Editor's Note: On 15 February 2022, Yoshi Uramoto presented his experience of work following the 2013 Rana Plaza Tragedy in Bangladesh to members of the XUNICEF Academics Cluster. The following may be of interest to those of us who were not able to attend the meeting.
Click the slideshow below for the presentation. The slideshow should run automatically, although some slides may take a few moments to load. If you stop the automatic slideshow, you can continue by manually clicking on each slide. You can also download the slideshow for later viewing.
We hope soon to receive the video of Yoshi's presentation and the discussion which followed. We will post this separately.
Following a long career in UNICEF and later in UNIDO as Deputy to the Director General, Yoshi served as Regional Director for Asia in ILO. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Professor at Sophia University.
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Following a long career in UNICEF and later in UNIDO as Deputy to the Director General, Yoshi served as Regional Director for Asia in ILO. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Professor at Sophia University.
Thus Yoshi brings together the concerns of the three UN organizations - international business, worker's rights, and the rights of children and women.
In 2013 some 85% of garment workers in Bangladesh were women, many of them young mothers. In 2020 this proportion was down to 60%. The average worker in the Bangladeshi garment industry is getting paid only one third of what is considered to be a living wage. Low wages and long working hours have been found to play a key role in parents’ decisions to take their children out of school and let them work in various jobs. Many international garment brands, including H&M, C&A, Esprit, Marks & Spencer, GAP, VF Corporation and Kmart Australia, contribute to this situation.
The majority of women workers have no option but to send their children to stay with their parents in rural areas, depriving them of the right to breastfeed and of the enjoyment of bringing up their own children.
In 2013 some 85% of garment workers in Bangladesh were women, many of them young mothers. In 2020 this proportion was down to 60%. The average worker in the Bangladeshi garment industry is getting paid only one third of what is considered to be a living wage. Low wages and long working hours have been found to play a key role in parents’ decisions to take their children out of school and let them work in various jobs. Many international garment brands, including H&M, C&A, Esprit, Marks & Spencer, GAP, VF Corporation and Kmart Australia, contribute to this situation.
The majority of women workers have no option but to send their children to stay with their parents in rural areas, depriving them of the right to breastfeed and of the enjoyment of bringing up their own children.
The following presentation can also be downloaded and viewed by clicking here
The Powerpoint seems to explain in a complicated way something that most of us knew all along: That the Global Apparel Industry is making good profits on the back of garment factory workers in Bangladesh and elsewhere. I am missing, beyond an appeal for more conscious consumer choices, suggestions for development agencies such as UNICEF how they can play a more significant role in creating change. UNICEF National Committees are ‘partnering’ (i.e. receiving funds) from Garment businesses (such as Primark in Germany), relying on self-certification and the companies’ own compliance reports. As UNICEF is in a perpetual stage of reimagining itself, I could image a role for UNICEF country office and HQ to advocate and assist Governments (in Bangladesh and elsewhere) to create legislation and further a business culture that is not harmful to children, and at the same time work with willing garment companies (who donate money to UNICEF) and the governments in industrialized countries, to help countries to more forcefully reject products manufactured under conditions harmful to children on their families. This would require a coordinated and simultaneous response from UNICEF in industrialized and emerging economies – something that would truly befit a global organization that has people working everywhere.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, UNICEF seems to have left the fight against 'child labour' to ILO (nothing against ILO), but only UNICEF has the simultaneous and possibly coordinated access to the actors both in industrialized countries and emerging economies.
Dear Detlef, What is novel in this study and in my presentation is that it not simply the brands but also the manufactures who benefit more than they contribute towards the value created at the cost of cheap female labour. We needed evidence to prove that and we did! Bangladesh government and manufacturers (BGMEA) that they perpetuate the systemic exploitation of labour. Solution is not apply Marx I believe.
ReplyDeleteIt is systemic or structural issues built on power. Asymetrues ofGpower that needs to be addressed by not only one company such as H&M or me UN agency like UNICEF and ILO. Labour particularly female has almost no negotiating power. This power imbalance needs to be corrected. Full labour rights and policy change supported by the power - govts, Bretonwoods Institutions, Wall Street and many others who can influenced the change in structure and institution … challenging but we need to keep working on this.
I suggest humbly to read the book “The Contest for Value in Global Value Chains: Correcting Distorted Distribution in the Global Apparel Industry. Best Yoshi
I believe this issue deserves much attention. What is novel in this study is that it not simply the brand but also the manufactures who benefit more than they contribute towards the value created at the cost of cheap female labour. It is systemic or structural that needs to be addressed by not only by one company such as H&M. Labour particularly female has almost no negotiating power. This power imbalance needs to be corrected. Full labour rights and policy change supported by the power - govts, Bretonwoods Institutions, Wall Street and many others who can influenced the change of structure and institution … challenging but we need to keep working on this.
ReplyDeleteYoshi