Leaving Bangladesh? Not an easy choice for brands
Leaving Bangladesh? Not an easy choice for brands
NEW YORK (AP) — Bangladesh offers the global garment industry something unique: Millions of workers who quickly churn out huge amounts of well-made underwear, jeans and T-shirts for the lowest wages in the world.
But since a building collapse April 24 killed at least 1,100 garment workers in Bangladesh in one of the deadliest industrial tragedies in history, the country has gone from one of the industry's greatest assets to one of its biggest liabilities.
"The risk factors have jumped off the charts," said Julie Hughes, president of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, a trade group that represents retailers who import garments. "This is worse than what anyone had imagined."
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The rising death toll may force Western brands to make a choice: Stay and work to improve conditions. Or leave and face higher costs, similar or worse worker conditions in other low-wage countries and criticism for abandoning a poor nation where per-capita income is just $1,940 per year.
Most retailers have vowed to stay and promised to work for change. Wal-Mart and the Swedish retailer H&M, the top two producers of clothing in Bangladesh, have said they have no plans to leave. Other big chains such as The Children's Place, Mango, J.C. Penney, Gap, Benetton and Sears have said the same.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/leaving-bangladesh-not-easy-choice-brands
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is build and maintain safe work environments so the impoverished people they are shamelessly exploiting don't have to risk their lives every day just going to work to SEW.
But then, circumventing OSHA and safe building codes in the U.S. is a big reason they are in places like Bangladesh in the first place.
