With the news of the latest tragedy from Bangladesh, is it time for us to do more than nothing about the appalling conditions that garment workers have to face producing clothes that we can buy cheaply on our high streets? It’s always good to get a bargain but there has to be a limit to our appetite for more.
Whilst most of us don’t even look at the labels that workers
sew inside our clothes that might tell us where they have been made, preferring
instead to be persuaded by the labels sewn on the outside, we have become
cruelly aware once again that the conditions many workers endure, poor pay,
long hours and unsafe buildings, should not be tolerated any longer.
But what should we do?
If we stop buying the clothes many people will lose their
jobs, fragile as they are. There are 4 million workers dependent on this
industry in Bangladesh alone. If we stop buying the clothes then conditions
could get even worse in unregulated sweatshops. Hard to imagine, but at least
there is hope that western companies will have a little conscience when it
comes to employment practices. If we stop buying the clothes then poverty will
deepen and the repercussions will be devastating for too any families.
But we have to do something! Don’t we?
Try and buy clothing that you know has been made in places
where people are treated with fairness, enjoying good working conditions and
getting paid a proper wage for the work they do.
Take some time to get informed about where your clothes come
from and the ethical promises from the companies who source them and sell them.
Write to the companies you buy your clothes from and ask
them about what they are doing to ensure that the people who make your clothes
are looked after in every way, including the conditions they work under.
There is something all of us can do.
We all want a bargain, but at what cost? Unfortunately the
people in Bangladesh have paid the ultimate price. Let’s begin to make sure
that it is the last time someone dies so that we can buy a £2 t-shirt.
