Undeniably, the garments industry proved its worth and credibility. Buyers from across the world, mainly from the developed countries, chose Bangladesh for several reasons; the main being availability of cheap labor. Among others includes the fact that Bangladesh is a place where there are no strict rules to follow or that the rules are not enforced properly.
However, the recent incidents including the building collapse in Saver damaged the industry’s image like a hurricane and are anticipated to have a long term impact. There are reports suggesting that many major garments buyers including GAP, Wal-Mart and Primark are considering reevaluating their contracts with the Bangladeshi garments manufacturers, while Walt Disney already announced that it would leave Bangladesh in due course. The image has worsened even further after a fire at another factory in Dhaka in the following week killed eight people including its owner.
Rightly so, number of deaths and injured from the building collapse in Savar has forced stakeholders to think about fair labor practices. The factory owners, BGMEA, as well as the big buyers have become concerned over labour issues in Bangladesh and started discussing ways to come out of this crisis.
The magnitude of the recent incidents truly has put on immense pressure on the retailers from the developing countries. But one thing all need to understand is that canceling current contracts and reevaluating future contracts will not help the current situation and in particular the workers class in any way. Doing so will have a downbeat impact on the social as well as economic context of the country. The workers will suffer the most.
Rather than boycotting Bangladesh, big companies and global retailers should focus on having conversation with the concerned stakeholders in order to ensure proper labour safety. This will have two fold benefits - retailers will continue to have their products at a cheap price and ensure a better working condition for the workers.
On the flip side, improving the labour standards in Bangladesh will not be an easy task by any means. It would certainly require a pressure from foreign companies, forcing their contractors to abide by the laws, rules and regulations. The government also needs to cooperate to ensure that the laws and regulations are implemented appropriately; which has never been the case so far.
Bangladesh has suffered from a number of man-made tragedies within the garments industry alone. The current threat that the country's major income-generating-industry faces can be solved and eradicated if proper and effective dialogue is undertaken among the stakeholders and are pushed forward and correctly implemented.
The retailers must realize that if they really care about the workers, pulling out will make workers’ live more miserable. The workers need foreign buyers’ support now, not non-cooperation.
Contributing writer:
Wasim Subhan Choudhury, risk analyst and business consultant
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