Dhaka, Bangladesh / Oslo
The concrete floor is damp and grounded. Plank-beds with a thin, colorful mattress covers two-thirds of the room. Outside we hear children crying, cars honking and rattle of pots and pans. In tin roof hanging cords with shawl.
Here live Konoka. She is 20 years old and has large, dark eyes and an open mind. It’s Friday and a rare day off. All other days she makes fabrics for a factory that makes clothing for including the Scandinavian brands H & amp; M and Cubus. We look at it as cheap clothing. For Konoka it is not possible to buy a single one of them. For that they are far too expensive.
In a low, red shelf beside the bed, she ‘wardrobe’ his two shelves with neatly folded shawls, dresses and loose pants in bright, happy colors. In the overhead standing toilet cases and on a shelf on the wall above the plank-beds are a few tin pots and some plastic jars with rice and spices.
- Welcome, sit down, said Konoka and smiles. She is proud of the small room that is her own. She rents it, and it is a ten minute walk from the factory she works on in Ashulia north of Dhaka in Bangladesh. She bends down and fish up an apple from under the bed, which she quickly cut and serve.
Budget her is easy. For room pay her 210 kroner a month. She spends at least 260 million of food. When she has a little over ten bucks worth of base salary, who is 586 per month, or 3 million and 30 cents per hour. Every month she tries to send at least 200 million home to his mother and siblings who live in a village two hours drive away. To do that, she must work a lot of overtime. On rare occasions, she buys himself a new shawl. But the she lasts. She takes good care of them.
“Made in Bangladesh”
The factory Konoka working on, are Chinese-owned. In 1:15 storey gray concrete colossus behind a high brick fence operates her big knitting machines six days a week. For the servant she just barely over the legal minimum wage of 556 per month – a level union believes is impossible to survive on. It should have been at least double that, they believe. (See separate story below).
Konoka is one of the more than 5 million workers who keep the wheels turning in Bangladesh over 7,000 textile factories. Only China produces more clothes to Norwegians than Bangladesh. Every eight garments on coat racks come from the poor, densely populated country in south Asia.
Most textile workers live as Konoka. They can only dream of a white T-shirt by H & amp; M.
“I’ll never buy clothes at H & amp; M! Yuk, how unfair it is .. “writes a young girl on Twitter after watching the first episode of Web TV series Sweatshop, which is about the conditions for textile workers in Cambodia. The series now appears online at Aftenposten and Swedish Aftonbladet.
Should we feel bad for those big piles of “cheap clothes” we tap into our own closets when we know that they are made of girls living below such conditions?
No, the H & amp; M boss
- That we produce in Bangladesh is the positive for the country! Customers should feel safe when they see the label “Made in Bangladesh” and think, ‘Good! When I help, “said CEO and H & amp; M-heir Karl-Johan Persson enthusiastic when he gave a rare interview to Aftenposten two years siden.Han and family have earned themselves wealthy to produce clothing in the country with the world’s lowest labor costs. According to H & amp; M’s annual report did Karl Johan a salary of SEK 15 million last year, and had, according to Forbes a fortune of around 20 billion. The three brothers Varner, behind brands such as Dressmann, Cubus and Bik Bok, was according to Kapital list of Norway’s 400 richest in 2015 good for over 21 billion.
It is not very surprising that the two tekstilbaroniene is thrilled production in low cost countries.
But they get support from others. The general manager of the organization Ethical Trade Initiative, and one of the leading Bangladeshi experts, Arild Engelsen Ruud, believes it has little going for it with a bad conscience. If we stopped to shop “Made in Bangladesh” for the sake of her own feelings, we would make matters far worse, they believe.
Per Brads Bondevik in the Ethical Trading Initiative says there is a general perception that the boycott of inexpensive brands are the worst solution for those who live in poverty.
Bondevik has extensive experience in relief work, and says that for many families in developing countries is the dream that girls get jobs, such as the large textile factory.
- The main idea is: Work is good. Not having a job is not good. But then it’s not true that all jobs are good and not all jobs helping people out of poverty.
Bondevik believes there is still much to do to improve conditions for garment workers. The salary must be higher, labor contracts safer, and work environment safer. But he is clear that Western brands and factories have made huge steps in the right direction in recent years.
It’s Arild Engelsen Ruud agrees. He is a professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo, and research including the political culture and social development in Bangladesh and India.
Providing women value
Engelsen Ruud says that textile industry has lifted Bangladesh from a country that was totally dependent on international aid, to become a country that now serve their own money and invest in its development.
- in the last year spent Bangladesh 16 billion dollars that they had served in the textile industry to invest in national development. From zero to 16 billion in 20 years. It is a formidable development.
The professor believes that getting a job in a textile factory is seen as a respectable job in Bangladesh.
- It’s not just salary itself which makes it attractive. But there’s something about the confidence you get by working, earning your own money. You meet women your own age and get to experience something other than going home in the countryside and fit siblings.
Especially important, he believes, is that the work gives women a different value. From being seen as a financial burden, to join a family member who contributes financially.
unfair dismissal
What do Konoka yourself? Have job given her the life she dreamed of?
She does not quite understand the question.
She has had the opportunity to help the family home in the village. And she earns her own money. That’s what matters.
The job is nice, but wages are not high enough to cover my basic needs, she says firmly. Mostly she gets still paid almost double, because the employer requires that she work massive amounts of overtime.
Nowadays, I work mostly 11 to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week. That’s fine, but lately it has become very bad mood at the factory, she said.
See also video:
Two months ago, boss textile factory to her home and forced her to sign a letter of resignation. The day before, she had taken part in a demonstration against mass layoffs of union members at the factory. Fortunately union to get annulled the termination.
Her friend Shuli (19) were not as lucky. She only managed to work three months tøyfabrikken before it abruptly ended.
- A manager at the plant came with a indecent proposal which I declined. Then he came with false accusations that I had love affairs with other colleagues at work. Then I got fired, she said.
– What went his proposal about?
- He told me to come home to him and yes, you know – to be his girlfriend, says she shy.
Still, she returned to the factory. The family is completely dependent Shuli income. They moved from the house in the village where she grew up in Dhaka for a half ago for the eldest daughter could help his father, who is a hairdresser, to feed the family of five.
- Mom and dad was scared and anxious when I lost my job. Without my income we are struggling to pay tuition for the two småsøknene mine, she said.
Now she gets the help of the union to take legal action to get the job back.
- I’m willing to do other kinds of jobs, but there are not so many options.
career
it teemed not of career opportunities for young , lavutdannede women in Bangladesh, and work on the big textile factories located in the top range of opportunities for this group. Further down the chain, and with far poor working conditions, you will find those who work for smaller factories, as domestic servants or as paving applications.
Just a stone’s throw away from the house to Shuli we meet women who would like to worked in the major factories. They must make do with the remnants of fabric from textile mills, which are sent to recycling. They have spread out long lines of tøyremser on the ground in a dirty and dusty alley. They work as day laborers and says they serve around 10 million a day to dry and sort the laundry under the blazing sun.
We work from 8 to 17 every day, says one of the women. Asked whether she likes the job, she replies.
It does not matter. I have no choice.
But what is good? Ask Engelsen Ruud.
- From a Norwegian perspective and measured by Western standards is all the circumstances surrounding these professions under any reasonable standard. But we must not let us blind to the fact that they live in circumstances that are very distant from our own. There is another, larger issue. The important thing is that they probably would have had it much worse if they had not these jobs. They probably had not taken the job if it did not mean an increase in quality of life.
He also emphasizes that there is a huge potential for improvement in the industry.
- The workers should earned more. They should have better working conditions. Western chains have a major responsibility for the standards they set, and requires set, when they do business with factories in developing countries.
Three years after Rana Plaza disaster hangs most H & amp; M -fabrikkene in Bangladesh after the fire precautions:
They sew clothes in factories without vital fire
Regular inspections
in another part of town from where Konak and Shuli jobs, in an enormous, low building that resembles a giant aircraft hangar, jobs 4500 couple busy hands sewing underwear for European clothing brands such as H & amp; M, Cubus and marks & amp; Spencer. From comfortable, refrigerated meeting on mezzanine on the second floor we look out over endless rows of salmon pink-clad women and men that folds and cuts fabric, tie small silk ribbons and pressing A, B and C cup ending in shape. From a distance and from above it looks like a huge chicken production facilities.
Down on the factory floor is air more hot and humid. Meeting Menes air conditioning have been replaced by large fans in the ceiling. At a corner table stands Sumi (32) and cut the strands of string panties. She has worked at the factory for five months, and dreams to advance to the machine operator.
- I started working here to save for education for my boys. I want them to get going longer at school than I had the opportunity, she says.
For Sumis factory comes the big chains regularly on inspections. They work with factory management to ensure that their demands for working conditions, wages and safety are met.
The head of the national textile association, Amirul Haque Amin, is concerned that the wage level even at these “Rolls Royce” – factories that supply the big international chains is not much above the legal minimum wage for qualified workers.
we ask him too:
– Should we in these clothes have guilty that they are made of low-paid women in Bangladesh?
- no, I do not think so. Despite the negative aspects this is obviously a good job for these women. Before, most unemployed, was considered a burden to the family and often married off early. But in spite of this, consumers must use their power to challenge the chain of who has produced clothes, and under what conditions, urges Amin.;
– I can not afford
Shuli love to dress up, but rarely can afford to buy new clothes. – Last time I acted clothes, was before Bangladesh’s nyttårsfeirng. When I bought a new sari on the market. It cost 1,000 taka (about 105 billion), she says, and pulls down a red, white and green-patterned sari from clothesline that acts as closets under the roof of the small room she shares with her brother and sister.
– had you wanted to go with the clothes you stock at the factory, if you could?
- Yes, of course I would, but it’s not possible . I can not afford.
– Have you thought about who is using the clothes you stock at factories?
Ehh .. it is well rich people? When Aftenposten tells her that the clothes they stock at the factory she makes fabrics, is among the cheapest you can buy in Europe, she looks confused and laughing.
It surprised me. That I had no idea, she says thoughtfully.
H & amp; M went on factory visits
PR manager in H & amp; M Norway, Vibeke Holann, confirmed to Aftenposten that the factory Konoka and Shuli worked for, delivered drugs to H & amp; M-clothes until November last year. – The business was closed when the factory did not meet H & amp; M’s strict requirements, and had used a subcontractor who was not authorized by H & amp; M, she writes in an email. Konoka says that the factory still bearing substances labeled with H & amp; M.
In the days after Aftenposten asked H & amp; M on the chain relative to the factory girls, the chain’s local employees have passed factory visiting.
- they have not found evidence that they are involved in the production of H & amp; M products, writes Holann.
Sustainability Responsible in Varner group, Annabelle Lefebure- Henriksen, says the factory girls working on not registered among their subcontractors and the chain has confirmed that substances that stock is not used in the production of their clothing.
- We’ve got our local team to contact factory we use and want to keep up with what it is doing against this subcontractor. Of course it is important to have a good dialogue with the factories we work with about how they work with their subcontractors. This is interesting information for us to pick up, she said.
(article continues below)
chains refuse to consider salary
- We want everyone who works in the textile industry should have a salary they can live on, writes PR manager for H & amp; M Norway, Vibeke Holann, in an email to Aftenposten.
No clothing chain has wanted to ask for an interview in connection with Aftenposten article series about working conditions in the textile industry. Questions answered by email.
– Do you pay is high enough for textile workers in Bangladesh?
- We have replied that we want to answer, writes Holann, referring to a statement chain including writes:
“Although it is not we who decide or pay out textile workers’ wages, we have of course one major responsibility for creating a regular dialogue on wages, the importance of collective agreements with government, unions, suppliers and authorities. We will use our size to influence in a positive direction and we see that the work we do makes a difference. We require all our suppliers pay their employees at least minimum wage. “
– The salary should be doubled
Minimum wages for textile workers in Bangladesh were two years ago revised up by 70 percent to 556 million for the least qualified and 714 million for those with more skills.
- Even after this strong growth is the minimum wage too low, and no it is possible to live by. It should have been at least double, said head of the national textile association, Amirul Haque Amin, told Aftenposten.
H & amp; M provide in its latest sustainability report that workers at their factories in Bangladesh on average, paid just under 700 per month. Head of Sustainability department in Varner, Annabelle Lefebure-Henriksen, estimates that their workers in the country on average earn between 735 million and 1,050 crowns a month, including overtime.
- Varner working systematically to raise wage levels for textile workers together with industry and is concerned that workers should have a fair wage, says Lefebure-Henriksen Aftenposten, but does not answer whether she believes the salary seamstress now receive in their factories is “fair.”
Also H & amp; M reluctant to define what a “fair wage” should be on.
- It must be negotiated between the parties in the labor market. It would be devastating if companies like H & amp; M should determine salary levels in any country, says H & amp; M’s CEO Karl-Johan Persson said in a statement on its website.
– The power is in their hands
Both H & amp; M and Varner works with organizations such as the International Labour Organisation and the Fair wage Network to better wage conditions, including by working to ensure that the factories established good systems for wage increases based on seniority and qualifications, and ensure that workers are given space to form trade unions, which negotiate salaries. The two factories Aftenposten visited in Dhaka, had not, however, not unions.
Trade union leader Amin believes the big chains have far more power to influence the wage conditions in the country than they acknowledge.
- the big brands like H & amp; M’s main players in this industry, and the power is in their hands. If they really want to take responsibility and raise wages, must factory owners respect it. Meanwhile, they must ensure that factory owners get a fair price, and stop push prices down, he said. He points out that the prices of clothing from Bangladesh has declined in recent years.
H & amp; M writes in an email that their own, anonymous surveys among factory owners show that they are considered a “fair business partner “.
Do you have a little more time? Here you can read more about the importance of the garment industry for the development of poor countries like Bangladesh:
Dry industry have lifted millions out of poverty
And here you can read about the three familieimperiene which dominates the clothing market in Scandinavia:
Fire ten million we act clothing goes to Scandinavia’s richest families
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