What do you wear?

I am not sure if I am angry, irritated, disappointed, pissed off or just ashamed of my fellow citizens.

For the past few days every news cast on TV has been flooded with horrific pictures of the textile factory's collapse in Bangladesh. We get to see over and over again people being carried out of the collapsed structure and their families crying at the side of the road.  Attached to those pictures are others showing the people of Bangladesh protesting in the streets - demanding better and safer working conditions. However, as appalling as these images are, what I find more upsetting are the discussions that are being attached to the lead story.

Every newscast seems to have a segment showing Canadian shoppers figuratively wringing their hands and suggesting that they didn't know that the people who made their clothes worked in such terrible conditions; that somehow the clothing they bought was made in safe and perhaps even enjoyable working conditions by people who had a choice about where they worked; that the factories that they worked in were regulated and inspected by highly competent public officials. One wonders how they could believed that?

The final piece of this news item is usually a representative from some clothing conglomerate (the Gap for example owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic (CBC News)) explaining that they are working on the problem. The spokesperson always insist that the various textile contractors in Bangladesh or other such countries are expected to follow safety rules etc. Again according to the CBC there is some doubt as to how hard they are working on the problem or how serious they are about demanding that safer working conditions exist in the factories that produce our clothing.

It is as if this is a new story; that we are just finding out this week that there are people who are working for a pittance in more than horrendous conditions for long hours so that our need to be fashionable is satisfied. Our surprise at these facts is more than a little bit strange given that on a regular basis for at least the past 10-15 years there has been public discussion as to the problem. According to Reuters, not counting the most recent disaster, in the past six years there have been 700 deaths reported in Bangladesh alone that were directly caused because of fire or poorly constructed/maintained buildings. A quick search via Google will find similar statistics from other countries. Anyone who could read knew what was happening in at least some detail;  anyone who watched the news on occasion would have got at least a glimmering of how and where their clothes were made. Certainly I, for at least the past seven years, have discussed the issue in one form or another in many of my classes.

Some people justify the existence of these factories by either saying that the people are so much better off since the factories came to their cities in at least they now have jobs; that no one forces them to work there for low wages. The second argument is that the countries are better off now that there is  western money coming into their countries. And that is the individual country's responsibility to create and enforce appropriate working conditions. Both of these rationalizations  imply that there is a choice. There is not.

There are no other jobs for the individuals to go to, and if there were - the working conditions would be virtually identical. There is no one for them to complain to. The workers have zero protection. There is quite simply not the infrastructure to provide such help. It is true that countries could increase the building standards and demand that factories treat their employees as if they had some value as humans, but doing so would increase the cost of operation for the factories. The western buyers would not accept paying more. They would just negotiate the contract with another factory/country that did not have those standards. The various political forces in each country have unfortunately been convinced that they need what little revenue the textile business earns. They can't afford to lose that revenue.

The terribleness of the "incident" in  Bangladesh will make the news for another few days and then will be replaced by something else.  We in the west will continue, in our usual fashion, to wail at the injustices of someone else's decisions and as always, refuse to accept responsibility for our own. The majority of our clothing that we buy will be made in some other country by men and women who lack the most basic rights of safe working conditions. Rights that we have because of strong unions and a strong economy ¹. And the next time something similar happens - another building collapses, or catches fire or there is a chemical spill that maims people and it will, we will do the right thing and complain- then once again say that we didn't know.

One has to wonder if this moral and perhaps almost intentional ignorance is because we are not very bright, because we are greedy ,or because we just don't care. I don't know which of the three options scares me the most.

question... how many pants or shirt/blouses do you need?

¹if you doubt the connection between a strong economy and strong unions - look at what is happening to unions and our present dysfunctional  economic system. The tighter times get (according to those are making less) the more unions are under pressure to be less active - less demanding.