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“The Low Price” of the textile discounter KiK – consequences for labour conditions in textile factories in Bangladesh: Difference between revisions
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“The Low Price” of the textile discounter KiK – consequences for labour conditions in textile factories in Bangladesh (view source)
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==== 2.1 Geographic and social information ==== | ==== 2.1 Geographic and social information ==== | ||
In Bangladesh lives a population of about 164,4<ref>Report about human population 2010. http://www.weltbevoelkerung.de/pdf/dsw_datenreport_10.pdf</ref> million people on an area of 147.570 square kilometers. That makes the country to “one of the most crowded on Earth”<ref>Geographic information about Bangladesh. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/bangladesh-facts/</ref>. Bangladesh lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system which makes the land very fructuous. The annual floods on the one hand are helping and welcomed because they give fertility to the land, but on the other hand they sometimes destroy the harvest and kill the people who are living near the river. Most of the Bangladeshi people live from agricultural production, for example “wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, pulses, bananas and mangoes”<ref name="A">Brochure of Clean Clothes Campaign: Who pays for our clothing from Lidl and KIK? Published at Kampagne für Saubere-Kleidung (Clean Clothes Campaign; CCC). Published as brochure at January 1st, 2008: http://www.saubere-kleidung.de/downloads/publikationen/2008-01_Brosch-Lidl-KiK_en.pdf</ref>. The Bangladeshi people are very poor. Around 25% of the population is suffering from hunger. The garment industry contributes enormously to the economic development. 2 million people are working at the 3.500 factories. 85% of them are women from the rural regions who need to work in the cities because of job shortage in their home regions. The work at the garment factories is their only chance to receive income that helps to save the survival of the family.<ref name="A" /><br> | In Bangladesh lives a population of about 164,4<ref>Report about human population 2010. http://www.weltbevoelkerung.de/pdf/dsw_datenreport_10.pdf (View: 25.2.2011).</ref> million people on an area of 147.570 square kilometers. That makes the country to “one of the most crowded on Earth”<ref>Geographic information about Bangladesh. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/bangladesh-facts/ (View: 25.2.2011).</ref>. Bangladesh lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system which makes the land very fructuous. The annual floods on the one hand are helping and welcomed because they give fertility to the land, but on the other hand they sometimes destroy the harvest and kill the people who are living near the river. Most of the Bangladeshi people live from agricultural production, for example “wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, pulses, bananas and mangoes”<ref name="A">Brochure of Clean Clothes Campaign: Who pays for our clothing from Lidl and KIK? Published at Kampagne für Saubere-Kleidung (Clean Clothes Campaign; CCC). Published as brochure at January 1st, 2008: http://www.saubere-kleidung.de/downloads/publikationen/2008-01_Brosch-Lidl-KiK_en.pdf</ref>. The Bangladeshi people are very poor. Around 25% of the population is suffering from hunger. The garment industry contributes enormously to the economic development. 2 million people are working at the 3.500 factories. 85% of them are women from the rural regions who need to work in the cities because of job shortage in their home regions. The work at the garment factories is their only chance to receive income that helps to save the survival of the family.<ref name="A" /><br> | ||
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In chapter 2 I have already mentioned the “Agreement on Textiles and Clothing” (ATC) of the World Trade Organisation that phased out in 2005. After this phase-out a hard competition between Bangladesh and the former restricted countries like China and India began with the consequence for Bangladesh – which is very depending on export of clothing – that price reductions started which were to be paid by the garment workers in the end. “The poor countries, competing to retain their clothing industry, try to offer the lowest wages.”<ref name="A" /> | In chapter 2 I have already mentioned the “Agreement on Textiles and Clothing” (ATC) of the World Trade Organisation that phased out in 2005. After this phase-out a hard competition between Bangladesh and the former restricted countries like China and India began with the consequence for Bangladesh – which is very depending on export of clothing – that price reductions started which were to be paid by the garment workers in the end. “The poor countries, competing to retain their clothing industry, try to offer the lowest wages.”<ref name="A" /> | ||
Figure 1 is adapted from the brochure of the “Clean Clothes Campaign”. It is necessary now to give a short presentation of the “Clean Clothes Campaign” because it offers important information in its brochure that is used as one of the key literature in this case study. The key aim of the “Clean Clothes Campaign” is to improve the working conditions in the global garment industry, especially in less developed countries. This campaign is widely supported by many NGOs and labour unions.<ref>Profile of Clean Clothes Campaign: http://www.saubere-kleidung.de/ccc-60_wir/ccc-60_wir-ueberblick.html (View: 28.2.2011)</ref> The figure shows of which price components a T-shirt price is made up. “Wages only account for 0.5-1 percent of the ultimate selling price of the product”.<ref name="A" /> The large portion of the price is gained outside Bangladesh in Western industrial nations like Germany. Only the factory and wage costs remain in the Bangladeshi economy. A huge amount of the later price is spend for marketing activities and the rest, about 50 percent is used to cover costs of the retailer and to gain some profit.<ref name="A" /> <br><br><br> | Figure 1 is adapted from the brochure of the “Clean Clothes Campaign”. It is necessary now to give a short presentation of the “Clean Clothes Campaign” because it offers important information in its brochure that is used as one of the key literature in this case study. The key aim of the “Clean Clothes Campaign” is to improve the working conditions in the global garment industry, especially in less developed countries. This campaign is widely supported by many NGOs and labour unions.<ref>Profile of Clean Clothes Campaign: http://www.saubere-kleidung.de/ccc-60_wir/ccc-60_wir-ueberblick.html (View: 28.2.2011).</ref> The figure shows of which price components a T-shirt price is made up. “Wages only account for 0.5-1 percent of the ultimate selling price of the product”.<ref name="A" /> The large portion of the price is gained outside Bangladesh in Western industrial nations like Germany. Only the factory and wage costs remain in the Bangladeshi economy. A huge amount of the later price is spend for marketing activities and the rest, about 50 percent is used to cover costs of the retailer and to gain some profit.<ref name="A" /> <br><br><br> | ||
==== References<br> ==== | ==== References<br> ==== | ||