The Collapse of the Rana Plaza Building - Assignment Example

Disaster in Bangladesh: The Collapse of the Rana Plaza Building Summary The article explores the textile industry in Bangladesh, a country famous for its garment- making factories. The textile industry in Bangladesh has impressive results in the country, especially so that the country survived the global financial crisis between the years 2008 to 2009. Bangladesh has a strong competitor, China, a country well known for its ability to make garments at cheap prices. Most of the western countries prefer to outsource the production of their textiles in Bangladesh because it is cheaper and they make quality garments. Due to the emerging economy state of China, Bangladesh views China as its greatest business rival. However, the western investors do not trust the stability of China in the long run and this s the reason that westerners opted to diverse their supplies and have some share of business in Bangladesh. Despite the fact that Bangladesh heavily relies upon the textile industry for its economic growth, there has been little improvement in the working conditions of the workers in the textile factories in the country. The western countries with an interest in Bangladesh have made some efforts to ensure the good working conditions of the workers in the textile factories in Bangladesh. The Walt Disney Company is one such one country. This situation was made worse by the Collapse of the Rana Plaza building that led to death of over 1,100 workers in the building. The building hosted a lot of garment workers who worked in the five garment factories located in the Rana Building. Q1 Bangladesh enjoyed preferential treatment when operating in the textile industry under the quota system. This is because the country had an easy and free access to the rich western countries. With the free trade system, the country has to compete with other countries in order to get a market in the western countries. This aspect makes Bangladesh to have to compete with other richer countries, such as China, for the attention of the western retailers. Bangladesh, however, has managed to maintain a strong front in the garment industry, even during the global economic crisis that hit and affected the rest of the countries. This aspect can be due to the free trade system. Bangladesh had to toughen up and improve the quality of their textile industry after the onset of the free trade regime. It managed to produce quality textiles and garments but at low costs. This made Bangladesh a favorite among many western retailers who imported garments from Bangladesh. Due to the competition, Bangladesh has managed to create a strong reputation for itself as a leading textile and garment producer and exporter, a fact that has made most of the western companies to prefer textile supplies from Bangladesh, rather than China. Q2 The Western companies prefer outsourcing textiles and garments from Bangladesh. The main reason for this is that Bangladesh offers these western companies with cheaper labor than their own countries and they also do not have a direct responsibility for the labor of the textile factories. The western companies from Europe and US, therefore, highly benefit from their interaction with Bangladesh in a business perspective. The garment factories in Bangladesh offer poor conditions to the workers, a fact evidenced by the collapse if the Rana plaza and the many accidents occurring in these industries. Since the Bangladesh population highly depend on the textile industry for their survival, both independently and as a country. However, the benefit of having a constant source of income does not outweigh the poor working conditions faced by the workers in Bangladesh since they pay for these poor conditions with their lives. Q3 The textile industry has very poor working conditions due to the low safety measures undertaken by both the employers and employees in the industry. There are few rules governing the textile industry in Bangladesh and even these rules have a capability of being bent to fit in the desires of individual parties. There is a high population of poor people in Bangladesh, and most of the workers in the garment factories do not have the capacity of being employed in any other industry. This makes the workers in the garment factories to accept little wages for their efforts. The cheap labor offered by the Bangladesh garment workers and their excessive existence in the industry is a cause of the insecurity present in the factories of Bangladesh. The Rana plaza collapse was one of the worst cases of the textile industry in Bangladesh. O the day of the collapse, there was a report of the collapse causing the death of 250 workers. This death toll, however, rapidly increased to an astonishing number of 1100 people. The western retailing factories that outsource garments from Bangladesh have the main responsibility for the collapse of the Rana Plaza that caused the death of so many workers. The western companies share in the responsibility of driving the prices of the textile factory down. The companies offer such a low price for the garments, a factor that has increased the poor conditions of the factories in Bangladesh. The low prices of the bids offered to the western companies because the factories in Bangladesh to outsource production from the shadow economy of subcontractors who operate in rogue factories with little consideration of the legal requirements of the working conditions of workers. The workers end up getting low wages for their work and the buildings in which they work do not meet the legally appropriate standards. Q4 Three weeks after the report of the collapse of the Rana Plaza, western companies such as the H7M retailers, Zara chain, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and the Benetton companies decided to sign a legally binding document. The document acted as a symbolism of their agreement to improve the safety conditions of the garment factories suited in Bangladesh. The agreement included the decision of theses western retailer industries to ensure that they only accept the bids of the manufacturers whose factories meet the standards of operation and that they meet all the required safety standards of factories. This agreement will not be effective nor improve the situation in Bangladesh since the manufacturers will go back to their old ways of subcontracting other parties to oversee the production process while providing minimal wages to the workers. This is the only way that the manufacturers ensure that they get quality clothes and at a profit. The western companies should, instead, also consider providing more value for the bids of the manufacturers, so that they may have the ability to directly employ workers and ofer them better wages and a safe working environment. Ethical issues Two years after the occurrence of the collapse of the Raza Building, there have been changes in the textile industry in Bangladesh. Several of the European and United States clothes retailing companies took responsibility for the collapse of the building (Westervelt 1). They pledged their support to help restore the textile industry in Bangladesh through providing funds that enabled for the improving of the working conditions in the textile industry in the country. The help, however, will be limited to the period up to the year 2018, where the factories in Bangladesh will have to support themselves (Westervelt 1). So far, there have been improvements in the areas of the safety of the workers in the industry, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) has ensured that there is enforcement of the labor rights of the workers in Bangladesh (Westervelt 1). Global western brands such as H&M, Primark, Walmart and Mango have voluntarily donated to the Raza Plaza Donors Trust Fund in order to compensate the victims of the collapse of the building (Westervelt 1). European countries and the USA outsource the manufacturing of their clothes to low cost and poor countries such as Bangladesh. This is unethical for the countries if they do not as well provide enabling conditions for good working conditions for the workers in these countries. The western countries should ensure the factories that bid for the contracts to make these garments have the capability of ensuring the safety of their workers and also provide them with a modest wage. The collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh could not have happened if the western companies had responsibly and ethically considered the human rights and working conditions of the workers in Bangladesh when giving the manufacturers in Bangladesh contracts of making garments for them. Works Cited Westervelt, Amy. Two years after Rana Plaza, have conditions improved in Bangladesh’s factories? The Guardian, 24 April 2015. Web. 8 June 2015. < http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/24/bangladesh-factories-building-collapse-garment-dhaka-rana-plaza-brands-hm-gap-workers-construction> Read More