Background: collapse leaves the textile drama in light |Reports |News |The universe

WORKING CONDITIONS The threads that go through the clothing of hundreds of brands worldwide weave more than the latest fashion designs.In some cases, stories of endless hours of work in precarious conditions in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and even pain and tragedy, such as the collapse of a building on April 24 in Bangladés, which leaves so far more thanA thousand dead and the closure of 18 textile factories.

In the building that according to its architect, Massoud Reza, was conceived as a six -story shopping center, five clothing workshops worked and had been increased to nine floors without reinforcing the bases and with poor quality materials, indicate the first reports.

Background: collapse leaves the textile drama in light

There, workers sewed garments for European and American brands.According to The New York Times, at the collapse site there were labels and documents of companies such as Children’s Place, Benetton, Cato Fashions and Mango.Primark, a British clothing chain, confirmed that on the second floor a workshop that made its products, and mango, which had commissioned some samples worked on the second floor.

The collapse was not only the third important industrial incident in five months in Bangladés, the second largest world exporter of clothing after China, but is considered the worst accident in textile factories in history.It exceeds a fire recorded in 1911 in New York, which caused 146 deaths, or registered in Pakistan in 2012, which ended the life of 260 people.

Advertising

The mourning in textile factories had already invaded Bangladés in November 2012, when a fire left 112 dead.Last Wednesday, fourteen days after the collapse, the fire in another workshop caused the death of eight people.

The cases raise doubts about job security and low wages, which in that country are around $ 38 per month.But, in addition, they reactivate the debate on the role of fashion companies, workers' rights - especially in poor countries - and consumption regardless of manufacturing conditions.

Pope Francis, on May 1, on the occasion of World Labor Day, said that unfair wages and the unbridled search for profits were "against God".“Living with 38 euros ($ 50) per month, that was the salary of these people who died.That is called slave work, ”he said.

Actually, wages are even lower.The legal minimum is 29 euros ($ 38 per month), for six days of weekly work and ten -hour daily shifts.

The operators of that sector are one of the cheapest in the world, although the monthly average salary has practically doubled in Asia from 2000 to 2011, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).For example, a worker in the manufacturing sector in the Philippines earns $ 1.4 per hour, compared to the $ 5.4 paid in Brazil, the $ 13 of Greece and $ 23 in the United States, consists of the World Report on Salary 2012 2012/2013 of the ILO.

There are even more precarious conditions.In Cambodia, where there are about 500 clothing and footwear factories in which about 511 work.000 people, the monthly salary of the textile sector is $ 80 ($ 2.66 a day);Workers ask that $ 150 be increased.

Advertising

In China, on the other hand, the salary increase driven by the Government places the average salary at $ 345 ($ 11 a day), which at the discretion of economists will cause companies in the manufacturing sector to take their production to other countries in Asia del Southeastand from the south, where the labor is cheaper, says a report from the French bank.

Gilbert Houngbo, deputy general director of Operations in the field of the ILOWorld wants to buy the highest quality at the lowest price ".

Raúl Izurieta, former Minister of Labor of Ecuador, considers that the population of the world does not grow to the same extent as food or food production and that is why food shortages and job offer will always be a problem of world dimensions.

The phenomenon, it indicates, will be permanent while there is excess population against the lack of opportunities.To this is added migration and the use of machinery in replacement of man.

This reality is not exclusive to Asia.Precarious work situations (without all the benefits of law) and even forced type (by obligation or debts) are also given in some textile factories from Latin American countries, such as Haiti, Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina.

According to ILO, domestic work, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and entertainment are the sectors most affected by the type of mandatory work, which is considered a form of modern slavery.In the world almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor: 11.4 million women and girls and 9.5 men and children.

In Argentina, on April 10, the Ministry of Labor detected in two homes of Villa Soldati, a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, five textile workshops where 45 people of Bolivian nationality were exploited, deprived of their liberty and overcrowded, reported the newspaper La Diario La Diario La Diario La Diario La newspaperNation.

The workshops were in "deplorable hygiene and safety conditions", there were no emergency exits, there was flammable material next to the electric machines, the newspaper said.

Another case was released on April 30, in the Chacabuco Park sector, in textile workshops that make pants for local brands Ponguin, Narrow and M51.

In Haiti, devastated after the January 2010 earthquake, maquilas and newly created industrial parks (which house these workshops) are the main job option.About 29.000 people work in these factories with salaries of $ 5 a day, according to the Information Agency Ayiti Kale.There are manufactured garments for republic, gap, Gildan Activewear, Levis.

In October 2012, the Government opened the Caracol Industrial Park, where a subsidiary of the South Korean company SAE-A was installed, which manufactures for brands such as JC Penny and Walmart, and offers to hire 20.000 workers until 2016.

The New York Times published in July the conflict that Sae-A had in Guatemala, where he retired a year ago after being denounced by unions to violate labor and criminal laws.Workers say that companies repress their organizational attempts.

The precarious working conditions have raised voices in international spaces that ask consumers to buy clothes in stores whose production chain respects labor rights."For the consumer it is virtually impossible to know if the product was prepared in safe conditions," says Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners consultant.

Fair Trade u.S.A.It is a non -profit organization that audits products to ensure that workers receive a decent salary and work in safe conditions and boost the purchase of the so -called clothing made ethically.

Rob Behnke, co -founder and president of Fair Indigo, a store dedicated to the sale of ethical garments, said some buyers call and mention the recent tragedy of Bangladés.The company, which generates annual sales of less than $ 10 million, had an increase of 35% in its income after disaster.However, clothing made "ethically" is sold by few companies and represents just a percentage point of $ 3.000 million that moves the world dress industry.

11.7 million people is the number of workers victims of mandatory work in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the ILO.They are followed by Africa, with 3.7 million, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with 1.8 million.