“The Low Price” of the textile discounter KiK – consequences for labour conditions in textile factories in Bangladesh: Difference between revisions

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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 (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>  
In Bangladesh lives a population of about 164,4<ref>UNFPA Weltbevölkerungsbericht 2010. Copyright UNFPA 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. 25.2.2011. Available from 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>  


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This statement is very important because KiK sets his own levelling board they must achieve or otherwise can get criticised for. As a next step it is necessary to take a closer look to the established code of conduct by KiK in 2006. The code of conduct describes social standards for all trading partners of KiK, including those in Bangladesh and China. “The regulations of the code of conduct contain all the usual conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for good working conditions. These include adhering to maximum working hours and paying a minimum wage as well as a safe and clean working environment, freedom of assembly and collective bargaining and the prohibition of child labour.”<ref name="C" />  
This statement is very important because KiK sets his own levelling board they must achieve or otherwise can get criticised for. As a next step it is necessary to take a closer look to the established code of conduct by KiK in 2006. The code of conduct describes social standards for all trading partners of KiK, including those in Bangladesh and China. “The regulations of the code of conduct contain all the usual conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for good working conditions. These include adhering to maximum working hours and paying a minimum wage as well as a safe and clean working environment, freedom of assembly and collective bargaining and the prohibition of child labour.”<ref name="C" />  


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===== 3.3.1 "Control mechanism" during a social audit =====
===== 3.3.1 "Control mechanism" during a social audit =====


The adherence of the code of conduct rules is controlled systematically by inspections that are carried out by independent audit organisations. These social audits do follow a schedule plan that is showed in figure 2.<br>  
The adherence of the code of conduct rules is controlled systematically by inspections that are carried out by independent audit organisations. These social audits do follow a schedule plan that is showed in figure 2.<br>  
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