Bangladesh: Unsafe Conditions Continue to Cost Workers
Their Lives
By now, most campaigners for the rights of garment workers
will know, and probably have taken action, about the terrible
tragedy when the Spectrum factory in Bangladesh collapsed
on April 11, 2005. Sixty-four people were killed; over 70
injured; and hundreds left jobless.
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Photo: In December 2005 Belgian trade
unionists from the Carrefour retail chain joined representatives
of the National Garment Workers Federation and workers
at the site of the Spectrum factory, which produced
clothes for Carrefour before the collapse.
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Now, more than a year later, despite all the campaigning
in Bangladesh and internationally, most of the companies
sourcing at the factory have done little to assist the Spectrum
victims and their families or to stop the terrible hazards
that garment workers in Bangladesh face.
What is more, in February-March 2006, there were four more
tragedies involving garment factories. An estimated 88 more
people lost their lives and about 250 were injured (see
box, page 23).
Spectrum was not the first and it has proven not to be
the last, but merely one in a long line of preventable industrial
accidents in the garment/textile sector in Bangladesh.
"It is heartbreaking that year after year women and
men are killed while making clothes for stores in our communities,"
noted Ineke Zeldenrust, of the CCC International Secretariat,
upon learning of the four new incidents at Bangladeshi workplaces.
"The events of the last few days are a glaring indictment
of the continued failure of industry, both locally and internationally,
to ensure workplace safety. We call upon all those connected
to these facilities to come forward and take responsibility
for making sure that this senseless loss of life comes to
an end."
Structural Change is Essential
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photo: Mazaffar, 25
years old, lost his right leg due to injuries sustained
in the collapse of the Spectrum Sweater factory. A
trust fund to provide for workers such as Mazaffar
with compensation will determine what their future
life is like.
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The failure to implement safety measures in the garment/textile
sectors in Bangladesh has resulted in a situation where
the death and injury of workers has become alarmingly routine.
Follow-up to these tragedies from local and international
stakeholders must include:
In the CCC's view, industry along with public authorities
(at the local and international levels) must launch an immediate
initiative to take on the safety issues that plague the
garment industry in Bangladesh. This has to include a structural
review of multi-story buildings and facilities inspection
mechanisms.
In April 2005, at the time of the Spectrum collapse, the
CCC and partners recommended that an independent international
oversight committee/program be formed that is charged with
examining occupational health and safety regulations and
their implementation (including emergency regulations) in
the garment/textile sector in Bangladesh. This still needs
to be done. The committee should be given a multi-year assignment
in order to ensure that there is follow-up on any recommendations
made.
Spectrum One Year On: Victims Still Waiting
During the year following the collapse of the Spectrum
garment factory there have been various fact-finding missions,
discussions with companies that sourced there, and widespread
international publicity. Yet some of the 70-plus injured
are still in need of follow-up medical treatment. Former
workers and the families of the 64 killed are still seeking
compensation. Some are still waiting for the overtime wages
and severance payments they are owed.
Among the few positive moves, the Spanish company Inditex,
whose Zara brand was produced at the factory, has circulated
a proposal for a compensation fund. It was drafted in close
collaboration with the International Textile, Garment and
Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), and has been sent
to all companies sourcing at Spectrum and the adjoining
Shahriyar factory.
Along with Inditex, other companies that had their goods
produced at Spectrum/Shahriyar include: KarstadtQuelle,
Steilmann, New Yorker and Kirsten Mode (all based in Germany),
CMT Winfield and Solo Invest (France), Carrefour (France
and Belgium), Cotton Group (Belgium), and Scapino (the Netherlands).
The trust fund seeks to properly compensate the injured
workers and families of those who perished at Spectrum.
The proposal outlines the purpose of the fund and how it
would operate. It also estimates the possible payments,
based on calculations that take wages, family composition
and injury level into account.
Trade unions in Bangladesh, assisted by the Bangladeshi
NGO Incidin, have been collecting the necessary data to
make the final calculations for each of the families of
the dead and for each of the injured.
The trust fund will be overseen by a board of trustees,
assisted by two committees which will advise the trustees
on the disbursement of funds. One will comprise those contributing
to the fund, and the other will be made up of representatives
of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA) and Bangladeshi trade unions.
The proposal is gaining support. However, as this newsletter
was going to press, several key sourcing companies are still
reluctant to commit themselves.
The CCC is calling on each sourcing company to make a public
statement saying that they are ready to (1) participate
in a trust fund along the lines of the Inditex-ITGLWF proposal,
(2) participate in a meeting to settle details of the fund
once all research is completed, and (3) to pledge sufficient
funds to ensure the total sum proposed.
International Campaigning Continues
To keep up the pressure, four Belgian trade union delegates
went to Bangladesh in December 2005, and two survivors of
the Spectrum tragedy, Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam, visited
four European countries in February 2006.
Belgium and France: Focus on Carrefour
In December 2005, four trade union delegates from the Carrefour
retail chain in Belgium, accompanied by the coordinators
of the two CCCs in Belgium, went to Bangladesh to investigate
the Spectrum situation. Carrefour was one of the buyers
of Spectrum-made clothing.
The Belgian delegates visited the Spectrum site at Savar
and met with former Spectrum workers. They also met representatives
of the Carrefour sourcing office in the country with whom
they pursued the trust fund proposal.
They also paid visits to two current Carrefour suppliers,
Tusuka and Jinnat, and discussed with managers and workers
there how workers can be better involved in social audits
carried out for Carrefour. The Belgian CCC is pushing Carrefour
to publish its full list of suppliers in Bangladesh.
Then in February 2006, the two Spectrum workers Jahangir
Alam and Nura Alam arrived in Europe. At a first meeting
with Carrefour management in Belgium, they were advised
to refer the matter to Carrefour International. This they
did at a meeting in France on February 20, with the company's
Sustainable Development Director, Veronique Discours-Buhot.
She said she was willing to consider the trust fund proposal
but she also listed several preconditions. Among these was
a need for other companies to join the trust fund, and recognition
of the contributions already made by Carrefour to the Spectrum
victims (worth about 1% of the estimated sum for the trust
fund).
Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam also had a meeting with 36
representatives of Belgian trade unions, mainly from the
retail sector, and another with French NGOs and trade unions
on strategies to put more pressure on Carrefour. The Spectrum
case has been taken up at the Carrefour Belgian Works Council
and is due for discussion at the Carrefour European Works
Council.
Meanwhile, the Cotton Group was not willing to meet with
the Spectrum workers and so far has not agreed to participate
in the trust fund.
France: SOLO Invest says "Yes"
Though Carrefour is dragging their feet, Jahangir Alam
and Nura Alam had a positive meeting with SOLO Invest, a
brand sourcing at Shahriyar in 2004. Although no longer
contracting at this factory at the time of the collapse,
they agreed to contribute to the fund. SOLO Invest also
expressed their willingness to develop their code of conduct
implementation procedures, in consultation with the French
CCC (l'Ethique sur l'Etiquette).
Netherlands: Scapino Side-Steps
A meeting with Scapino proved disappointing. The company
is trying to avoid its responsibilities by stressing that
it stopped sourcing at the factory ten months before the
collapse, even though labour rights violations and lack
of safety measures were already a fact at that time. Scapino
managers were not willing to tell the Spectrum workers whether
they would join the trust fund or not.
A public meeting the following day was attended by NGOs,
students, company representatives, consumers and press.
Held in a textile museum in Tilburg, there was a lively
discussion about the actions needed to improve labour conditions
in the garment industry, the respective responsibilities
of governments and sourcing companies, and the safety of
workers organising to defend their rights.
Germany: No Progress with KarstadtQuelle or Steilmann
Both companies approached by the German CCC refused to
meet Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam. In the press, KarstadtQuelle
(KQ) claims it is ready to give financial compensation but
seems to take no further steps and has shown no willingness
to participate in the trust fund. On February 20, fifteen
CCC activists lit 64 candles in front of a KQ department
store in Berlin, one for each of the deceased. Together
with the Spectrum workers, they collected over 100 consumers'
signatures demanding that KQ join the trust fund. Four major
German newspapers ran articles giving the workers' views
on the factory collapse and how the buyers are reacting.
Outstanding Demands
Meanwhile, CCC has been contacting the other brands that
sourced at Spectrum/Shahriyar but were not included in the
Spectrum workers' tour, to join the trust fund initiative
and the planning meeting. The New Wave Group in Sweden for
example, has been contacted by the Swedish CCC and has agreed
to contribute to the trust fund.
The outstanding demands of the Spectrum case are:
On their departure from Europe, Jahangir Alam and Nura
Alam said, "We will go back with the hope that the
committed companies will keep their promises of contribution
to the trust fund, although we are a bit disappointed that
the exact amount of payments isn't clear yet".
Steps Needed to Prevent Future Tragedies
Three of the incidents in February 2006 were within three
days of each other, and brought local trade unions and other
labour rights organisations out on demonstrations across
Bangladesh. On March 2, a national half-day strike was observed
in the garment sector. Four days later, the fourth tragedy
occurred.
Local unions and labour rights' NGOs are very angry. After
the Spectrum collapse in April 2005 they called for a number
of measures: the arrest and prosecution of factory owners
where these tragedies occur, as well as fines for those
factories that continue to lock exits during working hours;
the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
(BGMEA) and the Government to revoke the licences of factories
that do not meet health and safety standards; all international
buyers to take immediate measures, both individually and
collectively, to implement their codes of conduct so that
workers no longer risk their lives when producing clothes.
However, the action taken was clearly inadequate. The Bangladesh
Government created a "Social Compliance Forum for Readymade
Garments" headed by the Minister for Commerce. The
Forum has met several times and established two task forces,
one on safety and one on labour welfare. However, their
activity seems to have been limited to compiling a long
list of improvements needed, most already required by law.
Meanwhile, the MFA Forum, a loose association of international
buyers, trade unions and international organisations, held
meetings in Bangladesh and discussed the long-term structural
measure needed to ensure compliance with labour standards.
The Forum reportedly involves buyers for 90% of the total
volume of garments produced in Bangladesh, and therefore
could wield significant influence in encouraging a comprehensive
safety review and concrete structural changes in the industry
there.
The three February 2006 fires did seemingly push the Bangladesh
Government and industry into action. In late February, Parliament
passed a bill outlining construction regulations, violations
of which are punishable with fines and up to seven years'
imprisonment. The government also gave the BGMEA until March
19, according to local media sources, to inspect and begin
shutting down all factories that are not in compliance with
safety standards. Of prime concern to labour rights advocates
is whether or not workers of any facilities that are shut
down will be given fair compensation.
Teams composed of the BGMEA, the labour inspectorate, fire
service, and the urban development/planning authority RAJUK
started inspections. Local reports say that the government's
factory inspection office (under the Directorate of Labour)
seriously lacks capacity. There are only twenty inspectors
for a reported 50,000 factories (all industries) in the
country.
"Inspecting factories only makes a difference when
workers and their organisations are involved," noted
Zeldenrust, in a statement following the four tragedies.
"Otherwise, auditors remain blind to the reality that
workers face and are unable to draw up plans to follow-up
and fix the problems in a way that's sustainable in the
long term and can make a meaningful improvement."
Meanwhile, labour rights organisations in North America
and the CCC in Europe continue to push the individual buyers
sourcing at the factories where these recent tragedies occurred
to follow-up. As this edition of the newsletter went to
press none of the companies contacted had taken action.
For more information on Spectrum and more recent cases
in Bangladesh, see www.cleanclothes.org/news/spectrum_disaster.htm
www.cleanclothes.org/news/06-02-bangladesh.htm
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Martin Barrios Hernández
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Mexican Rights Activist Threatened with Death
Continued action is needed to help defend garment workers'
rights in Mexico. In January 2006, Mexican labour rights
activist Martin Barrios Hernández was unjustly imprisoned
in Puebla. Barrios, president of the Human and Labour Rights
Commission of the Tehuacan Valley, had been working on a
case of unfair dismissal of 163 garment workers. Following
a storm of local and international protest, Barrios was
released after two weeks.
However, there remain very serious concerns about his safety
and that of others working to prevent rights abuses in the
garment sector. On February 12, Barrios received separate
but identical warnings from two trusted sources. He was
told that a local maquila owner has hired someone to kill
him.
The warnings came on the same day that a Zapatista leader
spoke to a rally in the nearby community of Altepexi, condemning
the State Governor and maquila owners for the arbitrary
arrest and detention of Barrios and for exploiting maquila
workers. Meanwhile a national scandal had broken out, in
which compelling evidence linked the Puebla State Governor
and a major blue jeans manufacturer with a plot to arrest
and rape human rights advocate and journalist, Lydia Cacho.
At the time of Barrios' release, members of the Commission
that he heads warned that maquila owners in Tehuacan were
angry about the state government's decision to bow to public
pressure and set Barrios free.
The situation is very dangerous. Following a request from
the Mexican Human Rights Centre "Miguel Augustín
Pro Juárez," the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR), which is the human rights body of
the Organization of American States (OAS), has made a formal
request to the Mexican Government to provide protection
to Barrios. Amnesty International has also sent out an urgent
alert. Labour rights advocates in North America have been
calling on their governments and on brandname companies
sourcing from Puebla to express their concerns to the Puebla
state government. So far six international brands - American
Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss, PvH, Polo Ralph
Lauren and Warnaco - that buy apparel products from Puebla
in Mexico have taken action, sending a joint letter to Puebla
Governor Mario Marin Torres to take proactive steps to ensure
the physical safety of Martin Barrios and the members of
the Commission.
For more background on this case and information on action
you can take to support Barrios and the work of the Human
Rights Commission, see the CCC website: www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/06-03-08.htm#action
2006: More Bangladeshi Garment Worker Deaths
and Injuries
