Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine August Issue 2018 | Page 16

COVER STORY APPAREL RESOURCES NEWSLETTERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS To subscribe, send us an email at [email protected] Join more than 10,000 people who are already fans of Apparel Resources on facebook. Search for Apparel Resources at https://www.facebook.com/apparelresources/ Workers at a garment manufacturing unit in Bangladesh to ILO (International Labour Organization). H&M reportedly spoke on the issue, and said, “The company believes that violence against women is one of the most rampant human rights violations; this investigation clearly suggests the need of continuously addressing such situations. We will go through every section of the report and follow up on factory-level with our local teams based in each production country,” the retailer maintained. On similar lines, both Gap and Walmart have also committed to look into the matter and ensured that such practices will be strictly dealt with. Gap’s official release said, “We are deeply concerned by the allegations raised in this report, and our Global Sustainability team is currently conducting additional due diligence to investigate and address the allegations raised within it. Further, we have initiated a dialogue with some of our key implementing partners, such as CARE, ILO Better Work, and Verité, to discuss how our industry can accelerate its efforts to address this global, systemic issue.” Walmart’s statement mentioned, “The allegations in the report are concerning, and we welcome the opportunity to identify areas for improvement. Walmart is committed Most of the reports on ‘5 years after Rana Plaza’ share common ideas, and the brief that The Clean Clothes Campaign has given in its latest report sums up very aptly what most of the reports are talking about and the concerns that follow… to supporting our suppliers, advocating for workers in the supply chain and helping lead the effort to combat forced labour and human trafficking.” India’s Shahi Exports at the receiving end… Most of the reports for India are very much targeted toward specific issues and companies, and Shahi Exports, the country’s biggest exporter in particular, has been faced with very damaging allegations. The Worker Rights Consortium Assessment Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd. (Bangalore, India) Findings And Recommendations, released in June maintained: “An investigation by the WRC has found that in late March through mid-April 2018, the management of Shahi Exports was engaged in a campaign of vicious repression and retaliation against workers’ exercise of fundamental labour rights – which included physical beatings; death threats; gender, caste, and religion-based abuse; threats of mass termination; and the expulsion of 15 worker activists from the factory. The violations occurred at Shahi’s Unit 16 Apparel Online Bangladesh | August 2018 | www.apparelresources.com 8 factory in Bangalore, in the course of a deliberate effort by Shahi to repress the organisation of a union at the factory and, relatedly, prevent an increase in garment workers’ wages.” Speaking to Apparel Online, the exporter rejected the claims. “Shahi does not agree with the allegations made in the report. This report lacks proper evidence and is one-sided. It is a partial account of what we have done in the matter, as WRC decided to release the report while our internal investigations and actions were underway. They have also outrightly refused to accept local Government and judicial authorities and are propagating allegations based on solely their own investigation,” maintained Anant Ahuja, Director, Shahi Exports. Therefore, the need of the hour is to have a balance between NGO activities and the improvement monitoring systems, so that real progress can happen on worker issues. No one is denying that problems exist, but these issues can only be addressed by working together for collective identification of problems and brainstorming on solutions, and not by pointing fingers and making individual points to score over each other!