Panorama

[emmie]

did anyone watch Panorama last evening about the clothing industry and how chain stores like H&M, Primark don't seem to have taken on board
the massive problems inherent in the factories in places like Bangladesh, locking people into the factories in case they steal, working all hours for a pittance, not good at all, the UK bosses of these outlets should be seeing this for themselves and doing something about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24195441

[ummmm]

I didn't see it.

Trouble is people want cheap clothes.

[emmie]

deaths are commonplace, mostly from fires in unsanitary, buildings with no fire regulations, safety measures in place, locked gates to keep the workers from stealing, what on earth, a very sad programme.

they do, however this is coming in at enormous cost to those that make them.

[emmie]

thing is many of our major retailers who's clothes are not that cheap also use these factories, so it's not all about cheap.... other countries are involved as well US, Walmart for instance, they could at least oversee these places and have proper regulations on working hours, and safety should be paramount.

[sandyRoe]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1277934.html
A bit of pressure on the retailers here might help improve conditions for the workers there.

[factor-fiction]

Are the people who buy clothes from Primark also complicit?

[emmie]

it isn't only Primark, had anyone watched the programme i have listed some of the retailers, there are an awful lot more. Look at clothes labels next time you buy something, chances are it's made in Bangladesh, India, China, working conditions should at least be safe, some of these workers or doing 19 hour days, and if they don't they don't eat...

[dave50]

People want clothes as cheap as possible, the vast majority don't care where or how they are made. They will say they do care if asked but in practice they turn a blind eye. That's life.

[emmie]

that may be life, but it's costing the lives of many who make the clothes, why cannot the bosses of these retail outfits do something positive, make sure that at the least the working conditions are conducive to good practice, that may be difficult, but it should happen.

[tamborine]

Do you care how Amazon treat staff, or how high street shops struggle while you online shop ?

Wholesalers buy at best available & cant be responsible for manufacturing conditions, especially in 3rd world where cost of living is incomparible. Their Gov sets building standards

[emmie]

their governments don't seem to care, meanwhile lives are being lost. Poor buildings to work in, and staff locked in, it's why many have died, because they couldn't get out. It isn't just the cheap clothes manufacturers, many high end retailers also use these people, not just in UK< one would hope someone has some common sense to go out there and see conditions for themselves.

[emmie]

and you can't compare the working conditions in UK, with earning 2 quid a day in some squalid building, factory, in rural Bangladesh.

[ummmm]

They do go out there. Like it says the factory owners keep two sets of books.

If this is the working conditions in most of the factories in the area how are they suppose to improve the one they use?

One of the programmes I watched the factories were no more than shanty buildings. Would do you suppose they do?

[China Doll]

I wonder how the people working in these factories would be able to eat, live and support themselves if they did not exist.

I don't agree with the working conditions, but I do think it's very easy to criticise and be outraged without necessarily thinking through what would happen to very poor people if places like this didn't exist. It's not a nice thought either way.

[tamborine]

Banglas culture & values are different to ours and wouldnt want us interfering. We cant survive everyday throughout the year in saris as we'd catch pneumonia, neither on chapatti & lentils everyday, as they do.

They pay for TV aerials, no tax payers to fund them Em

[weecalf]

Do these companies set the wages or are they set by their own countries.?

[ummmm]

The companies. 19 hours days sometimes for £2 a day.

[weecalf]

So it is not up to these countries to set a mimimum wage .Do the companies have to pay the goverments of these countries to be allowed have the garmenst made there

[tamborine]

£2pd = 200rupees approx. chapatti & lentils & 20r pperson.

Gotta work now but can post recent photo of street mkt price if wanted later, ta ra....tax man cracking whip ;)

[emmie]

perhaps if you had watched the programme or do a catch up if its still available you will get the fuller picture.
yes some of the workers are on 19 hour days, and if they don't do it, they and their families won't eat, it's work or starve. No other type of work, so what would you do?

[emmie]

tambo, how would you feed you and your family?