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Bangladesh’s garment factories resumed operations last week after shutting down for four days amid violent anti-government protests, which resulted in the toppling of the country’s autocratic leader Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Now, as a new interim government headed by Nobel Prize Laureate and economics professor Muhammad Yunus takes the helm, attention is turning towards reform across the country’s critical $38 billion garment industry, as well as the role of international fashion brands in that change.
A shake-up of political leadership in Bangladesh, the world’s third largest garment exporter, presents new opportunities for both the government and brands to address long-standing labour and human rights issues. The country is known for low wages, which academics and advocates say are the main culprit in perpetuating poor working conditions, human rights abuses and, increasingly, social unrest.
Last year, at least four workers were killed during demonstrations to increase the minimum wage beyond the government’s ordered BDT 12,500 a month (about $106). To compare, the minimum cost of living for a family of four in the country’s capital of Dhaka totals to almost threefold that amount, at roughly $315 a month, according to a 2023 report from the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.
Suppliers in the country have been worrying about how brands will respond to last week’s factory closures, fearing that some would demand discounts on orders due to delays — or pull their business out of the country altogether.
Outside of commenting on payment for current orders, few brands have spoken publicly about what their role in the situation was, or could be; a missed opportunity, but one that doubles as a moment to learn from and build on for the future, experts say. There’s no better time to push for wholesale transformation, some argue, than during a leadership transition and while things are already in flux.
“Imagine building a whole new government that’s been entrenched with corruption and colonialism for 15 years,” says Chaumtoli Huq, associate professor of law at CUNY’s School of Law and a human rights activist. “There’s a lot of challenges, but I do think that we’ll see a better climate for business, including the garment sector.”
Nazma Akter, president of the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, a Bangladeshi union that represents around 100,000 workers in the ready-made garment sector, says Yunus in office and the growing momentum for change amounts to a “renaissance”. “We are optimistic because [the people of Bangladesh] are fighting for justice,” she adds.
What workers want
Union groups and worker advocates have made renewed calls for fair wages, collective bargaining, protection from intimidation, and support in reskilling workers for a more sustainable industry. Labour rights advocates have called for compensation and medical treatment for workers who were killed or injured during the most recent protests. They’ve also demanded that workers be paid for the days that factories were shut down and orders put on hold.
Scott Nova, executive director of Worker Rights Consortium, says international fashion brands play a critical role in long-term industry reforms. Many brands have enabled or encouraged a race to the bottom with increasingly low wages, he explains, which are at the root of the protests that led to the political upheaval of the last few weeks. Instead of distancing themselves from what they could describe as political uncertainty, he says brands should stand by suppliers and support them through the current rough patch, which involves paying prices that correspond with workers’ rights and respecting labour laws.
Brands should work with the government to ensure that on-site labour inspectors are available to oversee these changes, says Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Centre, a workers’ rights organisation with an office in Bangladesh. “You’re colluding with an authoritarian regime or with repressive police institutions if you’re not taking the proactive step of clearly enforcing rules with your suppliers as a brand,” she says.
Bader-Blau explains that the change of political leadership could open up an opportunity for improved union representation for workers. A recent report from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre found that suppliers in countries including Bangladesh often undermine trade unions and block meaningful dialogue with workers. “We see brands blaming governments alone for the lack of enforcement of rights in their supply chains or solving problems one by one, but they don’t support an enabling environment for [unions],” she says. “But that can happen, and it would be a game changer.”
Industry analysts, unions and manufacturers hope such overdue reforms to the garment business may be successful under the leadership of Yunus, who is a long-time advocate for garment workers. After the Rana Plaza tragedy, he called for international brands to pay 50 cents more per garment to go towards funding a Garment Workers Welfare Trust that would pay for childcare, healthcare and housing for workers and their families. “We can no longer say this is just Bangladesh’s headache — but it is a headache of the entire business — nobody can escape from it,” Yunus told WWD in 2013.
“We are very much hopeful,” says ZM Kamrul Anam, president of the Bangladesh Textile and Garment Workers League.
Already, political shifts are forcing their way through institutions led by Hasina’s Awami League, the country’s oldest political party notorious for enabling widespread corruption and repression. This week, a group of factory owners served a memorandum expressing “no confidence” in the board overseeing the country’s Awami-led trade group, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The action came after months of escalating frustrations, including confusion over factory operations the last few weeks that weakened brands’ trust in suppliers.
Faisal Samad, managing director of manufacturing firm Savartex Group and former VP of BGMEA, says Hasina’s ousting and Yunus’s leadership will change the country’s international image “and give some confidence to our customers”. BGMEA did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite short-term challenges, “there will be a lot of better days”, says Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Bangladeshi manufacturer Denim Expert Limited, which supplies goods to brands such as H&M. “Things are getting in place, and we will come back in a stronger way,” he says.
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Correction: Shawna Bader-Blau is the executive director of the Solidarity Centre, not Solidarity Project as previously reported. (14 August 2024)
