2023-04-24 09:43:07
Ms. Burckhardt, ten years ago the Rana Plaza factory building in Bangladesh, where fashion brands like Mango, Benetton and discounters like Kik had their clothes sewn, collapsed. More than 1000 seamstresses died, almost 2000 were injured. You are the chairwoman of the Femnet association, which campaigns for better working conditions for women in the clothing industry, and you were recently in Bangladesh. How are the survivors?
Most of them can no longer work, either because they were injured too badly or because they are traumatized and can no longer enter a factory. As a result, they live in extreme poverty. Although you received compensation, you spent the money on medical treatment long ago. And in Bangladesh there is no social or accident insurance. A woman I met lost a leg in the accident. She sells tobacco leaves on the side of the road. Her son had to drop out of school to work as a day laborer to ensure the survival of the family.
And how are those who still sew clothes today?
Bad. Wages in Bangladesh are still far too low. There hasn’t been a wage increase for five years, and inflation has doubled the price of some groceries. The minimum wage is the equivalent of a good 70 euros a month. Because their salary is not enough to live on, almost 70 percent of the workers are heavily in debt, sometimes with seven months’ wages. The unions demand around 190 euros as minimum wage. Even that wouldn’t be enough to secure a livelihood.
For women’s rights in the textile industry: Femnet CEO Gisela Burckhardt
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Image: Frank Griesel
Has anything improved?
In fact, security in factories has improved. Around 1,600 factories are covered by the Bangladesh Accord, an agreement that has regulated fire safety, electricity and statics, among other things, since 2013 and was a reaction to the accident. But there are thousands of factories that have not signed the agreement. Local producers, but also factories that produce for companies like Amazon, Tom Tailor and Ikea. On the other hand, we lodged a complaint with the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control on the basis of the Supply Chain Act – the first complaint under the Supply Chain Act, which came into force in January.
So far, seamstresses from low-cost production countries have not been able to lodge a complaint in Germany. Development Minister Svenja Schule (SPD) wants them to be able to take civil action before German courts in the future.
The German supply chain law does not provide for this option. It would have to be introduced via the EU supply chain law, which is only available as a draft so far. But German industry is lobbying in Brussels to ensure that this doesn’t happen. It would be very welcome. The burden of proof should then lie with the company. They should be able to prove that they comply with social standards – and not the seamstresses that they don’t.
Five years ago, clothing items were bought in the US five times as much as in the 1980s. The textile industry causes more CO2-Emission as international flights and cruises combined. At the same time, a piece of clothing is only worn seven times on average: do we have to look more at western countries than at Bangladesh?
Of course one can appeal to individuals to buy more secondhand. However, the problem is so immense that it cannot be passed on to individuals. Above all, the textile industry has to tackle the massive overproduction of poor quality. And it needs government regulation. The supply chain law is at least a first step.
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