The document discusses issues related to labor practices in Bangladesh's garment industry and how it has achieved low production costs. It notes that Bangladeshi garment workers have the lowest wages in the world, as low as $37 per month, and that several major disasters have occurred at garment factories due to unsafe building conditions and overcrowding. It examines how factors like improper building additions, material storage, and lack of emergency plans contributed to disasters like the Rana Plaza collapse that killed over 1,000 people. In conclusion, the document suggests Bangladesh's competitive advantage has come at the expense of human lives and neglect for worker safety standards.

1. Addressing workplace
inequities
Stand by me

2. Bangladesh: competitive advantage-
at Human’s cost?
• China became a world-beating manufacturer by undercutting
competitors in garment industry when Bangladesh started
beating them in their own game
• Started with rock-bottom wages, its garment workers are the
world’s lowest paid, earning as low as US$37 a month
• Balance of human life ignored & what was top on priority: a
balance between integrity of product design and killer price
points.
• Achievements of Bangladesh garment industry at the cost of
human lives-
• Shirts for children 15% cheaper than those made in Cambodia
(world’s second cheapest country) & 50% cheaper than that of
China and sweaters 17% cheaper than Vietnam…

3. Disasters in Bangladesh …
• Rana Plaza, 2013 – Toll: 1129
• Tazreen fashion Industry, 2012 – Toll: 117
• Spectrum Sweater Factory, 2005 – Toll: 64
• 5 storey home to Phoenix garments, 2006 – Toll: 18

4. So, what must have been neglected..
• Requirement of extra space in buildings meant-
new workers routinely added, new workers and
machinery brought in, offering little
consideration to whether the structure can even
support additional weight or vibration.
• Improper storage of material, inadequate
electrical systems and absolutely inadequate
emergency response plans.
• Degraded cement- perhaps just a mixture of
brick and sand.

5. Human
Trafficking
Another
serious
menace to
Human
Existence…

6. Human Trafficking :
• Human trafficking is the trade
in people, and does not necessarily
involve the movement of the person from one
place to another.
• It is a crime against the person because of the
violation of the victim's rights of movement
through coercion and because of their
commercial exploitation.
• Human trafficking is condemned as a violation of
human rights by international conventions.

7. Types of Human Trafficking
• Trafficking for forced labor
• Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation
• Commercial /sexual exploitation for children
• Organizations that have emerged as to increase
awareness and create programs to end human
trafficking:
• Free the slaves
• The International Justice Mission
• The Not for Sale Campaign
• Slavery Footprint
• End Trafficking

9. Sweatshop
 A "sweatshop" is defined by the US Department of Labor as a
factory that violates 2 or more labor laws.
 Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages,
unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for
workers
 Products that commonly come from sweatshops are garments,
cotton, bricks, cocoa, and coffee.
 In developing countries, an estimated 168 million children ages
5 to 14 are forced to work.

10. Sweatshop
 Salary hike only increases the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%
 Sweatshops do not alleviate poverty, as biggest chunk is spent
on food
 More than 5/6th of workers at such set ups face pay-related
violations.
 Workers lose an average of $2,634 annually due to violations.
 Women are forced to take birth control and pregnancy tests

11. Old navy factory of GAP
• Gap and Old Navy that the 3,750 workers at the Next Collections
Limited factory in Ashulia are routinely forced to work over 100 hours
a week
• Young women sewing Old Navy children’s clothing have been
arbitrarily fired and denied their paid maternity leave
• A young woman just 20 years of age recently lost her baby in her
seventh month of pregnancy due to being forced to work over 100
hours a week. She was working on Old Navy jeans.

13. Nike
 In early 1970s it produced goods in South Korea, People's
Republic of China and Taiwan.
 Later they moved to countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and
Honduras due to absence of unions.
 Nike sells one of the most expensive footwear in world but
their workers do not get more than 8 cents per shoe
 Workers are forced to work for 12 hours per day and 7 days
a week.

14. Walmart
 Walmart had set its factories in China & Bangladesh.
 Legal lower limit of monthly wages in Bangladesh is $24.
 Walmart bought clothes from a factory of Chittagong
which paid less than 20$
 This factory was also accused for physical violence
 Its employees in USA are ill treated too, they also have to
follow 7 day working week

15. Lowest Labour rates as on
04.01.13

16. Bitter Chocolate…..

17. Chocolate slavery
•When chocolate companies report a
jump in profits they attribute the
reason to “improved supply-chain
efficiencies.”
•It was nothing but replacement of
labors by children
•Children were purchased and forced
work on Chocolate farms in Ivory cost.

18. CHILD LABOUR
THE WORST FORM OF HUMAN EXPLOITATION

19. What is CHILD LABOUR?
• Children : everyone under the age of 18, entitled to the
rights proclaimed in the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child, including the right to be protected from
economic exploitation
• Child Labour : conventionally referred to children
working before they reached the lawful minimum age
for employment in their country (nowadays usually 14,
15 or, as in the UK, 16), often the same as the cut-off
age for compulsory attendance at school. Now
redefined to refer to all young people engaged in
harmful employment, whether they are school-age or
older.

20. Child labor involves at least one of the
following characteristics:
• Violates a nation’s minimum age laws
• Threatens children’s physical, mental, or
emotional well-being
• Involves intolerable abuse, such as child
slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced
labor, or illicit activities
• Prevents children from going to school
• Uses children to undermine labor standards

21. WORST FORMS OF CHILD
LABOUR
• Physical, psychological or sexual abuse;
• Work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in
confined spaces;
• Work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which
involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; and
• Work in an unhealthy environment which would expose children
to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to
temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations which might damage
their health.

22. Child labour can be foundin almost every
industry…
Agriculture
An estimated 60% of child labor occurs in agriculture, fishing,
hunting, and forestry. Children have been found harvesting:
• bananas in Ecuador, cotton in Egypt and Benin, cut flowers in
Colombia, oranges in Brazil, cocoa in the Ivory Coast, tea in
Argentina and Bangladesh, fruits and vegetables in the U.S.
• Children in commercial agriculture can face long hours in
extreme temperatures, health risks from pesticides, little or no
pay, and inadequate food, water, and sanitation.

23. Child labour can be found in
almost every industry…
Manufacturing
• About 14 million children are estimated to be directly involved
in manufacturing goods including :
• Carpets from India, Pakistan, Egypt, Clothing sewn in
Bangladesh; footwear made in India and the Philippines,
Soccer balls sewn in Pakistan, Glass and bricks made in India,
Fireworks made in China, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, India, and Peru, Surgical instruments made in
Pakistan

24. Child labour can be found in
almost every industry…
• Mining and Quarrying
• Gold in Colombia, Charcoal in Brazil and El Salvador, Chrome in
Zimbabwe, Diamonds in Cote d’Ivoire, Emeralds in Colombia, Coal in
Mongolia
• Domestic Service
• Many children, especially girls, work in domestic service, sometimes
starting as young as 5 or 6. This type of child labor is linked to child
trafficking. Domestic child laborers can be victims of physical,
emotional, and sometimes sexual abuse.

25. Child labour can be found in
almost every industry…
• Hotels, Restaurants, and Retail
• Some of the work of young people in this sector is considered
legitimate, but there are indications of considerable abuse.
Low pay is the norm, and in some tourist areas, children’s
work in hotels and restaurants is linked to prostitution. Child
hotel workers received such low pay that they had to take
out loans from their employers; the terms of the interest and
repayment often led to debt bondage.
• “Unconditional Worst Forms” of Child Labor
• Millions of children are involved in debt bondage, serfdom,
and forced labor. It includes the forced recruitment of
children for armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation,
and illicit activities

26. The Economics…..
• Supply – Why children work?
• Poverty
• Family Breakdown
• HIV/AIDS
• Access to compulsory education limited
• Existing laws or codes of conducted limited
• Low enforcement often inadequate

27. The Economics…..
• Demand – Why employers want children?
• Cheap and obedient
• “Nimble fingers”
• Inadequate laws
• Poor infrastructure
• The role of education

28. Demand – Why employers
want children?

29. BRANDS INVOLVED IN CHILD
LABOUR
• WALMART
• PHILIP MORRIS
• BELOVED APPLE
• VICTORIA’S SECRET
• FOREVER 21
• HERSHEY’S
• NIKE
• NESTLE
• GODIVA
• KRAFT
• AND MANY MORE……

30. Qatar Football world cup
2022

31. QATAR
• Host for FIFA world cup 2022.
• Invested $260 Billion in infrastructure projects-
building stadiums, public transport systems,
freeways, hotels and apartments.
• Qatar’s 40,000-capacity Khalifa International
Stadium and others being renovated.
• Its Project Engineer found saying, he was “very
happy” with the rapid progress of renovation
works at the site.

32. But at whose cost………LABOUR?
• Living and working conditions are alarming :
• Long hours in the blazing heat, low pay and unpleasant
dormitories
• Labourers cannot leave without an exit visa
• 1,200 deaths of migrant workers while working on 2022
World Cup infrastructure -no investigations yet
• Deaths far higher than deaths observed in Beijing
Olympics to the Brazil World Cup
• ‘kafala’ system : Prevents workers from switching jobs or
leave Qatar without the permission from their sponsors
and their employees .

34. Report by International Trades Union
Confederation :
Deaths in Qatar
2011 2012 2013
Indian 239 237 241
Nepali 162 169 191
Total 401 406 432

35. Diamond Industry in India

36. Environment at Diamond Industry
• Crowded factory rooms
• A Lot of dust produced during cutting and polishing diamonds
• Repetitive strain of cutting and polishing tiny diamonds :
labour-intensive and often unhealthy
• Why child labour?
• Small diamond stones often need sharp eyes and skilful
hands. Thus children are often highly prized in this trade

37. Foxconn
• Illegally long hours of work
• Harsh and severe rules for a basic daily wage of as little as £5.20
• Many Foxconn workers manage to go home only once a year
• Most workers in the age group of 18-20
• Regularly required to work far in excess of the 36 hours of
overtime per month
• The rule that employees should have one day off in seven is often
flouted.
• Worker humiliated when makes a mistake
• In 2011, 7 young Chinese workers producing Apple iPads for
consumers across the globe committed suicides

38. •THANK YOU!