The collapse of a garment factory in Savar, Bangladesh on April 24 has major US and European retailers and their consumers asking "what have we done to contribute to this senseless tragedy?" My answer is nothing. If a country refuses to treat its citizens like humans, it is not the responsibility of foreign investors or multinational companies to force them. Corporate responsibility has its limits and these are the reasons why:
The building that collapsed is called Rana Plaza and its owner, Sohel Rana heads the youth group supporting the current ruling party in Bangladesh that is Awami League. He does not make his living as the owner of one factory but of multiple businesses that were established under the patronage of politicians. He is alleged to be the area muscleman extorting money from area businesses. Despite seeing cracks appear in multiple areas of the building, Sohel Rana and the factory managers demanded that employees report to work or their pay would be docked. Sohel Rana was arrested four days after the collapse while trying to flee to India through the border.
Rana Plaza was built to support 5 floors. But the building had three more floors added in violation of building and safety codes. Moreover, the building was designed to be a shopping mall not a factory housing massive machines. Throughout the country, engineers and safety inspectors are routinely bribed and/or threatened to certify buildings as safe to fulfill the ever changing "vision" of building owners. In this case, two engineers have been arrested for certifying the building to be safe to enter even after the cracks appeared.
Garment factory owners routinely funnel money away from employee wages and insurance policies to pad their personal slush funds. Foreign companies are not paying the bare minimum to have their products made. Retailers negotiate in good faith with agencies rife with corruption and greed to cover wages and insurance, but if these funds are not being distributed to the employees then we will continue to see a swelling class of the working poor instead of a rising middle class.
Foreign investors and companies cannot possibly fathom how inhumanely blue-collar workers are treated in Bangladesh. There have been multiple cases where employees were denied pay, physically and sexually assaulted, locked in factories to prevent them from leaving and fired without due cause. Factory managers and owners will always rely on the foreign companies lack of language skills and lack of familiarity of the "way things work" in the country to hide employee abuse and corruption at the management level. If and when foreign companies do demand accountability, management will always demand more money to "incorporate" reforms which inevitably causes companies to back off.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blithely explained the tragedy as "accidents happen" when she sat down for an interview with Christiana Amanpour. The collapse of Rana Plaza is not an isolated event, but the deadliest one so far in a string of disasters at garment factories. The second deadliest one occurred on November 2012 when a fire at Tazreen Fashion Factory killed 112 employees. Reports indicate that employees were locked in the building preventing their escape. When the nation's leader understands these negligent practices as "accidents" I cannot hold foreign corporations as the only group responsible for these massacres.
Multinational companies cannot possibly navigate the corruption and dysfunction in Bangladesh. Even if retailers sign onto employee safety protocols, the assurance that the protocol will be followed is non-existent. Retailers would have to open their own HR department in Bangladesh and have employees from their own countries oversee the day-to-day operations at the supplier factories. As of now, these companies cannot be held responsible unless there is proof that they willingly ignored labor laws or are complicit in the negligent and abusive practices of the suppliers and manufacturers.
Bangladeshi officials couldn't care less about enforcing labor laws because doing so would mean prosecuting politicians and corrupted officials who "spread the wealth" amongst friends and patrons. The tragedy in Savar is not that Big Bad Foreigners are enslaving poor citizens, it's that the country's elite are willing to slaughter the poor for a Benz and a vacation.
The building that collapsed is called Rana Plaza and its owner, Sohel Rana heads the youth group supporting the current ruling party in Bangladesh that is Awami League. He does not make his living as the owner of one factory but of multiple businesses that were established under the patronage of politicians. He is alleged to be the area muscleman extorting money from area businesses. Despite seeing cracks appear in multiple areas of the building, Sohel Rana and the factory managers demanded that employees report to work or their pay would be docked. Sohel Rana was arrested four days after the collapse while trying to flee to India through the border.
Rana Plaza was built to support 5 floors. But the building had three more floors added in violation of building and safety codes. Moreover, the building was designed to be a shopping mall not a factory housing massive machines. Throughout the country, engineers and safety inspectors are routinely bribed and/or threatened to certify buildings as safe to fulfill the ever changing "vision" of building owners. In this case, two engineers have been arrested for certifying the building to be safe to enter even after the cracks appeared.
Garment factory owners routinely funnel money away from employee wages and insurance policies to pad their personal slush funds. Foreign companies are not paying the bare minimum to have their products made. Retailers negotiate in good faith with agencies rife with corruption and greed to cover wages and insurance, but if these funds are not being distributed to the employees then we will continue to see a swelling class of the working poor instead of a rising middle class.
Foreign investors and companies cannot possibly fathom how inhumanely blue-collar workers are treated in Bangladesh. There have been multiple cases where employees were denied pay, physically and sexually assaulted, locked in factories to prevent them from leaving and fired without due cause. Factory managers and owners will always rely on the foreign companies lack of language skills and lack of familiarity of the "way things work" in the country to hide employee abuse and corruption at the management level. If and when foreign companies do demand accountability, management will always demand more money to "incorporate" reforms which inevitably causes companies to back off.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blithely explained the tragedy as "accidents happen" when she sat down for an interview with Christiana Amanpour. The collapse of Rana Plaza is not an isolated event, but the deadliest one so far in a string of disasters at garment factories. The second deadliest one occurred on November 2012 when a fire at Tazreen Fashion Factory killed 112 employees. Reports indicate that employees were locked in the building preventing their escape. When the nation's leader understands these negligent practices as "accidents" I cannot hold foreign corporations as the only group responsible for these massacres.
Multinational companies cannot possibly navigate the corruption and dysfunction in Bangladesh. Even if retailers sign onto employee safety protocols, the assurance that the protocol will be followed is non-existent. Retailers would have to open their own HR department in Bangladesh and have employees from their own countries oversee the day-to-day operations at the supplier factories. As of now, these companies cannot be held responsible unless there is proof that they willingly ignored labor laws or are complicit in the negligent and abusive practices of the suppliers and manufacturers.
Bangladeshi officials couldn't care less about enforcing labor laws because doing so would mean prosecuting politicians and corrupted officials who "spread the wealth" amongst friends and patrons. The tragedy in Savar is not that Big Bad Foreigners are enslaving poor citizens, it's that the country's elite are willing to slaughter the poor for a Benz and a vacation.
