Abusive Treatment of Factory Workers
The death of 1,100 workers at Rana Plaza was and is a tragedy that stemmed from negligence. The death toll, however, is not the only tragedy that took place. Workers have been and are being severely mistreated. It’s still happening, right now.
For decades the fashion industry has been, among many others, sourcing their materials out to factories in other countries for production. Much of the reason for this is to reduce costs. This however comes at a price, in people’s lives. Taking advantage of workers is not new and much of it is towards women. Why? The majority of workers in the factory are women. For a long time women have been targeted for exploitative work. All workers in the factories have been abused over the years; and not much has changed since the collapse at Rana Plaza. While Rana Plaza was an issue of negligence, it revolved around structural integrity of the building and its safety standards. There is little in the way of how the workers were treated before the collapse.
Around 80-85% of factory workers are women. These workers are seen as disposable as they have no regulations to protect them from the abuses that they receive. Over a period of decades the same problems women and other workers have had to face have been the same repeating cycle. There have been repeated reports of verbal and physical abuse. Women have been sexually harassed and denied maternity leave causing miscarriages. In fact they have had to go through pregnancy evaluations before getting hired for work. In 1997 human rights groups fought this treatment by filing a complaint of these requirements in the United States and Mexico. Though it was brought through, the corporations moved their industries to South East Asia due to rising costs. Still there are reports of mistreatment in Mexican factories as well as in South East Asia.
Since then, workers have had little respite, they have also had incredibly strenuous work hours. In 2010 it was found that workers in India were working 140 hours a month in overtime, ending the day at 2 in the morning. It has been reported around 2015 that workers in India have been paid $37 a month. All the while they are still being brutalized and beaten. Workers are given arduous amounts of work to complete to keep up with the ever demanding supply of garments to be shipped to stores all across the world. They can not always keep up with these demands from fast fashion either. Even with regulations in place, there is nothing to enforce them. Once such example is that young girls have been employed at factories, lying about their age to get around regulations.
The government has made legal changes to allow the formation of unions, yet when workers try to form unions they are intimidated, dismissed and physically assaulted. There is still negligence and little being done to create safe workable conditions. The problems of the past still persist today. It has not disappeared. There have been small steps taken to help workers, but not enough. The fashion industry need to change its management system. It is time to take bigger steps.
Burke, Jason. "Bangladesh Garment Workers Suffer Poor Conditions Two Years after Reform Vows." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.
"Fashion Victims - the Facts." War On Want. War On Want, 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.
Loomis, Erik. Out of Sight: The Long and Disturbing Story of Corporations Outsourcing Catastrophe. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
The death of 1,100 workers at Rana Plaza was and is a tragedy that stemmed from negligence. The death toll, however, is not the only tragedy that took place. Workers have been and are being severely mistreated. It’s still happening, right now.
For decades the fashion industry has been, among many others, sourcing their materials out to factories in other countries for production. Much of the reason for this is to reduce costs. This however comes at a price, in people’s lives. Taking advantage of workers is not new and much of it is towards women. Why? The majority of workers in the factory are women. For a long time women have been targeted for exploitative work. All workers in the factories have been abused over the years; and not much has changed since the collapse at Rana Plaza. While Rana Plaza was an issue of negligence, it revolved around structural integrity of the building and its safety standards. There is little in the way of how the workers were treated before the collapse.
Around 80-85% of factory workers are women. These workers are seen as disposable as they have no regulations to protect them from the abuses that they receive. Over a period of decades the same problems women and other workers have had to face have been the same repeating cycle. There have been repeated reports of verbal and physical abuse. Women have been sexually harassed and denied maternity leave causing miscarriages. In fact they have had to go through pregnancy evaluations before getting hired for work. In 1997 human rights groups fought this treatment by filing a complaint of these requirements in the United States and Mexico. Though it was brought through, the corporations moved their industries to South East Asia due to rising costs. Still there are reports of mistreatment in Mexican factories as well as in South East Asia.
Since then, workers have had little respite, they have also had incredibly strenuous work hours. In 2010 it was found that workers in India were working 140 hours a month in overtime, ending the day at 2 in the morning. It has been reported around 2015 that workers in India have been paid $37 a month. All the while they are still being brutalized and beaten. Workers are given arduous amounts of work to complete to keep up with the ever demanding supply of garments to be shipped to stores all across the world. They can not always keep up with these demands from fast fashion either. Even with regulations in place, there is nothing to enforce them. Once such example is that young girls have been employed at factories, lying about their age to get around regulations.
The government has made legal changes to allow the formation of unions, yet when workers try to form unions they are intimidated, dismissed and physically assaulted. There is still negligence and little being done to create safe workable conditions. The problems of the past still persist today. It has not disappeared. There have been small steps taken to help workers, but not enough. The fashion industry need to change its management system. It is time to take bigger steps.
Burke, Jason. "Bangladesh Garment Workers Suffer Poor Conditions Two Years after Reform Vows." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.
"Fashion Victims - the Facts." War On Want. War On Want, 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.
Loomis, Erik. Out of Sight: The Long and Disturbing Story of Corporations Outsourcing Catastrophe. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.