Abstract
Bangladesh has emerged as one of the main exporters of garments to the developed countries. The multi-national garment companies operating in Europe and the Americas were eager to procure their goods at cheap rates from developing countries. Labour wages are cheap and there is hardly any regulation on work by the state in these countries. Workers in these garment factories work for long hours under precarious conditions and they are paid poor wages. These factors contribute to lowering of costs so that the MNCs can reap high profits. The garment manufacturing companies in the developing countries work on low margins as the bulk buyers (mostly MNCs) quote low procurement prices. As a result, in order to earn their profits, garment manufacturers not only pay low wages to their workers, they also violate all safety norms at the workplace. In many cases these lead to industrial accidents but as laws are not very stringent the workers are paid a pittance as compensation. The living and working conditions of the workers are reminiscent of what Friedrich Engels has observed in his outstanding ethnographic study on the conditions of the working class in England. The conditions of work in these factories are justified by policy makers simply because they provide employment to impoverished workers in these countries. It is only when a disaster takes place that people are jolted and the garment companies are brought under the scanner. This book deals with the aftermath of one such disaster.
In the night of 10 April 2005 the Spectrum sweater factory in Savar, near the capital city of Dhaka, crashed killing several workers in the night shift. The factory was originally of five stories but the owners raised it by another three stories which itself was dangerous for the structure. In addition to this illegality the owners installed heavy machinery in the top floor which actually caused the disaster.
The death of innocent workers stirred the consciousness of the nation but that was not enough. The compensation prescribed by law was a pittance as these laws were passed by the colonial government (before 1947) and was highly inadequate. The trade unions of garment workers of Bangladesh were active in trying to get fair compensation for the injured workers and the families of the dead workers. The factory owner tried to wriggle out of responsibilities by agreeing to pay the minimum compensation. The trade unions kept up the fight for proper compensation. The global federation of garment workers, International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) got involved in the workers’ struggle. Its General Secretary, the late Neil Kearney, played a key role in keeping the issue alive when most hope was lost.
In 2007 there was a political deadlock in Bangladesh regarding how the next general election would be conducted. The military took control and appointed a caretaker government. This government came down heavily on any form of dissent and the right to freedom of association was set aside. This meant that trade union activities were more or less suspended. On looking at the hopeless situation for workers in the country ITGLWF decided to take the struggle to the international level. It formed a committee that had a few of the victims of the crash and other trade unionists to lobby the case for a fair deal to the affected workers and their families.
The committee visited the offices of the different multinational garment companies that were sourcing from Bangladesh. The aim was to initiate a global fund that would provide financial assistance to the affected workers and their families. These companies were in Germany, Belgium and Spain. After prolonged negotiations the companies agreed to contribute to the fund.
This book is a very well documented account of what happened in the Spectrum factory and the aftermath. The author has painstakingly collected data from different sources to put them together in this book. The book also underlines the absolute commitment of late Neil Kearney to this case. He untiringly led the campaign for justice for these workers. His demise is a big setback for the working class movement, especially garment and textile workers in the developing countries. They have lost a leader of impeccable qualities.
This book is an important contribution to labour research. At the same time the author has not churned out a boring, difficult to read publication. The strong qualities of this book are its collection of facts and the lucid style of the author in placing them and making it a very interesting read.
However besides its academic contribution, this study can serve as a guide for the working class movement in the developing countries in South and South East Asia which is being consistently marginalised in their respective countries because of the liberalisation policies their governments are aggressively following. This study shows that despite these trends, the garment workers in Bangladesh were able to get justice through the intervention of national and international trade union movement. In fact this study effectively shows that international solidarity of the working class is still the best bet for protecting the rights and the dignity of workers.
Another major catastrophe took place in Dhaka in mid-2013 when the Rana Plaza collapsed killing over 2,000 women workers and injuring several more. Unfortunately the main purchasers who had provoked the factories to cut down costs, and safety measures, seemed the least concerned about the human tragedy they had caused. The two important buyers were Walmart and KIK; both low priced stores. A few weeks after this tragedy Walmart held its annual meeting and not a word was mentioned about the tragic deaths of the women. Reports show that IndustriAll, which is an agglomerate of several international unions, including ITGLWF, has taken up the issue of seeking justice for the workers. We hope that they will have the same success as the Spectrum factory workers. In fact this book becomes more important during these troubled times.