A Call for Change in the Garment Industry

Introduction

The mass media continues to report on the unfair and hazardous treatment of garment workers in the fashion business. When news emerged that non-paying brands were leaving Bangladeshi factories in a state of emergency, a slew of campaigns were launched to raise understanding of the issue and provide assistance to garment workers. For nations like India and Bangladesh, the situation before the beginning of the pandemic was dire and unjust, and it is being aggravated more so, now (Brooks-Islam, 2020). In the light of this, it is important to bring awareness and initiate a people-centric change with regards to sourcing and buying ethical fashion.

The purpose of this report is to contextualise the problem of unethical labour in the fashion industry, particularly labour which is sourced from India and Bangladesh and to map out a awareness campaign event, which can reach individuals at a base level and educate them about making smarter choices about where they buy their garments from.

Client Background and Details

The report and event has been initiated and compensated for by the H&M Foundation, which is a global non-profit foundation, financed by the Stefan Persson family. The project is being funded as the United Nations Sustainability Goals of 2030 are one of the main drivers of the foundation and the driving goal behind the H&M Foundation's is to question the status quo and seek out novel solutions. Their objectives involve guiding the fashion world toward being earth positive and accelerating the growth of sustainable communities to help preserve humanity's well-being (hmgroup.com).

The move comes after a 2019 report published by the Baptist World Aid in Australia, which conducted research on 130 countries across the world. The report reiterates the importance of factors like Freedom of Association and grievance mechanisms. One of the ILO's Four Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work is freedom of association, which includes the right to negotiate. Workers are better able to negotiate good working conditions and higher pay when these rights are effectively recognised. Workers may raise complaints about infringements of their right and their safety through grievance processes, which can then be addressed inside the plant. Many businesses, correctly, demand that factories develop internal grievance processes that enable employees to settle issues with their employers personally (Sanders and Mawson, 2019).

The company wants to initiate the event in the light of the negative publicity that has been created due to the negative allegations of gender-based violence and inequality in pay in major brands, which includes H&M (thewire.in; econonomictimes.indiatimes.com).

Aims and Objectives of the Report

The aims of the the study is to map out a plan for an awareness campaign among consumers in order to educate them about how to source clothing ethically, which has not come from controversial labour practices in countries like Bangladesh and India. The report and initiative comes at the time when the fashion industry and the workers have been hit hard due to the pandemic-related restrictions. Reports have revealed that in countries such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs and many more were taken ill as COVID-19 advanced through crowded manufacturing plants. People who decided to speak out about unhealthy or unequal conditions were often fired or brutalised (Hoskins, 2021).

The objective of this report is dual in nature; firstly to launch an online awareness campaigns in order to increase awareness about unlawful and exploitative practices in the industry of garment making. Secondly, it wants to reiterate on the recent ethical practices it has been making strides in with regards to eliminating unlawful labour in its sourcing. The event will also try to elucidate the initiatives H&M is taking in order to stop exploitation of garment workers in Bangladesh and India.

Background of the Problem

The purpose of the event is to address several problems with regards to the exploitation of labour force in India and Bangladesh, pertaining to the garment industry. The issue is both a organisational and structural one, and the International Labour Organisation’s policies are also lacking. Since the 1980s and early 1990s, a growing number of academics, activists, and lawmakers have expressed concern about the ILO's ineffectiveness in resolving poor labour standards, especially in the context of rising capital movements and a more dynamic global trade climate (Campbell, 1994; Bas et al 2003). Labor regulations in Bangladesh, are only seen by a small percentage of businesses as a significant or serious impediment to their investments in the nation. According to a World Bank survey on the investment environment conducted in 2003, less than 6% of companies surveyed found labour regulations to be a significant or serious impediment, compared to an average of 13%, which is usually the case world wide (World Bank, 2006). Human Rights Watch published a report titled, ‘Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most: Workers' Rights in Bangladesh's Garment Factories’ in 2015. This report was published two years after the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka collapsed, calling for the enforcement of labor standards and the end of unfair treatment of employees in Bangladesh. More than 160 employees from 44 factories were interviewed for this article. The report elucidated on the dismal conditions in which workers would work in the factory. In the light of the pandemic, these workers are even more disadvantaged, buyers have declined to pay for raw materials that the retailer had already bought, and 91 percent refused to pay for manufacturing costs. As a result, over two million garment workers could lose their jobs and face poverty (Gallotti, 2020). A similar story can be seen in India; according to research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, women and girls from the most marginalised backgrounds worked in households across India for as little as 11p per hour. Child labour and indentured servitude were rampant, and salaries were routinely slashed (Ratcliffe, 2019; business-humanrights.org; Vaidyanathan, 2020).

Research Results

The nature of the initiative was based on a questionnaire which was conducted by the group, which was done to gauge the awareness of the general populations about the labour exploitation of the garment workers and the unethical practices of major garment companies of the west. The research unearthed that almost 79% of the respondents do not read the label of the garment they are purchasing and hence, before purchasing, aren’t aware of the area where it is being made. 38% of the respondents didn’t know that unethical practices are employed in countries like Bangladesh and India in order to make garments.

Event Planning and Details

The event that is going to be organised is going to be a one-day awareness campaign whereby individuals who are experts in ethical sourcing and trade laws will deliver a seminar on the methods through which individuals can choose retailers who source their labour ethically and who follow ethical standards while shopping.

The seminar will be a one day event and will consist of five thirty minute sessions, each chaired by a moderator and delivered by an expert who will be speaking about ethics in fashion from a consumer’s perspective. The timetable of the events is as follows:

Time and Venue

The seminar will be held online, keeping in mind the restrictions which have been put forward by the pandemic. The seminar will be held on the 5th of May, 2021 and registration will not be required for attending then seminar. The seminar will be held through Zoom and participants will have the opportunity to attend and ask a limited number of questions to the panelists.

Social Media Advertisement

The event will be publicised through social media, where the poster will be posted on college group pages, academic pages and ethics communities and pages. The event will also be popularised on fashion pages and communities. The adverts will direct individuals with a registration link, which they can use to register for the event and log in to the Zoom session.

The Event and Timetable

The event will be held in one day and all sessions will be held online, which the participants can attend via Zoom. The time table of the event is as follows:

Talk 1: Dr. Zayed Morris, Lawyer of Trade and Ethics: ‘The Role of ILO in ensuring standards for the fashion sourcing’.

Talk 2: Helena Barnes, Human Rights Activist: ‘The Violation of human rights in Bangladesh and Western Fashion Manufacturers’

Talk 3: Rupert Wing, PhD Student: ‘Understanding Ethical Ramifications of Buying Fast Fashion’.

Talk 4: Samuel Mridha, PhD Scholar: ‘Cheap Labour and Exploitation of Indian Garment Workers’.

The talk will be 30 minutes each and after each session, there will be a 10 minute allowance for questions and answers. The panelists will be able to ask questions to each other as well. There will be a booklet which will be produced and sent to the email IDs of all the registered attendees after the event, which will constitute of the abstracts of all the talks which have been delivered, in addition to a number of additional sources and academic papers that the individuals could refer to when they want to learn more about the problem and its implications.

References

H&M Group. 2021. H&M Foundation - H&M Group. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

Roberts-Islam, B., 2021. Why Does The Fashion Industry Care Less About Garment Workers In Other Countries?. [online] Forbes. Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

Sanders, L. and Mawson, J., 2019. The 2019 ethical fashion report: The truth behind the barcode.

ETRetail.com. 2021. H&M in talks to support Bangladesh workers as lockdowns hit livelihoods - ET Retail. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

The Wire. 2021. Women Workers Report Abuse, Violence Across Fashion Giant H&M's Supply Chain. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

openDemocracy. 2021. “They left us starving”: How the fashion industry abandoned its workers. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

Campbell, D., 1994. Foreign investment, labour immobility and the quality of employment. Int'l Lab. Rev., 133, p.185.

Gallotti, G., 2021. COVID-19 Exacerbates Exploitation in the Bangladeshi Garment Industry — Human Rights Pulse. [online] Human Rights Pulse. Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 2021. India's garment workers continue to fight against exploitation - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

BBC News. 2021. Indian factory workers supplying major brands allege routine exploitation. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 2021. Film exposing exploitation of workers in Bangladesh's garment industry gets critical acclaim - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2021].

1. What is your age?

2. How frequently do you shop? Once every week/month Once a month/few months Longer

3. How much do you like to spend on clothing? __________

4. Do you like economical shopping? Yes/No

5. Do you know what fast fashion is? Yes/No

6. Do you know from where clothes and garments are sourced?

7. Do you read the label where it is mentioned before buying a garment?

8.Do you know about the ethical standards which are followed for garment workers?

9. Do you know about the exploitation of garment workers in Bangladesh and India?

10. Would you stop buying clothes from a brand if you knew they were participating in the same kind of exploitation?

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