This involves improving existing laws, protecting informal workers, establishing effective whistleblowing and grievance mechanisms, providing labour safety nets – especially in the context of the pandemic – and empowering the backbone of the industry: women. The question is, do we fix the cracks when we see them – or wait for the whole thing to come crashing down?Īs brands continue to base their supply chains in countries with low wages and weak social protections, it is up to both retailing and host governments to address the intertwined phenomenon of corruption and human rights abuses in the sector. Competitive pressure, difficult working conditions and laxity in safety are all a result of inherent power imbalances fuelling corruption. The Rana Plaza case reveals what still goes on in factories catering to fast fashion around the world. On the Rana Plaza factory floor, pressure to deliver cheap products quickly created a situation where workers who were there at the time of the accident were forced to keep on working despite cracks appearing in the building. While building safety has improved since the tragedy in 2013, the overall structure of the global supply chain, with its inherent power imbalance, was left untouched. A new International Accord negotiated between brands and workers’ unions in 2021 continues the work in Bangladesh and extends it to other countries. Most European retailers signed the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety which has created real change by making factories safer.

Ten years since the Rana Plaza disaster, a lot has been done to ensure better safety conditions for garment workers. Workplace abuses often include sexual harassment and sextortion. It also concerning that garment workers – who are mostly women and girls – face more than just underpayment and strenuous working conditions. All of this has threatened the viability of suppliers and has caused widespread dismissal and poor treatment of workers in an attempt by suppliers to cut costs. Retroactively cancelled orders and brands demanding payment schedules that cater to their whims exacerbates this situation. Suppliers report offering rates lower than production costs to keep their businesses alive. Brands are known to be leveraging suppliers’ desperation as a bargaining chip to demand even deeper price discounts. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has only worsened the problem. With big brands dictating pricing and payment terms, along with determining how profits are made and distributed along the supply chain, suppliers are left with little to pay workers living wages, create a safe working environment or provide assistance upon termination. This acute power imbalance creates opportunities for corruption – with a potentially disastrous impact on the lives of the people making our clothes. Because there are multiple suppliers competing with one another and only a limited number of brands, the big names in fashion often have significant negotiating power.

On one end of this chain stand big brands, and on the other, workers – with suppliers lying between them. The fast fashion or r eady-made Garment industry, providing low-cost clothing options to look on-trend, is based on a carefully choreographed and quick-moving global supply chain.

Force of will shion mat