from political leaders, and <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-10-08/bangladesh-dhaka-factory-collapse-compensation/">some compensation packages for victims’ families</a>, no meaningful changes follow. </p>
<p>This clearly highlights a significant lack of democratic accountability – and a poor state of national law and order. </p>
<p>Investigations into these accidents take years. Perpetrators are often never brought to justice and issues are swept under the carpet thanks to political patronage and high level connections <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/william-gomes/reason-and-responsibility-rana-plaza-collapse">between the worlds of business and politics</a>.</p>
<p>Understandably, delays in justice also prompt fears of denial of justice. It remains to be seen how long it will take to investigate what happened at Tampaco Foils and whether anyone will be held accountable. The owners of Tazreen fashion were only formally indicted and ordered to stand trial for negligence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/bangladesh-court-indicts-factory-owners-over-deadly-2012-fire">after nearly three years</a> (the case is still continuing).</p>
<h2>The Bangladesh paradox</h2>
<p>Power, money, and political connections can offer a form of indemnity for some. High profile cases in other crimes such as murder in which perpetrators remain at large or are yet to be brought to justice also loom in the public consciousness for their connection to power or wealth. As a consequence, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-bangladesh-descending-into-lawlessness-49086">sense of lawlessness is growing in Bangladesh</a>. </p>
<p>Ordinary people seem to accept that fairness in trials and justice for them are highly unlikely. In fact, the state of disillusionment in the justice system is so high, that some people don’t even want the pretence of justice to play a role in their tragedies. One university professor, the father of a murdered publisher, <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/country/i-don%E2%80%99t-want-justice-either-banya-165577">recently declared</a>: “I don’t want justice”. This is a shocking development for any society in the 21st century.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138468/original/image-20160920-11090-19sg12r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bustling Dhaka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-234276292/stock-photo-dhaka-bangladesh-february-21-residents-cross-buriganga-river-in-dhaka-bangladesh-thousands-of-people-in-the-overpopulated-capital-have-to-use-ferry-boats-every-day.html?src=ma5tV4NzMnvbuyTuKe4Bmg-1-52">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Bangladesh paradox, in which its visible successes exist so visibly next to its social failures, <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2016/06/24/the-bangladesh-paradox-in-what-ways-has-social-progress-been-achieved-despite-poor-governance-and-high-corruption/">deserves to be analysed</a>. While the country is definitely making great progresses in some areas, it is also true that there is a democratic deficit, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/07/bangladesh-basket-case-kissinger">politics is dysfunctional</a>, corruption is rife, and public accountability is low. Nepotism and political allegiance matter more than anyone’s capability and merit. </p>
<p>Tragic accidents in labour-intensive industries do not lead to positive changes because power, money and political connections <a href="https://theconversation.com/push-to-curb-activists-may-add-to-sweatshop-workers-struggle-25903">suppress opinions and oppress the victims</a>. The poor continue to die in their hundreds and thousands, and suffer ill treatment and a lack of job security. This subjects them to further poverty and <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-more-tragic-than-death-who-remembers-rana-plaza-18222">a precarious future</a>. </p>
<p>The apparent inevitability of major accidents is embedded in an emerging social structure that protects the elites, and pays little attention to the safety and lives of the poor. Social justice does not exist.</p>
<p>And when social justice does not exist, it is sometimes replaced with a cold and hostile environment which can breed even more lawlessness and violence. In light of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/dhaka-bangladesh-restaurant-attack-hostages">recent terrorist activities</a> in the country (in which the <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bangladesh-isis-dhaka-bombing-evidence-denial/">government has denied any international involvement</a>), one also wonders whether home grown radical terror groups are just the latest destructive force borne out of the current socio-political state of the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65421/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Palash Kamruzzaman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The people responsible for the country’s successes are the victims of its political failures.Palash Kamruzzaman, Fellow, International Development, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/582162016-04-22T05:42:22Z2016-04-22T05:42:22ZThree years on from Rana Plaza disaster and little improvement in transparency or worker conditions<p>Three years since the Rana Plaza collapse which killed 1100 people, small steps have been made towards improving the transparency of the garment supply chain, to help consumers understand the conditions in which their clothes are produced.</p>
<p>The collapse of a garment factory in the plaza highlighted the lack of safety procedures and the oppressive conditions that workers are subjected to. Yet conditions and wages remain very poor for garment factory workers in countries like Bangladesh, despite surface efforts by western retailers.</p>
<h2>What has happened since the collapse?</h2>
<p>The Rana Plaza was one of many in Bangladesh’s large apparel manufacturing industry, producing clothes exclusively for consumption in the west. In response to its collapse, the <a href="http://www.bangladeshaccord.org">Bangladesh Accord</a> was signed by large manufacturers who source from the region. </p>
<p>This legally binding document specified the safety conditions required of suppliers from the region, so signatories may appear to be taking affirmative action. But many brands who have signed up to it are still selective in disclosing how its requirements have been applied and exactly where they are sourcing from. In this sense, there is a disconnect between the adoption and the full implementation.</p>
<p>The Oxfam report on <a href="https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Labour-Rights-Still-in-the-Dark-Report.pdf">transparency in the fashion supply chain</a>, found that just five of the 12 largest retailers in Australia are actually willing to disclose the locations of where their products are manufactured. And it’s not just Bangladesh - from Bangladesh to Myanmar, from China to Cambodia and Vietnam, Australian brands are operating in near secrecy about how their clothes are made. </p>
<p>The Solidarity Project formed in Bangladesh to support worker rights through trade unions in the wake of the disaster. I met with them on a trip to Bangladesh in January. Kalpona Akter, a project manager at the centre, told me that the Bangladesh Accord is an improvement but still does not address the other major issue facing workers – desperately low wages.</p>
<p>Currently the minimum wage is 5000 taka or approximately USD$65 per month. Kalpona argues that this is not a living wage, which should account for the approximate local costs of food, housing, healthcare and education. The centre calculates that the current minimum wage is little more than half of what an actual living wage would be.</p>
<h2>Supply chain transparency is the key</h2>
<p>The supply chain for garments is long and complex, far beyond just the “made in China” or “made in Bangladesh” label. </p>
<p>In clothing manufacturing it is particularly difficult to completely trace the supply chain. The label that reads “made in Bangladesh”, only really means that it was assembled in Bangladesh.</p>
<p>But when you look at a finished product such as a winter jacket bought from a regular high street store, its possible that the zipper came from Japan, the fleece might be from Taiwan, imitation fur from Thailand, press studs may be from Germany and cotton from India or Uzbekistan. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272696315300115">Research on supply chain transparency</a> across a multiple industries including agriculture, electronics, and tea, shows that countries’ compliance with the transparency accord is varied.</p>
<p>Chinese manufacturers selectively implemented sustainability regulations, while reporting as compliant. The tea industry has addressed this issue by implementing a third party independent monitoring system. In the case of tea, <a href="http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/">the Rainforest Alliance</a> undertake assessments of worker conditions as well as providing incentives to tea plantation owners to address social sustainability issues. </p>
<p>Each country has different legislative requirements in terms of worker rights and minimum wages, and the ease of violating those legislative requirements may vary. Because of this complexity, consumers need to be able to trace the supply chain, not just to one manufacturer but to all the manufacturers to ensure that the final product complies to basic human rights standards.</p>
<p>The world quickly forgot after the disaster in 2013, but it is a major issue in Bangladesh. There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that this will not happen again. The answer is not in boycotting clothes made in Bangladesh, the answer is in campaigning for our brands to ensure safe working conditions and adequate pay to factory workers through their extended supply chains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Rana Plaza anniversary is a reminder of the transparency lacking in the garment supply chain for the clothes we wear.Kate Nicholl, Sessional Lecturer, The University of MelbourneVikram Bhakoo, Senior Lecturer, Department of Management and Marketing , The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/504392015-11-16T14:23:06Z2015-11-16T14:23:06ZRana Plaza: does it take a tragedy to make businesses responsible?<p>Sudden or disastrous events that highlight business irresponsibility abound. The recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/volkswagen">Volkswagen emissions scandal</a>, BP’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/deepwater-horizon">Deepwater Horizon</a> oil spill in 2010 and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/rana-plaza">Rana Plaza factory collapse</a> in 2013 are notable examples. But must we rely on these destructive and often deadly events to change irresponsible behaviour? And are they the trigger for more positive interventions?</p>
<p><a href="http://org.sagepub.com/content/22/5/720.abstract">Research</a> that I’ve carried out with my colleague Jimmy Donaghey into the response to Rana Plaza indicates that these disruptive events can have an effect. But that effect is not automatic. Rather than being a simple trigger for change, these events are an important part of a wider process. </p>
<p>The Rana Plaza disaster of April 23 2013 – which killed more than 1,100 people and injured a further 2,500 – brought into focus the poor work conditions that exist among some outsourced operations of multinational clothing companies. Since the disaster, a groundbreaking agreement has emerged between about 190 brands, two global union federations and their affiliates, and four campaign groups. Known as the <a href="http://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord for Building and Fire Safety in Bangladesh</a>, it was signed in May 2014 and is a commitment to develop safer workplaces in Bangladeshi garment factories. </p>
<p>The accord is novel on a number of fronts. Rather than focusing on single brands, it establishes a sector-wide approach to safety among the 190 signatories. It is also legally binding; arbitration decisions are enforceable in the courts of the brands’ home countries. Additionally, the accord involves a high degree of cooperation between unions and companies in global supply chains.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t the disaster alone that brought the accord about. A coalition of campaign groups and trade unions played a crucial role in seeing it come to pass. And their success offers some lessons in how groups can pressure other businesses to act more responsibly.</p>
<h2>Coalition of campaigners and trade unions</h2>
<p>For years prior to Rana Plaza, international trade unions and campaign groups had been at work in Bangladesh, lobbying for better conditions. And following the disaster, they were able to leverage their past efforts to bring about the accord. </p>
<p>Bangladesh had emerged rapidly as a key global player in ready-made garment production, becoming the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24a9552c-f7ed-11e2-87ec-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3rCFkloVG">second largest producer in the world</a> after China. While many factories had reasonable standards, others had cramped conditions and poor health and safety records, particularly in the areas of electrical safety and fire risk. </p>
<p>In fact, Rana Plaza was “only” one of many deadly factory fires and building collapses. Six months before Rana Plaza, 112 workers were killed in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/world/asia/bangladesh-fire-kills-more-than-100-and-injures-many.html">Tazreen factory fire</a>. This disaster prompted unions and campaign activists to collaborate more closely in their attempts to get brands to work with them to improve factory safety. </p>
<p>When Rana Plaza occurred, unions and social movement activists additionally had already created a <a href="http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/2012/03/22/agreement-reached-with-pvh-on-safety-in-bangladeshi-garment-factories">“Memorandum of Understanding”</a> with two companies, which became the template for the accord. Consequently, when the Rana Plaza disaster occurred, negotiations were already underway which could be built on. </p>
<p>The unions and campaign groups complemented each other when it came to negotiating the accord. This helped them put aside their territorial rivalries in terms of representing the interests of workers. </p>
<p>Following Rana Plaza, global union federations had previously established relationships with some Western brands, such as H&M and Inditex, and the International Labour Organisation, which they could leverage. Despite having a mere 5% union coverage among garment workers, with the help of campaign groups they were also able to quickly establish that a major cause of the disaster had been the fact that workers didn’t have a strong, empowered voice. </p>
<p>Cracks had been visible in the building the day before the fire, for example, but workers were powerless to close the factory, despite these hazards. Subsequently, union actors and social movements helped make a strong worker voice a key part of the media narrative. </p>
<h2>Brand management</h2>
<p>Campaign groups also skillfully rallied western consumers to their cause, mobilising them to sign online petitions targeting the brands that were unwilling to agree to the accord. </p>
<p>The Rana Plaza disaster brought a huge level of media attention to the garment industry. Brands connected to Rana Plaza were immediately established as bearers of responsibility and faced potential reputational damage if they did not commit to safety improvements. </p>
<p>While some brands with a more progressive approach immediately got behind the accord, others tried to distance themselves from Rana Plaza. The Workers’ Rights Consortium, a campaign group working on the ground in Bangladesh, made gathering evidence on which brands were sourcing from the complex an early priority. Thus, some brand names were <a href="http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/2013/10/23/six-months-on-from-rana-plaza-survivors-still-fighting-for-compensation">found in the debris</a>, and their connection to Rana Plaza was made unequivocal.</p>
<h2>Replicating the success</h2>
<p>While Rana Plaza and related disasters were important for the development of the accord, the novel approach of campaign groups, working together with trade unions, has prompted a number of further initiatives. In particular, there has been a move away from <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-audit.asp">social auditing</a>, where each company audits itself, to a system in which companies take joint responsibility for factory safety with their peers. This also enables brands to benefit from economies of scale, although such initiatives are unlikely to be as comprehensive as the accord.</p>
<p>The aftermath of Rana Plaza did create an environment in which companies, unions and workers could set aside differences and operate together through compromise. Ultimately, however, the real change came about thanks to the increasingly organised alliance of unions and campaign groups. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jimmy-donaghey-204312">Jimmy Donaghey</a>, professor of industrial relations and personnel management at the University of Warwick, also contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juliane Reinecke receives funding from the British Academy/Academy for the Advancement of Management Studies. </span></em></p>How campaign groups and trade unions play a crucial role in bringing about change after companies are rocked by scandals.Juliane Reinecke, Professor of Organisation Studies, Warwick Business School, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/322552014-10-01T05:32:07Z2014-10-01T05:32:07ZSpeak up and eliminate forced labour – business can be ethical and profitable<p>When Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, <a href="http://www.weforum.org/news/business-leaders-davos-urge-policy-changes-encourage-long-term-value-creation-and-restore-trust">she called on business leaders and industry captains</a> to change the dialogue from “what we do with the money we make” to “how we make the money”. The idea was that companies can run in an ethical way and be profitable at the same time. Even better, we think, if companies tightly focus their energies to concentrate on areas where genuine change can be made.</p>
<p>This may sound like old wine packaged in a new bottle – after all, many organisations have been practising corporate social responsibility (CSR) for a long time, <a href="http://www.corporatewatch.org/content/whats-wrong-corporate-social-responsibility-arguments-against-csr">with very little real impact</a>. This is not that surprising. Such efforts are often a response to external pressure and are designed to enhance a company’s reputation, rather than re-orient a firm to make social benefits a part of business decisions. The CSR departments get a budget, but it is not being put to good enough use.</p>
<p>Businesses that truly care about wider society should be taking aim at particular examples of social injustice and using their corporate muscle to eradicate it. Sadly, there is a lot of social injustice to choose from. Here, we would like to pinpoint one of the biggest ones: human trafficking and forced labour. Most of us associate trafficking with human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Yet, according to the latest <a href="http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html">UN report</a>, there is more forced labour than any other form of human exploitation in Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia as well as the Pacific. </p>
<h2>Out of sight</h2>
<p>Human trafficking is an issue that we don’t see and therefore it is remote to many of us – so far removed from our daily lives that we are mostly unconcerned with it. Nevertheless, we are all implicated. We all have mobile phones that contain an ingredient called coltan. Coltan is only available from mines in Democratic Republic of the Congo <a href="http://www.laborrights.org/in-the-news/plight-african-child-slaves-forced-mines-our-mobile-phones">rife with slavery and child labour</a>. While we may be surprised to read this, there is a good chance that products that fill our shops in the developed world are the result of forced labour. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60404/original/ssgzs9rd-1412075138.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Trouble beneath the skyscrapers of Singapore?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/109937875@N07/15083670366/in/photolist-p298Qn-oFujT5-oQCsKn-pjXm9b-p4iSNM-pjXbG5-oZD77g-opHBLb-ooyf3j-onPN9f-oVFiDY-o6SJwW-oVrq7V-onR4K5-oDhJnT-oEjjh3-oj4xgN-p3GQ4W-oLmyDp-oVMipF-oUthrw-oYTKGb-e7H5oP-dfVxiv-5sFaYQ-EgG3-e7Hv3R-3ZpDHn-7xhvzK-dZ3NXy-oze8Y-5PA7FN-4sPBZ6-fiqGp7-53L8JY-oVKvqL-oVK44s-oTKqYW-oRmr8W-oonGQs-oFgEqC-e7ryAa-g5L35J-e7P4Rs-K2jV-dZ6Ba4-dwCAPL-dZcjcW-8U7sFt-a9SQJH">wave.function</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Human trafficking happens everywhere, even in supposedly well-developed countries. Take, for example, Singapore. <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/index.htm">The US State Department</a> points out that many foreign workers in the country have assumed debt associated with their employment to the recruitment agencies, making them vulnerable to forced labour, including debt bondage. There were also reports of confiscation of passports, restrictions on their movement, illegal withholding of their pay, threats of forced repatriation without pay as well as physical abuse. </p>
<p>Certainly, <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/new-ruling-from-un-on-forced?lang=en">NGOs</a> have called for tougher penalties against errant companies and governments. However, legislation against human trafficking still varies widely from country to country. In addition, many politicians may prefer to look away from the issue, fearing that they would upset businesses. Indeed, even when the political will exists, NGOs and governments are often unable to turn it into action. Therefore, we would urge companies and consumers alike to take the initiative themselves.</p>
<h2>Taking responsibility</h2>
<p>The financial crisis has shown us that our brand of shareholder capitalism can be detrimental to our societies. Of course, the argument runs that businesses pay a lot of taxes, keep people employed and make new investments; companies are already making significant contributions to society. However, this view effectively assumes that anything that is outside the scope of the firm is not the firm’s responsibility. Companies cannot, and should not, be responsible for taking care of society as a whole, but they should do their utmost to eliminate and prevent social harms and problems linked to their activities. Sadly, while many firms have been addressing human trafficking, many more have not.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/tragedy-is-inevitable-when-bangladesh-competes-on-its-own-citizens-poverty-25955">Rana Plaza Tragedy in Savar, Bangladesh</a> in May 2013 provided a tragic illustration of the problem. The products for many world-famous brands were manufactured under the roof of the collapsed factory. One would imagine that that these companies would have sufficient processes in place to preclude labour exploitation. Yet, in addition to being paid only €38 a month, labourers had to work in dire conditions. Poverty drove them into situations where they couldn’t say “no” for fear of losing their jobs. Young people and children effectively work in <a href="http://orphantrust.co.uk/page/2/">forced labour conditions</a> – these young “helpers” earned 12 cents an hour, while “junior operators” took home 22 cents an hour or $10.56 a week <a href="http://www.globallabourrights.org/alerts/rana-plaza-bangladesh-anniversary-a-look-back-and-forward">and senior sewers received 24 cents</a> an hour or $12.48 a week. </p>
<p>Perhaps more incredibly, it was reported that at least <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/04/benetton-bangladesh-factory_n_3216045.html">one famous brand</a> was unsure whether or not its products were made there. Companies may pride themselves on their ability to manage complex supply chains and outsourcing. However, very often, they lack the necessary processes and routines to check whether their contractors are exploiting labour. </p>
<h2>Consumer power</h2>
<p>Responsible companies would be asking what steps they are taking to ensure that their entire supply chain is free from unfair and unethical labour practises, especially those outsourced abroad. But it is an open question of how far brands go to monitor suppliers and whether they take full responsibility for the conditions in which those employed by third-party contractors are working? This needs to be discussed publicly. Otherwise, companies that believe they are working for the good of society may have inadvertently supported some forms of exploitation in distant parts of their value chains.</p>
<p>And of course, we, as consumers, should start to question our ceaseless demand for dirt cheap products. We are feeding companies’ drive to source as cheaply as possible. The extra pound, dollar or euro in our pocket could easily come at the expense of someone’s suffering, or as the disaster in Savar shows, someone’s life. </p>
<p>Human trafficking of any sort, and not just forced labour, is modern-day slavery. We should not allow it to perpetuate any further. A good first step is to not shut up about it. Speak up. Because in the end, we, companies and consumers alike, are responsible for everything we do – and everything we don’t. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-authored with <a href="http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/eunice-olsen">Eunice Olsen</a>, founder and chief executive officer of <a href="http://womentalktv.asia/">WomenTalkTV.asia</a>, a portal for video interviews about empowered women from all over Asia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, she called on business leaders and industry captains to change the dialogue from “what…Terence Tse, Associate Professor of Finance / Head of Competitiveness Studies at i7 Institute for Innovation and Competitiveness, ESCP Business SchoolMark Esposito, Senior Associate at University of Cambridge-CISL, & Associate Professor of Business and Economics , Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/259032014-04-30T03:15:55Z2014-04-30T03:15:55ZPush to curb activists may add to sweatshop workers’ struggle<p>In late 2012, at least 117 workers died in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dhaka_fire">garment factory fire</a> in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Kalpona Akter, a union activist from Dhaka, and Sumi Abedin, a survivor of the fire, retold their stories at an <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/04/14/fire-survivor-lobbies-bangladesh-worker-safety">Oxfam-sponsored event in Melbourne</a> this month. </p>
<p>Akter vividly recalled what she saw after running to the factory just near her house. The building was ablaze; she watched helplessly as the factory burned with the workers trapped inside. Abedin escaped by leaping from a third-floor window, breaking a wrist and a leg.</p>
<p>Even as activists like Akter continue to push for change, the Abbott government is proposing to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/04/a-restriction-on-secondary-boycotts-is-a-restriction-on-free-speech">curtail worker activism</a>. By extending secondary boycott provisions to cover activist groups, it could reduce civil society’s ability to express discontent against big business. Parliamentary secretary for agriculture Richard Colbeck, who wants to curb green activists, says it’s about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/02/coalition-review-of-consumer-laws-may-ban-environmental-boycotts">“levelling the playing field”</a> for business. </p>
<p>But citizens and civil society groups aren’t companies or unions in the industrial relations sense of the word. They are loose and responsive networks, there to give voice to those met with criminal injustice or corruption. Making it illegal for civil society groups like GetUp, Oxfam and Amnesty International to urge consumers to boycott companies for being poor corporate citizens is a type of despotism perpetuated by the executive.</p>
<h2>Reform is a global challenge</h2>
<p>The story of the Tazreen Fashions factory fire is not a new one. Nor is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse">Rana Plaza Complex collapse</a>, which killed more than 1100 people. Last Thursday was the first anniversary of that disaster.</p>
<p>What is new is Akter’s revelation of the extent of the long struggle for compensation and protection against such disasters from factory owners, the Bangladeshi government (the national garment industry elite holds most seats) and international clothing companies. </p>
<p>In the case of the Rana Plaza collapse, initial estimates suggest US$40 million is needed to <a href="http://www.ranaplaza-arrangement.org/fund">compensate the 1138 victims’</a> families and to pay for 2000 survivors’ medical treatment. To date, only <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/13/rana-plaza-bangladesh-compensation">seven of the 28 retailers</a> linked to factories in the building have contributed.</p>
<p>Together with Bangladeshi union leaders, activist citizens worldwide are working to bring big business and the state to account. Since the disaster, Akter has met Walmart workers in Seattle wanting to show solidarity with Bangladeshis at the other end of the production line. She tells of protests in developed nations such as Belgium, Germany and Spain to name and shame clothing companies that source their garments from Bangladesh.</p>
<p>Activists like Akter and her international allies helped promote the <a href="http://www.bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a> and the <a href="http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/">Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety</a>, among other civil society programs. The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/business/international/battling-for-a-safer-bangladesh.html">reports</a> that it was mainly a push from “Western” retailers, especially after the Rana collapse, that led to these agreements. </p>
<p>In truth, these developments had more to do with the non-government organisations, governments, companies, vocal consumers and activists putting pressure on the companies to respond.</p>
<p>Over the past year, companies like adidas, Abercrombie & Fitch and Marks & Spencer have all signed the accord. This is no idle gesture. The accord is a legally binding agreement, with no less than the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as its chief administrator.</p>
<p>By signing the accord, companies take responsibility to ensure the factories that produce their clothing are structurally sound and provide safe working environments. It provides for regulatory visits by local union officials to ensure factories meet agreed standards and for money to be put aside in case factories require repair. Factory workers are to be paid a <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-from-rana-plaza-collapse-work-still-to-be-done-24710">regular salary</a> – not pay per piece.</p>
<p>If a breach of the accord occurs, and the company is found to be negligent, it can face legal charges in its “home country”. Depending on the severity of the breach (that is, mass loss of life as happened in Tazreen or Rana), a company could face charges of industrial homicide.</p>
<h2>Activists drive campaign for justice</h2>
<p>Akter was recently in Australia working with citizens, consumers, activists and NGOs to name and shame the <a href="http://www.justgroup.com.au/asp/about.asp">Just Group</a> (which includes Peter Alexander and Portmans in its portfolio) and <a href="http://www.bestandless.com.au/">Best and Less</a> for failing to sign the accord. Just signed up to the less transparent and non-binding Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. </p>
<p>The audience at the event also heard of abuses closer to home, involving Melburnians who were tricked or otherwise misinformed by companies to work under forced conditions in breach of federal and state labour laws.</p>
<p>Is the type of transnational activism Akter has spearheaded soon to be at risk in Australia from the Abbott <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-ambitious-agenda-for-harpers-competition-review-24947">government’s review</a> of competition and consumer policy? Could Australians find it harder to express their discontent and stand in solidarity with each other and with foreign workers like Akter and Abedin? If so, then the dollar may have become sacred in Australia and the democratic profane.</p>
<p>No wonder Bruno Latour, one of the world’s leading social scientists, <a href="http://theconversation.com/rethinking-capitalism-20995">chided Tony Abbott</a> in his lecture at the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences earlier this year. In the grand ballroom of world politics, Australia continues to embarrass itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25903/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In late 2012, at least 117 workers died in a garment factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Kalpona Akter, a union activist from Dhaka, and Sumi Abedin, a survivor of the fire, retold their stories at an Oxfam-sponsored…Jean-Paul Gagnon, University Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Catholic UniversityMark Chou, Lecturer in Politics, Australian Catholic UniversityTezcan Gumus, Academic Tutor, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/259552014-04-25T14:37:28Z2014-04-25T14:37:28ZTragedy is inevitable when Bangladesh competes on its own citizens’ poverty<p>A year has now passed since an 8-storey building in Dhaka known as Rana Plaza collapsed killing 1,134 workers in just an hour. Much of the commentary since has focused on the need for Western brands to be more vigilant when it comes to “dodgy” third-world suppliers. Much less attention, surprisingly, has been paid to the systemic nature of the problem which increases the likelihood of such tragedies. </p>
<p>The story begins at home. Apparel is a mature, competitive market. Brands are locked in a struggle where they need increasingly cheaper locations to make the garments – and shorter turn-around times. </p>
<p>Think of it as a network in which some nodes are central and powerful. These are the brands. There are others that are more peripheral and much less powerful. These are factories based in the developing world. Most of them are making “commodities”, or apparel that is essentially the same. They compete on price. In order to grow their profits, brands keep pushing factory owners – who pass on that pressure to hapless workers, whose desperate poverty leaves them little choice in the matter. </p>
<p>When it comes to the relationship between big brands and Bangladesh, the brands own the customers and have all the power. Bangladesh is desperately dependent on its apparel industry – it employs almost 4m workers and accounts for <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/bangladeshs-chance-to-get-it-right/">more than 80%</a> of the country’s exports. It simply cannot afford to lose the business big brands send its way. And the reason they do it is only because Bangladesh remains by some distance the cheapest place on the planet to get a ready-made garment stitched. </p>
<p>In this equation, the Rana Plaza tragedy really becomes a problem only for Bangladesh. For the brands, it is no more than an inconvenience. Indeed, the apparel industry continues to boom, with brands such as Primark announcing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24815758">significant rises</a> in profitability. </p>
<p>The grist for the mill here is poverty. The astonishingly low cost that Bangladesh offers (20p an hour) at the expense of workers’ welfare is the foremost reason for its apparel industry’s much vaunted “success”. Bangladesh’s “competitiveness” in the apparel trade essentially boils down to desperate poverty and a lack of industrialisation, which means workers have to accept a choice between paltry wages – which keep them below the poverty line – and nothing at all.</p>
<p>Any labour movement to raise workers’ wages is met with either the threat of unemployment or brute force. Both have proved to be highly effective. In 2012, a leader of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/asia/killing-of-bangladesh-labor-leader-spotlights-grievances-of-workers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">tortured and murdered</a>. Similarly, worker strikes in the past have been met with harassment, including <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/06/bangladesh-protect-garment-workers-rights">death threats</a>. </p>
<p>Don’t expect the Bangladeshi government to do anything to seriously stop this: it knows full well that its precious foreign exchange is only guaranteed by worker poverty and the existence of a large network of subcontractors functioning under the surface (these are the unaudited facilities where workers toil away in subhuman conditions).</p>
<h2>A global problem</h2>
<p>This pressure to reduce costs through worker mistreatment isn’t unique to Rana Plaza, or even to Bangladesh. Rana Plaza was simply the latest in a series of disasters that have taken place in textile factories in the global South. In 2012, 289 workers died in a fire at a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19566851">garment factory in Karachi</a>. In the same year, at least 112 workers were burned alive in a similar factory <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/25/bangladesh-factory-fire-dhaka">outside Dhaka</a>. </p>
<p>In a globalised production system, where unindustrialised poor countries find themselves locked in desperate competition for business from Western brands, workers pay with their lives to keep brands competitive in affluent markets. In a capitalist system, competitors have no choice but to grow. When markets are mature and margins thin, it is the weakest link in the chain that comes under the greatest strain.</p>
<p>The plight of Bangladeshi workers is not going to get better through Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Big brands are loathe to commit to any relationship beyond a few consignments, which makes them wary of investing anything in a particular factory. They are faced with a much more powerful imperative: increased profits.</p>
<p>In a neoliberal world order, neat, clean, sustainable factories which pay workers a decent wage do not do much for anyone’s business model. Our economies thrive on consumption. After every crisis, we are told to go back to the shopping malls and buy more. It is unlikely that any government is going to risk a recession by suggesting that we cut back on consumption.</p>
<p>Bangladesh has been lauded in recent years for its economic growth. But in effect the country is simply winning a race that only leads to the bottom. Continuing to compete on its poverty is an unsustainable strategy. How many workers need to lay down their lives before something changes? The Bangladeshi government is unlikely to risk losing all its business by giving workers a fair wage and the International Labor Organization long ago lost all its teeth along with its spine.</p>
<p>Rana Plaza is merely a symptom of a deeper malaise: global production networks in which consumers in affluent countries continuously dress themselves in new robes at the expense of invisible, desperate workers in far away places. In a globalised world we need new global institutions which are equally committed to all workers, regardless of whether they are in the European Union or South Asia. Anything short of that is merely shifting chairs on the deck of the Titanic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamal A Munir does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A year has now passed since an 8-storey building in Dhaka known as Rana Plaza collapsed killing 1,134 workers in just an hour. Much of the commentary since has focused on the need for Western brands to…Kamal A Munir, Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy, Cambridge Judge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/247102014-04-23T20:06:11Z2014-04-23T20:06:11ZOne year on from Rana Plaza collapse, work still to be done<p>One year ago on the 24th of April 2013, the horrific Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh claimed at least 1,129 lives and galvanised industry and government into action. </p>
<p>Worldwide condemnation for lax safety standards saw the government pressured into undertaking proper structural assessments of all export-oriented garment factories, employing an additional 200 building inspectors, and moving to ensure occupational safety and health, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.</p>
<p>But have these developments ensured any real progress with respect to building safety and work environment including worker security, health and compensation?</p>
<h2>A promising response</h2>
<p>The immediate response following the disaster from key garment buyers and retailers was mixed – some, like Disney, withdrew from Bangladesh, while others followed a more cautious approach with a primary objective of improving the factory conditions including infrastructure, fire safety and working conditions.</p>
<p>Pressure from these key buyers led the Bangladeshi government to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323664204578607814136238372">amend existing labour laws</a> to allow the formation of trade unions without informing the factory owners, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of new unions in the garment sector, which have more than doubled since the Rana Plaza incident. </p>
<p>The government also decided to <a href="http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/02/04/17118">increase minimum wages in the industry by 77%</a> from US$38 a month to $68 a month. In addition, garment manufacturing factories in Bangladesh promised to invest US$1.3 billion <a href="http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/03/30/26049">to comply with fire and safety standards</a>.</p>
<p>But the promise of appointing 200 qualified building and safety inspectors has not been finalised yet, and unions are still not allowed in factories within export processing zones. While the government is trying to relocate factories to other parts of the country, the concentration of factories around the already overcrowded capital city, Dhaka, remains a concern.</p>
<p>Another lingering issue is the <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/rana-plaza-survivors-left-in-desperate-straits-20864">failure to adequately compensate victims</a> of the Rana Plaza disaster. Unfortunately, making and breaking promises to compensate victims of fires, building collapses and other industrial accidents are not uncommon in Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza collapse is no exception. </p>
<p>Some compensation, however, has already been paid by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), charitable organisations and the government. To date, the British retailer Primark has paid US$9 million to the fund while the others paid a total of only $8 million. According to the International Labor Organisation, this leaves a shortfall of another US$23 million. </p>
<p>Some of the retailers did not even make any initial payments and remain unwilling to create any precedence of paying compensation in full. The Bangladesh prime minister’s relief fund collected public donations worth more than US$17 million to support and rehabilitate Rana plaza victims. Sadly, <a href="http://www.amadershomoys.com/content/2014/04/21/middle0631.htm">less than US$3 million</a> of this fund has been spent.</p>
<h2>What’s left?</h2>
<p>According to the BGMEA Director Sadek Ahmed, in Bangladesh, the post-disaster focus has shifted to building safety, workers’ security and workplace compliance to meet requirements set out by retailers in Europe and the US. </p>
<p>The two deals signed in the aftermath of the disaster – the “<a href="http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/">Alliance</a>” with mostly US companies and the “<a href="http://www.bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord</a>” with primarily EU firms – do not form part of a comprehensive, long-term solution to the problems of Bangladesh’s manufacturing industry. These two agreements together only cover approximately 2,300 factories, less than half of the total industry.</p>
<p>Facing rising production costs due to higher wages and the cost of compliance, major brands and retailers are reluctant to spend any extra money to pay the fair price for imported garments. In turn, this is putting undue <a href="http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/02/04/17118">pressure and stress</a> on local garment manufacturers.</p>
<p>Despite some progress made since the Rana Plaza incident, several issues still remain unresolved. These include the lack of full implementation of newly-legislated labour laws, the absence of a comprehensive and credible building safety inspection processes for all factories including the ones that haven’t yet signed up for the Accord or Alliance, and the inadequate arrangements to compensate victims of industrial accidents.</p>
<p>It’s also important for retailers to ensure ethical practices conforming to the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf">2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights</a> to protect peoples’ life and livelihood and respect their dignity. Accordingly, at the buyers’ end, the government, retailers and consumer groups should form a partnership to ensure the observance of these principles in factories located in source countries. </p>
<p>Currently, there is no direct involvement of governments of major retailing countries in making their own retailers and major brands adhere to ethically responsible global sourcing practices.</p>
<p>The global apparel market is worth <a href="http://www.fashionunited.com/global-fashion-industry-statistics-international-apparel">US$1.7 trillion</a>, and it’s <a href="http://www.anzbusiness.com/content/dam/anz-superregional/Textiles%26GarmentIndustryUpdate.pdf">growing quickly</a>. Now is the time to streamline home-country and source-country regulations with the establishment of a global governing council for the garment industry with a permanent secretariat. It could become a platform to formulate, update and implement a set of global norms on building standards, working conditions, labour rights and minimum wages relevant to the industry. With all stakeholders involved, this kind of coordinated action will mean disasters like Rana Plaza won’t happen again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharif As-Saber is affiliated with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) as its Honorary International Advisor</span></em></p>One year ago on the 24th of April 2013, the horrific Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh claimed at least 1,129 lives and galvanised industry and government into action. Worldwide condemnation for lax safety…Sharif As-Saber, Associate Professor of International Business, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150832013-06-13T04:47:27Z2013-06-13T04:47:27ZMind the gap: company disclosure discrepancies not sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/25393/original/bj73f8n9-1371016239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C11%2C967%2C619&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Civilians rescue an injured worker after the eight-storey Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 24.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent decision by two Australian retailers to sign an accord protecting suppliers in Bangladesh has highlighted discrepancies in company disclosure of sustainability issues and the need for clearer reporting guidance. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-07/kmart-target-sign-up-to-safety-accord-for-bangaldeshi-workers/4739436">Kmart and Target</a> became the first Australian companies to sign the Global Union Federations’ building and safety <a href="http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/UNINews.nsf/vwLkpById/EC90FA91A0DB11C0C1257B6B0028A4DE/$FILE/2013-05-13%20-%20Accord%20on%20Fire%20and%20Building%20Safety%20in%20Bangladesh.pdf">accord</a>, following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh. According to Oxfam Australia, Big W and Cotton On are also making moves to sign the accord; however, a lack of information on which companies have suppliers in Bangladesh means a potential lack of other Australian signatories. </p>
<p>Recent research by <a href="http://www.catalyst.org.au/">Catalyst Australia</a>, a collaborative policy network, shows that this lack of supply-chain information is not an isolated incident and that significant gaps exist in sustainability reporting by Australian companies.</p>
<h2>Sustainability reporting</h2>
<p>Many ASX-listed companies are increasingly reporting on sustainability alongside financial matters. In a 2012 report, the Australian Council for Superannuation Investors (ACSI) found that 83% of companies listed on the ASX 200 to some extent <a href="http://www.acsi.org.au/images/stories/ACSIDocuments/generalresearchpublic/Sustainability%20Reporting%20Journey%202012.pdf">reported on sustainability matters</a>.</p>
<p>Sustainability, a term often interchangeably used with corporate social responsibility, represents a commitment to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. The <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/">Global Reporting Initiative</a> (GRI) provides the most well-known reporting frameworks. However, previous research has shown that <a href="http://cfmeu.com.au/sites/default/files/downloads/%5Bfield_download_state-raw%5D/%5Bfield_download_type-raw%5D/banarracfmeu2010labourpracticesreviewreport29mar2011.pdf">significant gaps</a> exist between claimed levels of GRI reporting and the information found in company reports. </p>
<p>Catalyst Australia developed a <a href="http://csr.catalyst.org.au">CSR dashboard</a> to gauge the quality of sustainability reporting by Australian companies. It analysed 32 companies across six topics - gender equality, environmental impact, labour standards, supply chains, community engagement and community investment - and found great variation in how they reported on their social and environmental activities. </p>
<p>Some of these differences can be attributed to the tendency of companies to concentrate on those areas that affect their performance, while meeting stakeholder demands for transparency and disclosure. At the same time, discretionary reporting can lead to highlighting achievements that reflect well on companies while overlooking other important areas.</p>
<h2>Clear expectations</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C8%2C992%2C1462&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/25447/original/99ky4yxr-1371081046.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Workers layout cable as part of the NBN roll-out, which has caused controversy with recent revelations of asbestos mismanagement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, Catalyst also found that clearly defined reporting expectations lifted reporting and performance. Gender equality, carbon emissions, energy efficiency, and worker health and safety were well-covered topics, compared to other areas. The majority of companies addressed these topics in their public reports, even when disclosures revealed negative performance outcomes. </p>
<p>It is significant that these areas have strong external reporting guidance. For example, disclosures around gender diversity have recently benefited from the increased guidance of a <a href="http://www.asxgroup.com.au/media/asx_diversity_report.pdf">new reporting regime</a>, established through Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Principles. Doubtless, the CSR diversity reporting results reflect the clear guidance provided by the ASX Principles, along with a more activist approach by the federal government in spearheading the new <a href="http://www.wgea.gov.au/">Workplace Gender Equality Agency</a>.</p>
<p>External policy underpinning environment topics also helps steer public disclosures. In addition to a growing number of companies voluntarily reporting to the <a href="https://www.cdproject.net/">Carbon Disclosure Project</a>, corporations registered under the commonwealth government’s <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/National-Greenhouse-and-Energy-Reporting/Pages/default.aspx">National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007</a> are required to report carbon emissions and energy consumption. This has focused attention on reporting in these areas, particularly when compared with other environmental indicators such as waste production and water consumption.</p>
<p>Worker health and safety disclosures are stimulated by the impact of legislation and by bodies such as <a href="http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/">Safe Work Australia</a>, which encourages companies to collect and analyse detailed data, report targets and compare performance against industry peers and benchmarks. Union focus on workplace safety is also critical, as seen in the recent crisis surrounding asbestos in the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3775579.htm">National Broadband Network roll-out</a>.</p>
<h2>Overlooked areas</h2>
<p>But Catalyst found that supply chains and labour standards were the most under-reported topics, with the majority of companies providing no or very limited information about their policy, management and approach. This lack of focus confirms other <a href="http://www.acsi.org.au/board-composition-and-non-executive-director-pay-in-the-top-100-companies72/700-supply-chain-labour-and-human-rights.html">research</a> findings about Australian firms’ comparatively poor standard of reporting about human rights issues. </p>
<p>The absence of clear reporting guidance in these areas is notable. Unlike their global peers, few Australian companies reference the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/introduction-to-international-labour-standards/conventions-and-recommendations/lang--en/index.htm">International Labour Organisation (ILO) Core Conventions</a>. This suggests a need to better contextualise the intent and purpose of the ILO Conventions by developing proxies that can be applied in the Australian context.</p>
<h2>Improving standards</h2>
<p>Disclosure inconsistencies can be avoided by introducing clear, persuasive minimum reporting standards, which should be mandated in areas where there are significant gaps in social and environmental reporting.</p>
<p>There is evidence that companies will embrace common standards for sustainability reporting when mandatory guidelines exist, or when expectations concerning disclosure are well defined and understood. In short: clear guidance contributes to greater transparency around social and environmental matters, and it encourages improved monitoring and performance.</p>
<p>Regulatory agencies, investors and industry bodies should consider minimum content guidelines for sustainability reporting. The ASX can play a pivotal role by spearheading improvements in disclosures that are particularly weak, through select amendments to the ASX Corporate Governance Principles.</p>
<p>Trade unions, civil society organisations and others with an interest in the human rights performance of companies have a vital role to play in creating decent and secure work standards by developing Australian proxies that reflect global sustainability principles. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martijn Boersma works for Catalyst Australia.</span></em></p>The recent decision by two Australian retailers to sign an accord protecting suppliers in Bangladesh has highlighted discrepancies in company disclosure of sustainability issues and the need for clearer…Martijn Boersma, Researcher in Corporate Governance, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138992013-05-06T04:38:23Z2013-05-06T04:38:23ZBangladesh disaster shows why we must urgently clean up global sweat shops<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23211/original/r66m2gqw-1367803742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh's Savar district be a catalyst for reform of the global sweat shop trade?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/ Abir Abdullah</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The disastrous building collapse in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka which has killed hundreds of ill-fated garment workers and wounded thousands, has finally shone some well-needed light into the murky business of global sweatshops. </p>
<p>Greed, profiteering, empire-building and a lack of transparency and morality underpin the rise of this industry. </p>
<p>Following the collapse of Rana Plaza in district of Savar, the European Union - the destination of 60% of Bangladeshi garments - is threatening to reconsider the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/customs_duties/rules_origin/preferential/article_781_en.htm">Generalised System of Preferences</a> (GSP) extended to Bangladesh through which the country currently receives duty-free and quota-free access. The United States is also considering this action.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.retailcouncil.org/">Retail Council of Canada</a> has also proposed new trade guidelines with Bangladesh in response to the disaster. </p>
<p>Locally, the <a href="http://tcfua.org.au/">Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia</a> has called for Australian companies such as David Jones, Kmart, Big W to disclose their own supply chains and that of their suppliers. </p>
<p>But there is much more that can be done to clean up this accident-ridden, exploitative industry. </p>
<p>With more than 5000 garments manufacturing factories, Bangladesh is the world’s second largest exporter of ready-made garments after China, earning US$20 billion annually and employing more than four million workers, 90% of whom are women.</p>
<p>But demand from the West for cheaper production and supply has prompted the rapid growth of industrial infrastructure of countries like Bangladesh without proper assessment, inspection and control processes. </p>
<p>Illegal and shoddy building design and lax safety standards are rife within the garments industry due to the complicity of corrupt engineers, officials and politicians. </p>
<p>Incidents of fire and collapses and appalling working conditions are commonplace. In November 2012, a fire in the Tazreen Fashions factory on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, killed 112 people. In Chittagong in 23 February 2006, fire killed 83 garment workers - including girls aged between 12 and 14 years - at the KTS Textile Industries factory. Prior to cataclysmic Savar collapse, several hundred people had died in numerous incidents across Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In the just-collapsed Rana Plaza, the building was over-stressed with machinery and up to 500 people working on each of the five 6000 square feet levels.</p>
<p>The working conditions in these factories are, in most cases, horrible with lack of sufficient space, light and supply of drinking water. They are literally “death traps” with workers locked inside to prevent theft, leaving no way to escape disasters such as fire.</p>
<p>With an average wage of less than A$37 a month, the factory work is physically demanding and emotionally draining. Workers report physical and verbal harassment is rampant within the industry. </p>
<p>To achieve ruthless daily targets, workers may skip meals and work long hours. The emotional impact and stress level are extremely high among these poor workers.</p>
<p>Similarly appalling conditions are found throughout the industry, with similar complaints in countries including Pakistan, India, China, Cambodia, Honduras, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Pakistan, 289 people died in a fire in September last year at the Ali Enterprises Garment Factory in Karachi. </p>
<p>Following the Bangladeshi disaster, the Australian Fashion Council told consumers not to buy cheaper products made in sweatshops in developing countries including Bangladesh.</p>
<p>But this isn’t the answer. Firstly, the misconception about boycotting cheaper products needs to be clarified. Products such as smartphones, luxury fashion accessories including clothes and footwear are also produced in sweatshops.</p>
<p>Abandoning products from a specific country may simply move the trade to another country, without much needed reform. </p>
<p>Rather, it is important to pressure the government to become more responsive to demands by activists and consumers, to make the industry more transparent and accountable. </p>
<p>It is essential the Bangladeshi government revisits its regulatory regime and makes necessary amendments to include issues such as design and construction of factories together with ensuring working conditions consistent with the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/lang--en/index.htm">ILO (International Labour Organisation) Convention</a>.</p>
<p>Also, creating better awareness among the factory owners and managers about the importance of these infrastructure and management issues, is critical. </p>
<p>Business has a much needed role to play here. US retailer Walmart has pledged to establish a training institute in Bangladesh to train factory owners, managers and workers about issues of worker conditions and safe infrastructure. British retailer Primark and Canadian firm Loblaw have both promised to compensate victims. </p>
<p>But major companies buying products from sweatshops need to be more careful and vigilant in ensuring a transparent and more humane process in manufacturing as well as supplying the products. Regular audits need to be done by these companies with respect to the factory infrastructure and individual wages and working condition including safety and health.</p>
<p>In addition, both the government and the foreign parent companies need to ensure that the factory owner does not situate the factory in a rented property without full control.</p>
<p>Finally, a network-based inclusive governance model needs to be developed with participation from all concerned, including foreign companies, local manufacturers, the government, and representatives of the worker unions, Non-government organisations and the ILO.</p>
<p>Without such arrangements in place, negative downstream impact will continue and similar devastating incidents will reoccur without any real improvement in industry practices and workers’ lives, livelihood and safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/13899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharif As-Saber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The disastrous building collapse in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka which has killed hundreds of ill-fated garment workers and wounded thousands, has finally shone some well-needed light into the murky business…Sharif As-Saber, Associate Professor of International Business, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.