A fire broke out Tuesday in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during overtime hours killing at least 10 people and injuring about 50. In April, the collapse of another garment factory in that area killed 1,127 workers due to neglect of building codes.
Around three-fourths of Bangladesh’s exports are clothing, and while the cause of Tuesday’s fire is yet undeclared, working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry are notoriously poor.
“Fair labor issues, I think, are important to students because virtually everyone works, and I think work is just one of those issues that everyone can get around because of the universal nature of it,” Mark Ortiz, president of the Students for Fair Labor organization, said. “In the case of the garment industry, students really have a direct influence over the workings of it.”
Last semester Students for Fair Labor at The University of Alabama campaigned for and succeeded in getting the SUPe Store to offer garments made by Alta Gracia, a company in the Dominican Republic that is the only garment producer on the college market that pays its workers a living wage and is monitored by the Workers Rights Consortium.
The WRC is an independent watchdog organization that monitors factories to ensure workers are treated with respect and dignity.
Students for Fair Labor’s current mission is to get the University to affiliate with the WRC. Other Southern universities, like the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas at Austin, are already affiliated with the WRC.
The University would need to create a Code of Conduct if it were to affiliate with the WRC, and violations of that Code of Conduct by factories producing garments for the University would be reported to the University. The University would then have the choice to discontinue working with that producer.
After several attempts to contact the administration with no reply, members of Students for Fair Labor delivered a loaf of pumpkin bread on Sept. 20 to UA President Judy Bonner, along with a letter asking the University to affiliate with the WRC. So far, they have received no response.
“The administration is working on a response to the Students for Fair Labor and will get back with the group as soon as possible,” director of media relations Cathy Andreen said.
While Bangladesh is across the globe, sweatshop conditions are also found in factories in the United States.
“In my realization that solidarity comes from intersectionality, I discovered that workers’ rights was one of the many rights that I previously overlooked due to my erroneous belief that it was not something that affected me,” Anthony James, outreach chair for Students for Fair Labor, said. “Rights are rights no matter to whom they belong directly. And rights are what I fight for, even if it means just being a voice for change to occur.”
