Why Manufacturing in Bangladesh is a Big Problem

Bangladesh, in many ways, sits at the center of this ethical manufacturing fight, as it holds ground zero, The Rana Plaza factory which collapsed over 4 years ago. Since that day western brands have been in an agreement to resolve the unsafe working conditions over there. However with the 4,000 - 5,000 factories manufacturing in Bangladesh, most far behind the Accord and Alliance agreements which are set to expire next year (2018), what are we to do? Here’s why Bangladesh is such a big effing problem.

What’s Wrong?
Western brands from both North America and Europe entered agreements with Bangladesh factories to improve working conditions back in 2013. Well 4 years later, we have 1 away from their set deadlines and we aren’t doing too hot.  The Atlantic breaks this down a bit. Most researches on this project agree on the following points:

• The odds of all factories being fixed and up to standard in a year are slim
• Regardless of structural problems being resolved the factories, there are still threats to the worker’s safety that won’t be resolved.

As we discussed back in April with Conscious Magazine, only 18% of the Accord agreement factories have completed 90% of the compliance standards leaving the lion’s share lagging behind schedule in corrective action plans. Furthermore, the Alliance has reported only 5% of the factories completely meeting all of their requirements, there is still much work to be done.

What’s Needed?
Business of Fashion reported at the end of June that two Switzerland based global trade unions, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union,  have signed a renewal agreement for another 3 years to continue their work manufacturing in Bangladesh.

• Better strategy:  In December of 2015, only 8 of 3,425 factories inspected passed the upgrades despite $280 million in safety improvement efforts pouring in from brands, non profits, and other organizations. So the money has been flowing, and maybe they need a lot more, but they also need to trim some corporate fat, and start operating on a lean model to make some faster improvements.
• Better reporting: According to Labowitz and Baumann-Pauly’s [researchers with NYU] estimates, there are around 7,165 export factories in the country, a number that Anner and Bair [researchers at Penn State and University of Colorado]  say is overestimated by at least 2,000, due to double-counting and a lack of accounting for factory closures. They also argue that the NYU estimate of 5.1 million garment factory workers is overestimated by more than 300,000, and that the calculation of the impact of small, unregistered factories is overstated. The researchers from NYU also found that vast subcontracting networks within the country make it more difficult to track down both factories and workers, but others say that while subcontracting is a problem, it accounts for only a small slice of the overall work being done in the country.

We really wish, with everything we have in us, that this was a hopeful article with a clear pathway to success, but it’s not. But we never want to shield you from the truth that we have a long road ahead but everyday more and more brands and joining the fight. The bottom line is we have our work cut out for us in more ways than one, but it’s the hardest to achieve goals that are often the most important. So let’s link arms, and push change forward together by intentionally choosing the standards we manufacture at and how we work together to build a new norm.

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