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A woman holds a photo of her missing sister, who worked in the ill-fated garment factory in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday May 3, 2013. AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous

Column Why can’t I be guaranteed that my clothes haven’t contributed to someone’s death?

Standardised textile labelling is vital to keep vulnerable workers safe in developing countries like Bangladesh, writes Aisling Twomey.

THE RANA PLAZA factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed suddenly on 24 April, 2013. With estimates still rising, more than 700 are counted among the dead, more than 1000 among the injured. Others remain buried, missing beneath the rubble. The search has turned from hopeful to devastating; now, the searchers are seeking remains.

The Rana Plaza collapse is thought to be Bangladesh’s worst ever industrial accident, but it is by no means the first. In November 2012, Dhaka suffered a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory, in which 117 died. It was the deadliest fire in the nation’s history. The Tazreen Fashion factory, part of the Tuba group, produced clothing for Walmart and the United States Marine Corps, among others.

At the Rana Plaza, clothes were manufactured for Primark, Monsoon, Bonmarché, Matalan and at one point, the Benetton Group. On 23 April, inspectors discovered cracks in the building and requested its closure. According to the New York Times, the shops and the lower floor bank closed but the garment workers returned to work the following day.

The Ethical Trading Initiative

Monsoon, a founding member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, is recognised as a leader in the ETI’s assessment criteria. The ETI’s slogan is “respect for workers worldwide.” Yet the factory workers reported that they were forced back to work on threat of wage withholding. Calling Monsoon an ethical trading leader clearly presents a misconception; the average garment worker in Bangladesh earns $37 a month, 60 per cent of the estimated cost of living in the local slums.

$37 is roughly equivalent to €29 – an easy amount spent in Penneys of a Saturday afternoon. Fashion is so cheap, until you realise that the cost in reality is sky high and rising every day, whether we see it or not.

Merriam Webster defines a sweatshop as “a shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions.” Rana Plaza fulfilled both, and nobody seems to have cared. The workers weren’t unionised, and their workplace fell from under them like a house of cards.

Why has Ireland not raised the issue?

You’d have thought that, at some point in the run of Ireland’s tenure holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a topic like this would come up for discussion. But it hasn’t, because combating sweatshops has never been a priority for the EU. Not only does the European Union not ban trade with factories demonstrating unethical practices, the tagging procedures required for clothing under EU law fall short of what transparency should dictate is necessary.

EU Regulation 1007/2011 outlines the reason for legislation on textile labelling: “If the provisions of the Member States with regard to names, composition and labelling of textile products were to vary from one Member State to another, this would create hindrances to the proper functioning of the internal market.”

Therein lies the difficulty. The European Union functions around the single internal market and regulates only within that zone; how that internal market operates with those less fortunate in other states seems to be less of an issue. This is possibly proved by the fact that country of origin labelling, while a topic of discussion since 2005, has never been implemented at EU level.

Consumers simply don’t have enough information

A 2011 report highlights the few benefits of country of origin labelling, stating that consumers would have better information but little else, because the label would have no impact on health and safety of consumers. Further, it stated, implementing the labelling would potentially lead to increased costs. The European Union often lauds human rights and citizenship, but in this case neglects to deal with a significant problem in the emergence of a globalised world.

The average consumer simply doesn’t have enough information to hand to aid them in making a judgement call. A standardisation system is required to keep fashion trading and the people who make it safe. As a consumer, I know that I am implicated in a supply chain that reeks of badness, but I feel that there is functionally nothing I can do about it, because so many suppliers suffer these conditions for just about every major high street chain.

An Abercrombie hoodie I own bears the tag “Fabricado Nas Flipinas.” The conditions faced by Abercrombie and Fitch factory workers in The Philippines earned A&F a name on the 2010 International Labor Rights Forum ‘Sweatshop Hall of Fame.’ Brands such as Sloggi, Triumph, Spalding, Hollister, Ralph Lauren, Urban Outfitters, IKEA, Mothercare, Converse, Marks and Spencer – every one of them have been caught red handed; baby clothes and homewares are as implicated as fashion retail.

Until we stand up and take action, nothing will be done to stop sweatshops. When we wear clothes that say “Made in Bangladesh”, that doesn’t tell us whether conditions there are fair or equitable. And in my heart I suspect that they obviously were not.

Country of origin labels should be mandatory

In the end-credits of many blockbuster movies, a line proclaims that no animals were hurt in the making of the film. If we can assure that oversight for animals, why can’t my jumper guarantee on a tag that it was made in a safe and fair working environment. Why can’t I be guaranteed that my clothes haven’t contributed to someone’s death?

The dream would be a legal system of tagging. Each company should have to label clothing to state its country of origin. The factory name should be listed, and the EU should keep track of factories and how they operate. There are plenty of NGOs that already strive to do this work. When a company gets caught investing in sweatshops, a new tag should appear on their garments: Made in a Sweatshop. Punitive, deterrent measures are the only way to stop the festering carbuncle of sweatshop labour.

But – people will yell at me – it turns a profit. It keeps people working. Low paid labour is part of the developing world and that’s not necessarily a bad thing… But hang on; I don’t expect people to get Ireland’s minimum wage in the middle of Bangladesh. I understand basic economics. I want people to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. I want people to go to work and come home safely. I don’t want anyone buried under rubble for clothes I buy.

The chances are fair that you’re walking around wearing clothes that were made in Rana Plaza. And the person who made those clothes might well be dead because the floor collapsed from under her when she was trying to earn €29 a month.

It’s a House of Cards – but the floor isn’t going to fall from beneath you and I at all.

Aisling Twomey works in political communications and has a Masters in Criminal Justice from University College Cork. Her journalism work is available at aislingtwomey.me.

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32 Comments
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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    May 8th 2013, 9:11 AM

    What annoys me is the way that Primark/Penneys has been scapegoated by these awful tragedies in Bangladesh when clothing made in the same sweatshops costs ten times more in the likes of Monsoon, Gap, a&F etc. I think I’d rather pay a tenner in Penneys than contribute to the vast profiteering of luxury labels for items made for the same meagre wages, but sold for a hugely inflated price.

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    Mute Steven Larry
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    May 10th 2013, 10:35 AM

    To be fair Pennys wree the company that have been most closely associated with this disaster, they have to cover their own ends, if it was because they actually cared about the people there you’d think maybe they wouldn’t condone sweatshops in their supply chain. I do agree however than they take alot more of the stick than they are due, most high street retailers use sweatshops, the arcadia group that owns topman, burtons, dorothy perkins refuses to not use sweatshops, openly, pays very little tax and charges high prices, never is a bad word said against them!

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    Mute Brian Leddin
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    May 8th 2013, 7:46 AM

    Very good article.

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    Mute Dom Morgan
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    May 8th 2013, 11:14 PM

    So you seriously believe your brand awareness is going to improve the building inspection standards in Bangladesh or make people there less desperate so they wouldn’t walk back into a ‘factory’ with cracks in the walls? None of you have ever been near a third world country or their people and have no idea what life there is about. You will force Penneys and Monsoons to revert back to buying stuff from Mexico where this kind of shit does not happen. Building will stil be falling in Bangladesh but since Penneys is no longer buying there it won’t be all over the Journal so your conscious will be clear.

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    Mute John Campbell
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    May 8th 2013, 7:54 AM

    Mandatory labelling of food products did not stop criminal use of horse meat etc. Sadly it will be extremely difficult to get manufacturers and retailers to come clean about the origins of clothes production because of profit margins and consumer demands. Hopefully someone can come up with a fool proof scheme of authentic fair trading.

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    Mute Alan Burke
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    May 8th 2013, 8:00 AM

    I wonder why sweatshops are still used. Surely full automation is more cost effective amd efficient – if that’s the road they want to take with manufacturing.

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    Mute tom o brien
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    May 8th 2013, 8:14 AM

    Not necessarily in clothing, u still need to b able to see what ur doing. If full automation was successful then these products would b able to b produced anywhere in the world. There’s reasons they are still made in third world countries. Only way to stop it is to buy locally made goods/clothes, but then everyone baulkes at prices. Funny that everyone gets up in arms about it when something like this happens, but just take a look at the labels on ur entire outfit that ur wearing now. Where’s it all come from. Can’t completely blame the retail sector. Consumers should carry some of the responsibility. Just saying

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    May 9th 2013, 4:14 PM

    Fool. You obviously know nothing about clothing manufacture.

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    May 9th 2013, 4:15 PM

    Sorry that reply was to Alan Burke.

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    Mute Tim Stephen Hendy
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    May 9th 2013, 5:08 PM

    Alan, the reason clothing is the bottom of the ladder when it comes to manufacturing is because it is so labour-intensive and not much skills is required.

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    Mute Carol Keane
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    May 8th 2013, 8:15 AM

    I feel bad that the clothes I buy are made under these circumstances but will circumstances not be worse if we don’t buy? E29 a month is pittance but E0 is worse. The workers went back to work under fear of their wages being withheld. Obviously they need to work. It’s a real catch 22 situation. So sad :-(

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    Mute tom o brien
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    May 8th 2013, 8:26 AM

    @carol keane, NO. Things will not b worse. Circumstances change when people stand up for the under priveledged, not when u accept it coz u think the alternative might b worse. That’s how they get kept down. Can u not see that.

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    Mute Emerald Phoenix
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    May 8th 2013, 5:30 PM

    You’re in a fantasy world, thinking it as simple as that Tom.

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    Mute Tim Stephen Hendy
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    May 9th 2013, 5:19 PM

    well said Carol. Garment making is often the only employment opportunity open to women in very traditional societies, it should be a way of liberating them, but sadly it is severely underpaid and the conditions are usually not good. Consumer pressure is the answer on this one, and brands have to be made aware of conditions on the ground. There is good evidence that when caught red handed, big buyers will clean up their supply chains.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    May 8th 2013, 8:15 AM

    Starvation ,control ,greed , bond holders ,bank,s politic,s these are the important thing,s in life
    People don’t matter as far as I can see

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    Mute Keith Fealy
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    May 8th 2013, 8:51 AM

    For the average person the people they can’t see don’t matter. That’s the real issue.

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    Mute Keith Fealy
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    May 8th 2013, 8:49 AM

    It’s a very sad situation, but the fact of the matter is, 100 more incidents like this one won’t stop the vast majority from shopping in penny’s or any of the retailers that use these sweat shops. As much as we’d all love to boycott these stores, and as much as we’d all love to buy irish all the time, the average shopper simply can’t afford to. As sad as it is, it’s giant multi-national retailers that would need to take the hit for anything to change, and I can’t see that happening any time soon.

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    Mute Francie Coffey
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    May 8th 2013, 11:06 AM

    Clothes don’t kill people, – ruthless managers who send workers back into a deathtrap do.
    Pennys put money in 3rd. world economies & food on poor people’s tables.

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    Mute Martin Grehan
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    May 9th 2013, 11:04 PM

    And they don’t put money in ruthless manager’s pockets do they not? :) Ridiculous comments, these companies know well what’s going on in these sweatshops, paying wages akin to slavery doesn’t make it ok either.

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    Mute Sinabhfuil
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    May 8th 2013, 8:10 AM

    You could buy Irish-made clothes, made by small companies that don’t run factories abroad.

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    Mute karla carroll
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    May 8th 2013, 8:50 AM

    I used to love fruit of the loom, but their clothes are made elsewhere now.

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    Mute Laura Shannon
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    May 8th 2013, 9:34 AM

    How does buying Irish-made clothes help these workers and others like them in developing countries? (I’m not saying don’t buy Irish-made… but it doesn’t solve anything in relation to this article!)

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    Mute Sinabhfuil
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    May 8th 2013, 8:45 PM

    Laura Shannon, you’re quite right, and I would be eager to help working people in developing countries by buying their produce, but not if I am supporting their slavery by doing so.
    I think it’s probably best to buy locally (where you can have a good idea of the conditions and wages involved) for the main part, and to put money into buying fair trade produce as well.
    Certain Irish companies destroyed the Irish textile industry, wiping the factories out one by one in the 1970s, it’s well I remember the skilled pattern cutters and machinists in long queues for the dole, eyes staring in shock after their factories had been closed and there was no other place to find work; and all this done for profit by greedy ‘businessmen’. And women.

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    Mute Marie Okeeffe
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    May 8th 2013, 9:56 PM

    We would if we could afford them have you see the price of Irish made goods and the likes aran sweaters are made by Irish woman in the home and that are payed a pittance most of us can’t shop in BT and have to go to PENNEYS and dunnes

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    Mute Kate Foley
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    May 8th 2013, 12:54 PM

    Funnily enough, no one has mentioned the responsibility of the governments of these countries to ensure decent working standards for their people. In developed countries there are basic health & safety rules, so why can’t these be enforced in developing countries. Obviously when working standards rise, so will prices, but surely that is something, in these circumstances, to be welcomed. If the big retailers cannot get their garments, etc. manufactured for below a certain rate anywhere, it will force them to use standardised manufacturers. Labels will not stop sweatshops, it’s ludicrious to think they will.

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    Mute Coddler O Toole
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    May 8th 2013, 12:48 PM

    Globalised capitalism is a race to the bottom for most. The workers in the west lose their jobs and those in the east lose their lives. The absence of a strong union killed those Rana Plaza workers.

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    Mute Darragh Hammond
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    May 8th 2013, 3:44 PM

    This is a very complex issue to solve unless minimum wage legislation is introduced right across Asia simultaneously which I don’t see happening. The clothing industry is their number one export. Boycotting Bangladeshi clothing could result in many children dying of starvation and move the problem to other cheap manufacturing centres such as Myanmar. A case of dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t buy Bangladeshi clothing.

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    Mute Michael G O'Reilly
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    May 8th 2013, 1:13 PM

    Well said !

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    Mute Georgina Moore
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    May 8th 2013, 1:53 PM

    Excellent article. Thank you.

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    Mute Derek O'Beirne
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    May 8th 2013, 6:10 PM

    There’s no such thing as cheap clothes or cheap food – it’s just that the consumer is not presented with the actual costs – exploited people, exploited animals, exploited land.

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    Mute Dermot McNally
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    May 8th 2013, 2:51 PM

    Great article!
    Interesting responses as to who needs to take responsibility: the workers (who went back to work), the country and its government who allow it to happen, the EU/Ireland for not enforcing import/labelling laws, the retail multinationals (who seek the profits to keep the shareholders aka the large pension pot managers happy), the global system, the lack of unions…… the list of who should take responsibility goes on….

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    Mute Margaret Mary Bernes
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    May 11th 2013, 7:48 PM

    SEEMS THAT ALL BIG BUSINES TAKE THERE COMPANYS TO THIRD WORLD AS ITS CHEAPER FOR THEM TO OPERATE AND IN DOING SO THE PAY OUT TO SHARE HOLDERS IS BIGGER HOW MANY COMPANYS HAVE LEFT IRELAND RECENTLY WITH THE REASON STATED ITS TO EXPENSIVE TO OPERATE HERE SO ITS NOT JUST PENNIES THE GOLDEN CIRCLE RIDES AGAIN

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