Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/136276
Editor's Letter If Not Now, When? At least eight people were killed the day I sat down to write this, when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh. This came only weeks after the collapse of an eight-story garment factory in Rana Plaza on the edge of the Banglasdeshi capital of Dhaka. The death toll from that disaster has topped 900, making it likely the worst industrial calamity since the Bhopal tragedy in 1984. "It is not clear to us how the accident happened, but we are trying to find out the cause," Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters. The Bangladeshi government responded by shutting down 18 garment factories for safety reasons following the collapse at Rana Plaza, where five garment factories make clothes for Western brands. Six buildings were subsequently approved for reopening after inspectors issued safety certificates. The eagerness with which workers reenter such structures bespeaks the economic hardship that they face. Bangladesh's garment industry accounts for 80 percent of the poor South Asian country's exports. An even larger, more sinister context looms here. Bangladesh has seen a series of deadly accidents, including a fire in November that killed 112 people. Then there was the night in March 2010, when 21 workers—locked in a Bangladeshi factory to fulfill orders from the West for knitwear—died among the yarns as a blaze flew through the building. Much blame resides with the Bangladeshi governments at many levels. Although they have made some efforts to enforce the national building codes, those initiatives are frequently nominal, stymied or vitiated by well-heeled, well-connected landlords. Bigger questions confront the multinational companies that are the ultimate clients of these suppliers. Among the clients of the factory in the 2012 fire was international "fast-fashion" retailer H&M. This is only one of many sweatshop and child labor scandals to have hit the apparel trade in recent years. More recently, a fire at the "That's It Sportswear" factory in Bangladesh also killed several workers. Among at least some players within the apparel industry, the response has been more than palliative. Philips-VanHeusen (PVH), Gap Inc., JCPenney, and other clients of the "That's It" factory have embraced a reform agenda that transcends the combinaiton of compensation and condolences too often invoked for merely reputational reasons. The consortium has been pushing initiatives with government, suppliers, and other stakeholders to significantly heighten safety practices and oversight. Properly pushed, the effort could advance a regime of corporate responsibility that infuses environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards more fully into the global supply chain. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, of which many companies became founding members in 2011 (along with other big-brand clothing manufacturers and retailers), is also supposed to help prevent such tragedies in the future by setting standards of best supply-chain practices, for the industry. The Rana Plaza disaster has brought new fervency to street protests. Maybe—just maybe—this time will be different. First and foremost, a stronger stakeholder attitude within companies is essential for change in industries where the supply chain is almost impossible to police. In early May, Walt Disney Company responded by announcing that it would end apparel production in the country. But that is timid, at best, craven, at worst. Better was the signal sent by several Western retailers that indicated that they were weighing new plans to ensure factory safety. That would mean doubling down on investments, rather than abandoning operations. Few to date have made financial commitments to upgrade unsafe factory buildings or to endorse tougher and deeper inspections. So far, pledging money for relief efforts has been the most common response by big retailers. Officials from two nongovernment organizations who attended a meeting in Germany aimed at improving factory safety in Bangladesh told The New York Times that they were confident that several major retailers would soon join a broad plan to improve safety factories. But so far that plan has been embraced by just PVH, the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and the Tchibo Group, a German retailer. Walmart, Gap (despite its earlier work toward the good), and various other retailers have resisted. Retail and labor officials surmise that those retailers are concerned about the plan's binding legal commitments. It's time to commit. Dirk Olin, Editor-in-Chief SPRING 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [5]