Speech from December, 2021
———————————————
On April 24th of 2013, Sheila Begum found herself trapped under piles of rubble for hours, screaming for help. Sheila had been working in a factory in Rana Plaza for two years, sewing garments for major companies. A recently-widowed young mother, she had moved to Dhaka, Bangladesh, with her daughter in search of employment. One morning, the electricity in the factory went out only minutes after she arrived. The generator soon kicked in, and Sheila resumed her work. However, the building soon began to tremble, and within the seconds, pillars started to crumble. Sheila tried desperately to protect her head as the ceiling came down and swaths of people around her tried to leave. But before she could escape the building, the floor gave way, and Sheila was left smothered under the rubble (Clean Clothes Campaign).
At 5pm, people finally came to help. Concrete plates weighed heavily on trapped workers, and helpers struggled to lift Sheila out of the rubble. Although they were finally able to help her out, the weight of the concrete had damaged her uterus, which doctors had to remove completely at 11pm that night. The incident also left Sheila with permanent damage to her arm, and she is currently unable to work due to the constant pain she experiences. She needs medical treatment, but that costs money. Sheila wants a better life for her daughter, but she doesn’t have the funds to pay for tuition, uniforms, school supplies, and exams (Clean Clothes Campaign).
Sheila’s story is tragic, but it isn’t unique. She worked in a sweatshop, a factory where workers toil for long hours in hazardous conditions, earning wages so low that they are impossible to live off of. That day, the factory collapse killed over 1,000 people. 2,000 others, like Sheila, were left injured, and many were trapped under the rubble for days before help arrived. The previous day, structural cracks were discovered in the building, and the banks and shops that operated on the lower floors of the factory immediately closed. However, on the top floors, where the sweatshops were, management refused to shut down, pressuring workers to come in the next day. Only hours after the day’s start, the building began to collapse (Clean Clothes Campaign).
Another survivor, Roksana, recalls waking up in the rubble after passing out to find herself soaked in the blood of a dead body she was lying on top of. With her knee pierced by a metal rod and debris all around her, Roksana was unable to move. Trapped for two nights, she fell in and out of consciousness. Roksana says only the hope of death, which would provide a relief from suffering, kept her alive (Daly).
Throughout the global south, other garment workers face similar perils, working long hours in unsafe conditions for low pay (Amed). Among western nations, overconsumption is almost a way of life, and our purchasing habits are only encouraging the expansion of the sweatshop industry. In fact, companies that manufactured in the Rana Plaza factories at the time of the collapse include the Children’s Place, J.C. Penney, and Walmart (Clean Clothes Campaign). The average American buys sixty-eight items of clothing a year, and that number is only increasing (Hasan Minhaj). The more we consume, the more companies are inclined to produce greater quantities at lower prices. The current situation leaves workers overworked, unsafe, and impoverished. In order to combat sweatshop labor, garment companies must commit to establishing reasonable hours, safe labor conditions, and higher wages that their workers can live off of.
In recent years, the internet has facilitated consumerism, with many gaining platforms through haul videos and clothing sponsorships (Merrick). In short, western culture encourages overconsumption, disregarding the moral costs. To maximize profits, many major companies cut costs by exploiting garment workers. Over the past decade, more and more companies have emerged that value quantity over quality, sacrificing worker’s safety in the process (Merrick).
For example, take Shein, an online clothing company founded in 2008. Shein’s business model involves quickly identifying trends and shortening manufacturing cycles so popular items become readily available at cheap prices. It’s what’s referred to as “fast-fashion”, retailers' practice of rapidly producing trendy items. Although Shein is a Chinese company, its largest consumer market is in the U.S., where it makes up 28% of fashion sales (Walk-Morris). This year, Shein overtook Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app in the United States (Walk-Morris). In 2020 alone, the company made $10 billion dollars in revenue (Faithfull), and it’s currently valued at $30 billion (Nyugen). Now, other companies are looking to adopt Shein’s business model (Monroe), furthering the growth of the sweatshop industry.
When oppression is convenient, corporations rarely hesitate to mistreat their employees. About 80% of garment workers producing clothing for U.S. retailers work under conditions that violate both local and international labor laws (Cornell, 1). Laws alone rarely keep workers safe, and most factories ignore labor guidelines (Merrick). Essentially, it’s incredibly difficult to buy an item of clothing without contributing to the exploitation of someone else. Of course, consumers alone shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of large conglomerates, but when people’s basic human rights are being violated on such a large scale, we can’t stay complacent. As consumers, our values matter to companies, and we have to take action against the long hours, unsafe conditions, and low wages sweatshop workers endure.
Often, already marginalized people end up exploited in sweatshops. In Bangladesh, about four million people work in the clothing industry, and most of them are women (Choudhury). In all of South Asia, where rates of sweatshop labor are high, most workers belong to low castes or religious minorities (Paton). In these factories, they’re often forced to work arduously long hours, sometimes staying there for over half the day (Clean Clothes Campaign).
At one sweatshop in India, workers recounted staying overnight to finish orders after managers threatened to fire them if they didn’t. Some even recalled having to sleep on the factory floor. According to one woman, no one was allowed to use the bathroom or even take a break to drink water during a shift. Another woman described her inability to go home to feed her children because she was forced to stay at the factory well into the night. India’s Factory Act dictates that no employee should exceed working 48 hours a week, and even specifies that night-shifts for women are optional, but this policy was ignored at the factory (Rajini). In fact, throughout developing countries, government policies meant to protect workers are often disregarded entirely (Merrick).
Many children often work long hours in garment factories to help support their families (Moulds). Another worker in Dhaka, Bithi, was only twelve when she first began working in a garment factory. Her family was already too poor to afford even basic necessities like rice, but when her father became sick, Bithi’s mother finally made the decision to send her to a factory (World Vision Canada).
According to Bithi, who is now fifteen, she sews sixty pockets an hour. Despite the cramped conditions, Bithi says she is thankful for the job, but because she spends her entire day working, she had to let go of her dream to one day become a doctor (World Vision Canada). In developing countries, there are approximately fifty million children between five and fourteen who work in sweatshops (International Labour Organization). Imagine how many dreams these children are forced to abandon because they need to provide for their families. If sweatshop labor truly provided financial mobility, workers like Bithi wouldn’t have to give up on their dreams, but the reality is that they will likely work in garment factories for the rest of their careers (Blattman and Dercon).
In addition to these long hours, workers in sweatshops are often subjected to unsafe conditions, working in factories where their health and wellbeing are at risk. After the Rana Plaza collapse, some trapped workers had to have limbs amputated in order to get out of the rubble (Fitch). But weak buildings aren’t the only peril garment workers face.
Consider Thebelang Mohabi, a young woman who worked at a denim factory in Lesotho, a small country in South Africa. Outside the factory, crowds of unemployed women would line up, hoping for work. A male supervisor would approach, and these women were encouraged to provide sexual favors in exchange for the chance to work for just the day (Annie).
Thebelang thought she was safe because she already had a job at the factory and she worked diligently and quietly. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was recommended for a full-time position, but her comfort was short-lived (Annie).
A few weeks later, her supervisor summoned her to his office and claimed to be in love with her, but when she rejected his advances, he demanded she show him some gratitude. When she continued to refuse, he became aggressive, and she fled his office, going straight to human resources to complain. That day, Thebelang was fired, not her supervisor (Annie).
Thebelang found herself jobless at the age of 23, and her husband’s income alone wasn’t enough to support her and her daughter. He too, had worked in a sweatshop until he fell ill from inhaling denim fibers. Both Thebelang and her husband fell victim to unsafe sweatshop conditions. Without stable finances, Thebalang had to give up on her dream to one day go to nursing college. Today, she still can’t find a job, because the HR manager she complained to put a letter on her file that claimed she was insolent and insubordinate. That’s the sacrifice Thebalang was forced to make- she kept her dignity, but in standing up for herself, she was stripped of both her current job and any future prospects (Annie).
Other unsafe conditions faced by garment workers include crowded factories, a lack of ventilation, and no air-conditioning (Clean Clothes Campaign). Although these may just seem like inconveniences, it’s important to remember that employees work in these factories all day long. Crowded factories and repetitive work often leave employees susceptible to injury (Clean Clothes Campaign). Bithi, the teenage girl I mentioned earlier, once had to go home because of how much she bled after she punctured a finger on her sewing machine. Still, Bithi was just grateful she was able to take the day off to rest- many garment workers have to continue working while injured (World Vision Canada, Clean Clothes Campaign). On hot days, employees often pass out, sometimes for extended periods of time. Instead of going home, these workers have to keep sewing once they regain consciousness. Otherwise, they risk losing their jobs (Clean Clothes Campaign).
For their long hours in unsafe conditions, sweatshop laborers are paid next-to-nothing (Clean Clothes Campaign, Paton). At the factory in Lesotho, where Thebalang worked, the women outside who were able to secure a day’s labor only made $8 dollars for their work (Annie). That’s less than the hourly minimum wage in Connecticut (State of CT).
The minimum wage in Bangladesh is $68 per month, but most factories pay even less (Fitch). At Rana Plaza, workers were reported to make as little as forty-five cents an hour (Naimul). In fact, minimum wage laws are ignored in garment factories throughout the world (Merrick). A few years ago, one of Nike’s suppliers in Bangalore was found to be in violation of the law after they neglected to raise their wages in accordance with the new minimum wage. Instead of taking action, Nike refused to even acknowledge the injustice until media outlets started reporting on the incident (Banjo). So how did we even get to this point?
Many developed nations outsource their labor to developing countries, who have become dependent on this labor for their economies, in turn furthering the expansion of sweatshop labor (National Geographic). In these developing countries, the lack of enforcement of labor laws fuels the human rights violations garment workers face (Merrick).
If companies committed to being transparent about their supply chain and implementing protective policies for workers, we could see tangible change in the garment industry, but many people in the west don’t truly understand the harms of sweatshop labor. Take for example, those like Nicholas Kristof, who argue that sweatshop labor benefits workers because it provides a better alternative to rural poverty (“Where Sweatshops Are A Dream”). While it’s true that some multinational companies pay their workers more than local ones, they still provide wages that are unlivable. In any case, most major corporations subcontract local firms, so workers are paid local rates anyway (Powell and Skarbek). Although sweatshop labor can provide poor civilians with higher pay, it’s rare that it actually does, and justifying this labor because it is relatively better than other options only facilitates the continued exploitation of workers in the industry.
Sweatshop advocates like Kristof also often argue that this kind of labor provides women with more economic power, helping their social standing (Half The Sky). While it’s true that in many developing nations, women are severely disadvantaged because men hold the majority of economic power, sweatshop labor is not a good solution to the financial imbalance. Women do make up the majority of sweatshop workers, but they are subjected to horrible treatment in these factories (Fitch). There are millions of women just like Thebelang who have faced gendered violence in garment factories. In 2019, an ActionAid report estimated that 80% of all garment workers had faced sexual assault or harassment in the workplace (Annie). In the west, we can’t keep perpetuating the narrative that sweatshop labor will provide emancipation for women in poor nations. Is it equitable to work fifteen hours a day, cramped into a crowded room, only to still be struggling financially? Is it liberating to endure sexual assault because you fear that if you don’t, you’ll lose your job, and therefore the ability to provide for your family? Sweatshop labor doesn’t help women; instead, it endangers them. Painting this kind of work as empowering only furthers the exploitation of women in developing countries.
Of course, there are many challenges that come with ending sweatshop labor in garment factories. Prominent economists Jeffrey Sachs and Paul Krugman argue that without sweatshops, the economies of developing nations would fall apart (Garry). They’re right; developing nations do depend on sweatshop labor, which is why the fight against the sweatshop system must be global, with corporations from numerous countries taking action. In the west, when we think about ending sweatshop labor, we often consider localizing production to our own countries, but this would create a major deficit in the economies of developing nations (Kristof, “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream). Companies can still outsource their labor without using sweatshops, especially because the living wage in many developing countries is far lower than it is in countries like the United States (The UN Global Compact).
For example, consider Alta Gracia, a factory in the Dominican Republic that makes clothing for over 400 U.S. universities and sports teams. The company was started with the explicit intent of creating a profitable business without sacrificing the wellbeing of workers. Although only a small startup, Alta Gracia pays its employees a living wage, almost three and a half times mandated minimum wage. Workers can also easily unionize, with no pushback from management. Although the factory isn’t large, it’s changed the lives of its workers.
According to Santa Castillo, an employee there, the pay has given her the opportunity to start building a house with her family. Santa currently lives in a tiny wooden shack, and her three children share one bedroom. The shack doesn't have space for a bathroom, so the family has to use a nearby outhouse (Adler-Milstein).
Now, she has the means to start building a house with two bedrooms and a bathroom. Santa is ecstatic about Alta Gracia, saying “We never had the opportunity to make wages like this before, I feel blessed.” The factory has provided the Castillo’s with something sweatshop labor is often touted for, social mobility. And while sweatshop labor may provide better conditions than rural work, laborers rarely make enough money to afford lifestyle changes like building a new house. Sweatshop labor did not provide Santa with job stability or enough money to cover the costs of living, Alta Gracia did (Adler-Milstein).
Companies like Alta Gracia actually benefit from their ethical labor system. Although it’s true that ethically-made clothing often comes at a higher price, profit hasn’t been a challenge for the company. The living-wage premium is only 90 cents per garment at Alta Gracia. That’s less than a dollar more for consumers to ensure workers are being treated fairly. In fact, after overcoming challenges with establishing the factory, Alta Gracia began to see many benefits. For example, there is far less worker turnover in the factory than in sweatshops. This is beneficial because more experienced workers are more efficient, and they have the skills to learn new techniques and quickly problem-solve (Adler-Milstein).
So, what needs to happen? As I said before, tangible change can only be achieved through a multinational agreement. This agreement would be legally binding, between global brands, retailers, and trade unions. In order to join this agreement, companies would have to pledge to do the following:
Be transparent about supply chain and labor practices
Commit to paying a living wage
Give workers a 40-hour a week maximum and financially compensate workers for overtime work
Ensure safe working conditions, like making sure buildings are up-to-code
Work with local government AND local factories to make sure labor policies are enforced
To ensure the agreement is being followed, companies would have to submit to random inspections of factories from third-party organizations. After signing the agreement, companies would have two years to implement changes. Participating companies would be certified as “sweatshop-free.”
If inspections reveal human-rights violations, companies would have two months to get back on track. The companies that didn’t implement changes within this period would be fined or have the title of “sweatshop-free” taken away depending on the extent of their violations.
So how can we, as consumers, encourage companies to take these steps? We have to show corporations that sweatshop labor is an issue we care about. First, it’s important that we minimize the amount of clothing we buy from unethical retailers, companies that use sweatshop labor. If possible, we should boycott these companies entirely. Supporting companies that don’t use sweatshop labor instead of those that do shows corporations that we value fair labor practices and helps keep these more ethical businesses in practice. Of course, ethically-made clothing can come at a higher price-point that not everyone can afford, but there are still other options (Davis). For example, I usually buy second-hand clothing, and when I don’t, I make sure I’m purchasing from a company that is transparent about its labor practices and doesn’t violate the human rights of its workers. While this may seem difficult, it’s not, especially when we realize we don’t need to be buying so many clothes every year. Shopping at thrift stores or other consignment clothing stores allows consumers to buy new clothing without directly contributing to the exploitation of workers. That’s not to say that poorer people who can’t afford to buy ethically should only shop at these stores. Of course, consumers, especially those who are low-income, aren’t at fault if they buy fast-fashion occasionally; it’s overconsumption that really fuels the issue. But limiting our purchases from companies that exploit garment workers isn’t enough.
What’s most important is that we work towards creating a world where sweatshop labor isn’t the norm. So, what other steps can we take to make this a reality? Many NGOs like Clean Clothes Campaign, offer easy ways to quickly help out. For example, signing petitions, which may seem like a minor act, can actually sway companies if enough people take action. After the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, one British company, Benetton, refused to acknowledge their link to the factory despite irrefutable evidence like their labels being found in the rubble. However, after a petition received a million signatures, Benetton finally agreed to donate money to a fund for survivors (Clean Clothes Campaign). Consumers showed the company they wouldn’t uphold inhumane practices, and Benetton was forced to listen.
What’s crucial, though, is sustained effort. We have to show garment companies that sweatshop labor is not an issue we’re willing to forget about. The Bangladesh accord was created after the incident at Rana Plaza, and nearly 200 brands signed the agreement, which mandated inspections, public disclosure regarding factory conditions, the introduction of health & safety committees, and increased training for workers. Among these brands were huge companies like H&M. The problem is, the Accord expired, and very few brands have signed the new agreement (Clean Clothes Campaign). That’s why we have to keep putting in effort by contacting companies and pressuring them to sign, adding our names to petitions, donating to NGOs and even campaigning ourselves when we can. Imagine if the Bangladesh Accord was a global agreement, and multinational corporations committed to keeping their workers safe and fairly compensated. If enough people invest just a little of their time and energy into this issue, we can work towards building a world where sweatshop labor, at least in the garment industry, is a thing of the past.
Works Cited
Adler-Milstein, Sarah. "The Tiny Dominican Factory That Disproves the Need for Sweatshops." Interview by Gillian B. White. The Atlantic, 24 Nov. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/11/factory-apparel-industry-ethical/546419/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
Amed, Imran. "How Can a Garment Be Cheaper Than a Sandwich?" The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/opinion/covid-fashion-industry-worker-exploitation.html. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.
Banjo, Shelly. "Inside Nike's Struggle to Balance Cost and Worker Safety in Bangladesh." The Wall Street Journal, 21 Apr. 2014, https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-nikes-struggle-to-balance-cost-and-worker-safety-in-bangladesh-1398133855. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Blattman, Christopher, and Stefan Dercon. "Everything We Knew About Sweatshops Was Wrong." The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/opinion/do-sweatshops-lift-workers-out-of-poverty.html. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Canepa, Garry. "Why the World Needs Sweatshops." Northeastern University Economic News, 19 Oct. 2016, web.northeastern.edu/econsociety/why-the-world-needs-sweatshops/. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
Choudhury, Saheli. "'Vulnerable' garment workers in Bangladesh bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic." CNBC, 28 Oct. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/10/19/coronavirus-worsened-the-reality-for-bangladesh-garment-workers.html. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Clean Clothes Campaign. cleanclothes.org/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Cornell. 3 Aug. 2001, ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/98927/Retailindus.pdf?sequence=1#:~:text=Global%20Industry%2C%20Global%20Sweat%20shops&text=About%2080%20percent%20of%20apparel,crisis%20is%20only%20getting%20worse. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Daly, Emma. "Witness: Rana Plaza Factory Collapse Still Plagues Survivors." Human Rights Watch, 22 Apr. 2015, www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/22/witness-rana-plaza-factory-collapse-still-plagues-survivors#. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Davis, Jessica. "How you can help make sustainable fashion more affordable." Harper's Bazaar, 28 Aug. 2019, www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a28609044/sustainable-fashion-expensive-why/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.
"Effects of Economic Globalization." National Geographic, 23 Dec. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.org/article/effects-economic-globalization/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.
Faithfull, Mark. "Shein: Is China's Mysterious $15 Billion Fast Fashion Retailer Ready For Stores?" Forbes, 10 Feb. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/markfaithfull/2021/02/10/shein-is-chinas-mysterious-15-billion-fast-fashion-retailer-ready-for-stores. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Fitch, Nathan. "The Deadly Cost of Fashion." The New York Times, 14 Apr. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/opinion/the-deadly-cost-of-fashion.html. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.
International Labour Organization, "Global Estimates of Child Labour." 7 Nov. 2017, www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575499.pdf.
Karim, Naimul. "Six years after Bangladesh's Rana Plaza disaster, fashion brands urged to pay more." Reuters, 24 Apr. 2019, www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-labour-fashion/six-years-after-bangladeshs-rana-plaza-disaster-fashion-brands-urged-to-pay-more-idUSKCN1S01BI. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Kelly, Annie. "Fashion's dirty secret: how sexual assault took hold in jeans factories." The Guardian, 20 Aug. 2020, www.theguardian.com/news/2020/aug/20/fashion-industry-jeans-lesotho-garment-factory-workers-sexual-violence. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Kristof, Nicholas. "Where Sweatshops Are a Dream." The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.
Kristof, Nicholas, and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky.
"Living Wage." The UN Global Compact, www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/livingwages. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.
Merrick, Amy. "Why Students Aren't Fighting Forever 21." The New Yorker, 6 June 2014.
Monroe, Rachel. "Ultra-fast Fashion Is Eating the World." The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2021, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/03/ultra-fast-fashion-is-eating-the-world/617794/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Moulds, Josephine. "Child labour in the fashion supply chain." The Guardian, labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Nyugen, Terry. "Shein is the future of fast fashion. Is that a good thing?" Vox, www.vox.com/the-goods/22573682/shein-future-of-fast-fashion-explained. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Paton, Elizabeth. "Made for Next to Nothing. Worn by You?" The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/fashion/india-fast-fashion-homeworkers.html. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Powell, Benjamin, and David Skarbek. "Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat?" Independent Institute, www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1369. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.
State of Connecticut. "Governor Lamont Reminds Residents That Connecticut's Minimum Wage Is Scheduled To Increase on Sunday." CT Gov, 21 July 2021, portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2021/07-2021/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Connecticuts-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Sunday. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
"The Ugly Truth Of Fast Fashion." Produced by Hasan Minhaj. Patriot Act, season 5, episode 3, 24 Nov. 2019. Netflix, www.netflix.com/title/80239931. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.
Vaidyanathan, Rajini. "Indian factory workers supplying major brands allege routine exploitation." BBC, 17 Nov. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54960346. Accessed 11 Nov. 2021.
Walk-Morris, Tatiana. "Shein surpasses H&M, Zara in US fast fashion sales." Retail Dive, 12 July 2021, www.retaildive.com/news/shein-surpasses-hm-zara-in-us-fast-fashion-sales/603160/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
World Vision Canada. "Bithi's story: child labour in the textile and apparel industries." The Guardian, 2 May 2018, medium.com/@worldvisioncan/bithis-story-child-labour-in-the-textile-and-apparel-industries-40b6da0c1521. Accessed 6 Dec. 2021.
Commentaires