How much did that cute little dress bought at Target cost? 187 lives

[cali]

Bangladesh building tragedy down to West's cost squeeze -NGOs

Major western clothing retailers squeezing Asian suppliers and a flawed approach to ensuring even basic working standards are fuelling conditions for tragedies like the latest factory collapse in Bangladesh, NGOs said on Thursday.

At least 187, mainly female workers, were killed and over 1,000 injured when the eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building in Savar, 30 kilometres (20 miles) outside the capital Dhaka, collapsed on Wednesday.


"What we're saying is that bargain-basement (clothing) is automatically leading towards these types of disasters," John Hilary, executive director at British charity War on Want, told Reuters.

<snip>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/25/bangladesh-building-idUSL6N0DC3N220130425

[Union Scribe]

1. Just a few months after the clothing factory fire that killed more than 100

Also in Bangladesh, iirc.

[sabrina 1]

2. Our government could help put an end to this 'bargain basement shopping for slave labor'

by removing all tax breaks for US Corps who engage in it, by applying the same labor laws (any we have left) to US Corps going overseas to find cheap labor, raising the standards here (see the Gulf Oil spill and the Texas explosion).

But then our government would have to NOT be complicit in this entire, Global crime.

[whathehell]

4. +10 nt/

[liberal N proud]

6. +1000

[progressoid]

8. True.

But people would really get pissed if they had to pay more for their underwear and plastic gizmos.

[sabrina 1]

10. A few real Democrats tried to introduce such legislation ten years ago. Naturally it went

nowhere, and I don't think any of them are in Congress anymore, or they have learned to be quiet after watching the smear campaigns that take place against anyone who dares to try to upset the status quo.

It will take huge numbers in Congress to be able to even begin the changes necessary to turn this country around. But money will keep making that very difficult to do and both parties are now so complicit, it has become acceptable, even on the left, sadly.

[Fawke Em]

23. And raise the minimum wage here.

The reason there is a market for such cheap clothing is that many Americans barely make enough to eat, much less buy clothing.

[Maraya1969]

29. +1,000

I think a law should be enacted that only allows for the top level executives to make a certain percentage above the hourly workers. Someone said they had that in England.

The top executives are stealing all the money from the workers. If, for example the CEO made only 20 times what the worker does, as it was in the 1960's as opposed to the 1,000 times they are making now, and the other executives made less than that there would be plenty of money to pay their workers a living wage.

We should all start a shaming program at these CEO's

[Wednesdays]

33. Get with the program

Those CEOs work 1000 times harder than the average worker, don't you know?

[Maraya1969]

52. Right, they work that old 40,000 hour week!

[femmocrat]

3. Has anyone seen an article that lists which retailers were selling these items?

The article does not mention Target or any other retailer. It only mentions: "Major western clothing retailers" as potential contractors.

[sabrina 1]

7. It's hard to fight this when our government promotes it. I would like a list

so people at least know the real cost of this cheap labor. But I doubt it will stop people from buying at those stores.

This requires leadership at a national level and we are so very far from that happening, anymore than we can stop the phony wars where we kill innocent people for profit, it's hard to know where to begin.

I used to have some hope that this country could be turned around after the Bush years, but now I see much clearly why Bush was ever in the WH to begin with.

[femmocrat]

11. I would like to see a list, too.

On the same page as the link, there was an article about Walmart investing S1.6 million in safety "training" at some of those
plants. I am no defender of Walmart, but the article does give some additional information on the subject.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/09/walmart-bangladesh-factories-idUSL2N0CV0U720130409

On edit: One of the benefits of having a list of retailers would be to publicize those retailers in the event consumers would wish to boycott them or their merchandise.

[leftyohiolib]

34. hence the generic major retailers, no names

[cali]

16. WalMart's Faded Glory brand is made in Bangladesh

H&M, Marks and Spencer in Great Britain, Tommy Hilfiger contracts there. Dress Barn, Benetton, Joe Fresh, Disney clothes, Sears, and so many more

http://www.cleanclothes.org/

[femmocrat]

19. Thanks for the link!

Lots of great info on there, including this:

"Activists today managed to enter the ruins of 'Rana Plaza' and found labels and documentation linking major European retailers to this latest tragedy: Spanish high street brand Mango and British Primark. On their website, factories list wellknown brands as customers including C&A, KIK and Wal-Mart. These brands were also involved in the fire at the Tazreen factory, not far from Savar, where 112 workers died in a fire exactly five months ago. German costcutter KIK was also involved in the Ali Enterprises fire in Pakistan, where nearly 300 workers burned to death last September."

http://www.cleanclothes.org/media-inquiries/press-releases/labels-primark-and-mango-found-after-factory-collapse-bangladesh

[enlightenment]

30. Target is one.

Primark in the UK - also Asda (which is owned by Walmart, I believe - so add Walmart). The bottom line is look at the label. Even in "higher end" shops, there are more and more garments with "made in Bangladesh - or Guatemala - or Thailand - or India - or Macedonia - or South Africa" . . . or any of the other countries that manufacturing has moved to because there are few regulatory laws to protect workers from exploitation.

Keep in mind that a lot of the workers are children - there are between 12 (official figure) and 60 (NGO figures) million child workers in India alone and many of them work in the textile industry. Very young children are often sent to work picking cotton, because their small hands move more quickly. They work in the mills; they work around the toxic chemicals used to treat and dye cloth.

But you asked for articles. Sorry. This stuff makes me furious.

http://www.change.org/petitions/clothing-brands-take-responsibility-for-workers-burned-alive
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/24/bangladesh_building_collapse_kills_scores.html (read to mid-article for manufacturers)

Try googling textile worker exploitation, too.

[wet.hen88]

37. hmm

Makes you wonder why there's NOT a list. Even those companies who do "good" have profiles as "good" places to invest. Maybe its not good business to publish that list, or even bad business to do so...def worth a "hmm".

[Ron Green]

5. There are many failures of Capitalism,

and this is one of the most horrible.

[Armstead]

9. Big K&R -- This is at the core of what is wrong with the values we have allowed to domionate

[NYC_SKP]

12. Our government should do much more, but purchasers of these garments are not without blame. (links)

It's fine to blame the government but we also could all do a bit more to try to buy American goods or at least do a little bit of research to see what brands or countries of origin to avoid.

Usually, widespread popular boycotts work faster than government reform.

http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/actionguide/compile-responsible-shopping-guide

http://www.dosomething.org/cause/62/resources

http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-491-practical-ways-to-avoid-sweatshop-clothing.html

http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/sweatshops/whattoknow.cfm

[BrotherIvan]

14. Yes! We do have power, buying power

Buy American dammit.

I am so tired of people saying they MUST buy sweatshop goods because that's all they can afford. That is simply not true. It's because they do not take the time to research where to buy quality goods. The internet has allowed a whole new way to shop for goods from independent US companies for prices that are often the same as slave merchandise and the quality exponentially better.

I wish there were regulations and tariffs against these awful practices. But we can't sit and wait for our bought-off officials to do anything about it. Those big corporations want your $$, don't give it to them unless they've earned it.

[actslikeacarrot]

18. If people buy second hand...

...are they still to blame? And there are many people who CANT afford many of the clothing items out there. BOTH of these problems could be fixed by actually raising wages here. More people would be willing to buy clothing that is a little more expensive but aren't made in sweatshops. Two birds, one stone. And it is something that we could do.

[BrotherIvan]

24. I'm not trying to judge

And I have found and many people here have too, that buying especially small appliances the products are even better because they were built to last. For clothing, I have found so many amazing deals on Etsy, especially for children. And the quality was amazing, a million times better than anything I could buy in a big box store.

And also, teaching people to buy less, but better quality because it saves money in the long run. Remember when jeans used to last for years? When tools were guaranteed for life? There are great companies out there that still do that. I thought they had all gone, until I started doing some research.

Walmart has done a great job educating people to automatically believe they have the lowest prices. They absolutely to not. And because one has to replace it over and over because an item falls apart, what kind of value is that?

[Whoopdedoo]

35. Indeed

Buy American. I am wearing jeans made in Texas. My boots are Red Wing which are still made in America. Sam's puts on sale socks made in America. A great site for all things manufactured in America is 'madeintheusaforever.com'. Quality stuff too. There are other sites but this one handles thousands of small businesses. What you should do is pick more than one item and then save for them because the shipping is lower on multiple items. The Texas jeans are over two years old and holding up very well.

[Brickbat]

13. Consumers have shown again and again that they don't care.

[BrotherIvan]

15. It's frankly sickening

Looking at your avatar, I remember the "Look for the Union Label" ad campaigns. Boy, have times changed. We must EDUCATE our children how to be responsible consumers because advertising has been teaching them 24/7 how to be willing lambs.

[Brickbat]

20. Agreed. I talk to my kids a lot about it. We look at the made-in label of everything we buy and talk

about wants vs. needs, alternatives for things we think we want or need, and how sometimes there aren't alternatives. Even just thinking about it can help fight against the sick and desperate system that gets rammed in our faces every day.

[BrotherIvan]

25. That's fantastic

You hit it right on the head: people no longer know the difference between wants and needs. The American consumer has turned into a zombie junkie for cheap goods. The PTB are laughing as we literally gorge ourselves on the cheap, slave-made products.

[Brickbat]

28. I'll admit, I used to be a spur-of-the-moment shopper at Target who would pick up cute, cheap

clothes when I was buying paper towels and laundry detergent. Especially when the kids were babies. And then I started thinking about it, and I made myself do this: When I pulled a shirt off the shelf to put it in my cart, I would hold onto it for about 10 seconds and think about the people who touched the shirt before I did. Going way back. People who pulled it off one sewing machine and put it on another, or who turned it right side out when it was ready to pack. And then I would think about how it would be impossible for me to figure out if whoever had touched the shirt before me was 25 or 16 or 10, or what s/he had gotten paid, or if he had been beaten or if she had been raped by her boss. Nothing guaranteed to me what conditions its makers worked in, whether the "made in" tag said India, Bangladesh, El Salvador, China, and so on. Even "Made in USA" is suspect, with the crap that goes on in the Marianas. And usually, once I thought through all that, I found that I didn't really want what I thought I wanted.

And after awhile, I found I didn't really need to go to Target anymore, either. Their anti-union work sealed the deal.

[wet.hen88]

38. and something else!

Last year, while involved in a part time job search, I went online to fill out a Target application. Several questions subtly! tried to probe voting preferences...and one came right out and asked if you did or did not trust elected representatives! Message: to work here, you must have no opinions.

[BrotherIvan]

39. That is SCARY

Wow, I never knew that, thanks for letting us know.

[BrotherIvan]

40. Your story is so inspiring

And it also shows the value of education. If more people knew, or cared to know, they might make the same decision. It's why corporations fight labeling as is the case with GMOs. Europeans refused to buy that poison so they don't sell. Those shiny new shoes would look pretty gross if one knew the suffering that goes into them. I know there are some goods that are impossible to find that are purely US made as so much manufacturing has left the country for good. But if we do our best, it might come back.

[Heywood J]

53. If you put ten random things in front of me,

I couldn't tell you which one was a union label, nor where one would look for/find such a thing. I couldn't explain the concept to someone without Googling it. This is also after growing up in a household run by a union member, albeit one who was relatively apolitical.

A little more PR to get the concept across might not hurt. There's no consciousness of this for people in certain age brackets.

[BrotherIvan]

55. I'm not sure they use it anymore

But "Made in USA" has a very specific meaning. For example in textiles, the fabric itself has to be made here (though not necessarily grown). That's getting harder and harder to find as mills have been shutting down for decades. But you can find Made in the USA of imported goods. Reading labels is important in whatever you buy.

Here's a video with a catchy tune

[BrotherIvan]

56. I am also very interested in this organization

It's in North Carolina, so I've been seeking out companies with the "Living Wage Certified Employer"

http://justeconomicswnc.org/asheville-buncombe-living-wage-campaign/

It would be great to have this all over the country.

[Smarmie Doofus]

17. Hmmm... But no one really *talks* to them about it.

i.e. pols, media, clergy etc.

It's not even on the radar as far as what people are talking about.

(Don't get me wrong: it will be hard-to-impossible to get people to voluntarily pay more --- it simply runs against the grain of human nature; but the first step is to talk and think about it.)

[spinbaby]

21. But people WILL pay more

Consumers pay more for products made in the USA, organically raised produce, fair-trade coffee, and eggs laid by cage-free chickens. Give them the information and they will pay more. Give them a living wage and they will be able to afford to pay more.

[BrotherIvan]

27. I hate to say it, but wages won't go up UNTIL consumers change the landscape

It's sort of a cart before the horse thing. We are a consumer economy. That means we can control where the money flows to a certain extent. If we'd stop falling prey to advertising and shopped local, ate at mom & pops, and bought American-made goods, we could tip the balance all by ourselves.

The fact that they convinced everyone that unions are bad and government employees are the root of our fiscal problems should tell you something.

I know it seems like so much extra work at the end of a long, long day. People are worked to death and don't have time to do all this research, etc. But until we get off this vicious wheel, it's going to keep on going.

[Brickbat]

22. In many cases, they wouldn't have to pay more.

When production moves overseas, prices don't go down. Profits go up.

[BrotherIvan]

26. ^^This!^^

Our company has experienced this time and again as we source our raw materials. And now we are finding a new phenomenon: companies moving production from China to Pakistan or Bangladesh. And you thought the quality of Chinese-made goods was bad, wait till you get a load of the next wave coming from those countries. It's a race to the bottom all in the name of profit. (In case you're wondering, we ended up investing in the machinery to make it ourselves instead.)

I tell everyone, because we are a small company, we spend all our time putting our efforts into making the absolute BEST product we can, not the most profitable. Because we have our production right here, in our home town, we are constantly improving and inspecting. I'm amazed at how amazing our stuff is when I compare it to any foreign-made goods, the care we take with every detail. When you buy foreign goods, all their energy and expertise goes toward making a profit and offsetting the cost of shipping back to the US.

[whttevrr]

32. {:o(

Too true.

[cynatnite]

31. And the government of Bangladesh?

I agree that to an extent the US is culpable, but so is the government of Bangladesh. So are the people who own and operated that factory.

There is a lot of blame to spread around here, but I see very little of that happening.

[drokhole]

36. "None of us wanted to go in. The bosses came after us with beating sticks. In the end we were forced

...to go in."

From this article:

Owner forced workers into doomed factory

Another article reports that those factory owners are now in hiding.

According to Matthew Yglesias from Slate, this type of bullshit is "OK!!!":

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/24/international_factory_safety.html

[BrotherIvan]

41. That article made me sick

If you could take the time and post it on its own, perhaps more people would see and discuss it. That man should never be read or listened to again.

[drokhole]

47. I never heard of Matthew Yglesias before someone posted that article in another comments section...

...and I certainly won't be reading anything else from that sociopath.

Here's the thread. Thanks for the suggestion.

[HiPointDem]

42. it's not just bargain-basement clothing.

[reformist2]

43. Exactly. It depends on whether it was a high-end sweatshop or a low-end sweatshop. :p

[HiPointDem]

44. Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne,for example...

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/sweatshops.html

[femmocrat]

45. Here is a list:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11172632

Thank you, Teamster Jeff!

[raouldukelives]

46. And how much profit did investors make off those deaths? Not enough. nt

[Skittles]

48. Target clothing is cheap crap

are people REALLY asking for this?

[malaise]

49. The death toll has passed 200 n/t

[Canuckistanian]

50. Well, divided by the number of dresses they made

That's the net worth of their lives.

[CBGLuthier]

51. So a bunch of Bangladeshis treat their fellow citizens like shit and it is the US's fault.

Bullshit. Utter bullshit. Where were the Bangladeshi building inspectors? Where is the Bangladeshi labor department?

[cali]

57. uh, who do you think contracts out to the Bangladeshi sweat shops?

[Barack_America]

54. This is pretty much why I buy almost everything second-hand these days.

It's pretty much impossible to avoid clothes made in these countries nowadays. I figure at least the manufacturers themselves aren't getting my money.

[Blue_Tires]

58. Death toll currently at 304

http://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166394:rana-plaza-death-toll-reaches-272-many-still-trapped-inside&catid=187 nline-edition&Itemid=223