( Photo credit: The Wall Street Journal )
On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh was collapsed, killing more than 1,000 people. The incident, which is marked as one of the worst industrial accidents on record, has raised global awareness on working conditions and worker’s rights in the garment industry. Considering the fact that most of the industry’s manufacturing facilities are situated in developing countries, tracking down the creation of a piece of clothing deserves special attention.
Low wage albeit excessive working hours is one of the major issues that raises global resentment. Garment workers of sweatshops in Bangladesh, for instance, are getting paid a minimum wage of USD 31 per month, which is far below the basic living wage of USD 56 needed for shelter, food, and education according to War on Want, an anti-poverty charity based in London. Many of these workers are forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day including weekends. Working conditions are also known to be unsanitary and unsafe. Sweatshop workers are forced to cope with hazardous building conditions like cracked walls and water leaking from the ceiling.
Moreover, it is reported by the Clean Clothes Campaign that female laborers in the fashion industry are experiencing sexual harassment. Indonesian woman employees state that “girls in the factory are harassed by male managers. They come on to the girls, call them into their offices, whisper into their ears, touch them, bribe them with money and threaten them with firing if they don’t have sex with them.” A majority of the garment workers are women under the age of 30. They often find themselves vulnerable, as there are no policies to protect them from such threats.
The root cause that initiates human rights issues in the fashion industry seems to be stemming from the fact that the profit is not returning to the laborers and going somewhere else instead: competition. As one corporation decides to lower the price of their products for more consumers to purchase, other corporations begin to compete, lowering their price as well. As this process goes on, the corporations force the sweatshops to lower the workers’ minimum wages. This race to the bottom, while beneficial to the consumer, comes at the cost of workers’ rights and safety.
Despite such dark sides of the clothing that people wear, there are alternatives to these corporations that abuse their workers. Patagonia is an exemplary brand of fair trade. Workers are provided healthy working conditions with a sufficient amount of money in compensation for their amount of work. Hoping for a healthy chain of commodities, supporting ethical brands would be one of the best actions to take.
Written by Yeonseo Shim | Staff Writer
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