Can Ireland use its influence in the remaining days of its EU Presidency to help prevent a repeat of the Bangladesh tragedy, where over 1,000 people – mostly young female young garment workers – died in the sweat shops of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka in conditions described by Pope Francis as the “slave trade”?
Demands for action and justice for the victims of the Bangladesh building collapse have included the boycott of garments produced in that country, demands for high street brands to take responsibility by paying compensation to the workers, and various fair-trade solutions have all been peddled, but a specific proposal has come from the Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Mohammad Yunus – a man widely know as ‘the banker of the poor’.
Dr Yunus has spoken out against any boycott of garments from Bangladesh as the industry is central to the country’s economy. The garment industry in Bangladesh employs four million young women and is the second largest exporter of garments in the world after China.
He has appealed to western businesses and consumers to help reform the country’s garment industry, and is calling on foreign companies in Bangladesh to agree a minimum wage for workers in the industry.
Dr Yunus has proposed a figure of about 50 cents per hour – twice the level typically found in Bangladesh – and says a minimum wage would be part of complete reform of the industry.
It is more than 20 years since I first met Dr Yunus in Dhaka when I attended a Food Security Summit jointly organised by the Government of Bangladesh and the European Commission. I was then the president of the development committee of the European Parliament and was invited to speak on behalf of the European Union. Dr Yunus founded the Grameen Bank 30 years ago with the purpose of giving credit to poor women, which benefits the whole family, particularly children. The concept is based on the belief that if poverty is to be reduced or eliminated, the next generation must be the focus.
The tragedy of the factories in the Rana Plaza, which had been illegally constructed and developed massive cracks in the days before the collapse, is one of the world’s worst ever industrial accidents. It has promoted widespread criticism of international firms working with local garment producers in one of Asia’s poorest countries.
Since the incident, an Accord on Fire and Building Safety has been signed by some of the world’s leading high street clothing brands. Meanwhile, Dr Yunus wants a 50-cent supplement added to the price of clothes made in Bangladesh to be paid into a garment workers’ welfare trust.
The demands from ‘ethical consumer’ movements for fair trade solutions following the Bangladesh tragedy should not be dismissed as fair trade has had its successes. It has helped to guarantee farmers a minimum price, and some companies have opted to source entire product ranges from Fairtrade farmers such as Mars, the US food and confectionary company, which uses only Fairtrade cocoa in its Maltesers chocolates in Ireland.
The award of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Dr Mohammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, which was the first time an economist has received such a peace award, is a welcome recognition that poverty is a serious contributory factor in creating conflict and war and is a major threat to international security.
The Irish Presidency of the EU has the opportunity to help make sure there is no repeat of the tragedy of the garment workers of Bangladesh by giving serious consideration to all the proposed solutions including those of Dr Yunus.
Michael McGowan is a former MEP and president of the development committee of the European Parliament.
