Analysis - Bangladesh still works for retailers, despite disasters

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/27/uk-bangladesh-building-retailers-idUKBRE93Q04120130427

(Reuters) - The factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 300 people this week is a stark reminder of the risks in the global retail industry's search for cheap production.

But there have been few signs that safety issues and other questionable labour conditions are sending shockwaves through the major Western retailers, their shareholders or the people who buy the clothes in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

Despite a series of accidents that have killed hundreds of people in recent months, dozens of major retailers and apparel makers continue to operate in Bangladesh.

The country ships about $15.6 billion of ready-made garments each year - about 80 percent of its total exports. Sixty percent of Bangladesh's garment exports go to Europe; the United States takes 23 percent, and Canada takes 5 percent, according to data from Bangladesh's commerce ministry and industry sources.

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1. Was your T-shirt made in the Dhaka garment factory? You have no idea

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/25/t-shirt-dhaka-factory-ethical-criteria-fairtrade


Desperate relatives display photos of workers they fear may still be trapped in the collapsed Rana Plaza factory building on the outskirts of Dhaka, in Bangladesh. Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media

An hour before reading with horror on Thursday morning that workers at a clothes factory that collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday had been ordered to return to work after their bosses decided cracks in the wall were nothing to worry about, I was deciding what to wear.

The season has changed and most of my lighter clothes feel stale, while my children have grown and been promised new things that fit them. We must all go shopping, I thought. But where?

Not every time I open my purse, but regularly, I consume ethically, or as ethically as I can. I buy gas and electricity from the Co-op, and shop mostly at the Co-op and local grocers. I don't buy factory-farmed meat or battery eggs, and choose Fairtrade products when I can.

I don't think my spending habits are going to change the world, and I don't think ethical consumption is a very effective lever in building a more just and sustainable society. That is what politics is for. But I do think, if you can afford to, that it's worth trying to give your money to producers you approve of rather than those you know are avoiding taxes, paying workers a pittance or harming the environment.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. No major surprise, since money talks. n/t

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3. what are you doing up?