“It’s not a bad thing that companies are sourcing goods from Bangladesh, it’s only bad if they aren’t taking steps to make sure that those are produced under fair and safe working conditions.” - Kevin Thomas. Kevin Thomas is Director of Advocacy for the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) in Toronto. MSN is a labour and women's rights organization that supports the efforts of workers in global supply
chains to win improved wages and working conditions and a better quality of life.
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"Bangladesh is no stranger to disasters, both natural and man-made. Still, this is one of the saddest chapters since the country's independence in 1971, precisely because the tragedy could easily have been prevented." "The victims were among the most vulnerable of the society — hardworking people making an honest, but meager, living. "A Westerner might feel unease knowing that the clothes he or she is wearing were stitched together by people working long hours in dangerous conditions." "It is natural that people in richer countries are now asking how they can put pressure on Bangladesh and its manufacturers to improve the country’s dismal safety record." "But ceasing the purchase of Bangladeshi-manufactured goods, as some have suggested, would not be the compassionate course of action." "Economic opportunities from the garment industry have played an important role in making social change possible in the country, with about three million women now working in the garment sector." "I have dedicated my life to alleviating entrenched poverty, and I know that boycotting brands that do business in Bangladesh might only further impoverish those who most need to put food on their tables, since the foreign brands would simply take their manufacturing contracts to other countries." "Many outsiders think only of calamity when they hear the word Bangladesh — of factory fires, cyclones, floods and poverty. But the true Bangladesh is also the birthplace of microfinance and home to a robust civil society. It has seen rapid gains in living standards: maternal mortality is one-quarter of what it was in 1990; early childhood mortality is one-fifth of what it was in 1980, and we have eliminated the gender gap in primary and secondary school enrollment." "These remarkable gains will mean little if we allow tragedies like the one at Savar to continue. The law must work for everyone, rich and poor, landless laborer and factory owner alike. We must not allow those who benefit from the exploitation of the vulnerable to continue to treat life so cheaply." These are some of the words of the founder and chairman of the antipoverty organization BRAC, the World's largest development organisation in terms of the scale and diversity of its interventions. PLEASE READ FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATIONS BANGLADESH IS FACING TODAY. Read the full text here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/opinion/bangladesh-needs-strong-unions-not-outside-pressure.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2
CAUTION: Please be careful with high-street boycotts, as it could lead to Bangladeshi workers losing their livelihoods!!
