Monday 24 June 2013

Australians love a bargain, but what's the real cost of cheap clothes from the sweat shops in Bangladesh? On 24th April this year more than a thousand people were killed when an eight storey building collapsed in the heart of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

The collapse of Rana Plaza turned the world's attention to the shocking conditions workers in the country's clothing industry are forced to endure. In recent years, Australian companies have flooded into Bangladesh to take advantage of lax labour laws and the lowest wages in the world, paid to the predominantly young, female workers in the factories.

Next on Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson sets out to find where the clothes we see in our major retail outlets are made. What efforts do Australian companies make to ensure the factories are safe and their workers earn a living wage? Australian retailers blocked our enquiries at every turn, refusing access to factories wherever we went. Working backwards from some of our best known retail outlets, Four Corners goes factory to factory showing workers and union organisers Australian labels until the factories are found. There the workers describe a miserable existence, long hours, pitiful pay and abuse if deadlines aren't met. In some of the worst cases there is even violence and threats of jail:

"Workers are being arrested, beaten, tortured ... you know, sexual harassment, just on and on and on. This was a miserable sweatshop."

Why would Australian retailers allow their brands to be associated with such activities? In Bangladesh, it's all about price. Local factory owners claim they are squeezed so hard by retailers they simply can't afford to ensure their factories safe. The explanation is simple according to one European buyer:

"It's price, price, price, price, price and profit".

"Fashion Victims", reported by Sarah Ferguson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 24th June at 8.30 pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 25th June at 11.35 pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00 pm, on ABC iview or at abc.net.au/4corners.

Transcript

FASHION VICTIMS - Monday 24 June 2013

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: She lost her arm making cheap clothes in Bangladesh. She's not alone in her suffering.

REP. GEORGE MILLER, UNITED STATES CONGRESS: They really want to continue buying clothing and garments. It really does have blood on its labels.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Now the collapse of the building they worked in has switched the spotlight onto an industry with one driving principal.

HOLGER FISCHER, EURO CENTRA: It's price. Price, price, price. Price and profit.

KERRY O'BRIEN: The hidden collateral damage in the garment industry. Welcome to Four Corners.

Is there a person in this country who hasn't benefited from cheap clothes made out of sight, in a very different part of the world? Certainly they're easier to buy if you don't have to think too much on how they got here. For the first world garment retail industry, Bangladesh has become the new mecca of cheap labour over the past decade. Millions of workers, mostly women, work long hours often in sweat shop conditions, for a pittance. Making clothes for global brands like GAP, Zara, Benetton, and Mango. The recent Rana Plaza tragedy where a shotty garment factory in Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1000 workers, was not an isolated incident. There have been 43 factory fires in the past 18 months alone. While no Australian companies were using the factories located in Rana Plaza, they are increasingly using Bangladesh to source their cheap fashion. Companies like Kmart, Cotton On, Target and Rivers. An Oxfam Australia survey released today found that Australians would be prepared to pay more for their clothes, if they knew overseas workers were paid a decent wage, and garment factories had safe working conditions. An interesting proposition to test.

As to corporate retailers, the Australian council of superannuation investors had concluded that there is a disturbing lack of scrutiny for what goes on in overseas factories. Although since the Rana Plaza tragedy, some international retailers have signed up to a new safety code of practice. To find out firsthand about conditions in these clothing factories, Sarah Ferguson went to Bangladesh to investigate.

SARAH FERGUSON, REPORTER: Dhaka, the chaotic capital of Bangladesh, is one of the poorest cities in the world. A place where labour is dirt cheap and rules are loose. Seventy five per cent of all export income comes from making clothes for rich countries. International retailers, including some of Australia's biggest names have flooded in over the last decade to take advantage of the lowest paid workers in the world. Mukta worked in a garment factory, not making clothes, she was a safety compliance officer in the doomed Rana Plaza. She was on the fifth floor of the building talking to two of her friends when it collapsed.

MUKTA (subtitles): They were two nurses, one was Hindu and the other was a Muslim. The Hindu girl said, "Sister, something is falling." Seconds later, the building started collapsing and we were plunging downwards, like being in a lift that suddenly drops.

SARAH FERGUSON: Mukta has come to the hospital in Savar to see one of those nurses who fell with her into the void. Her friend was brought here along with hundreds of other dead and wounded factory workers. It's the first time Mukta has been well enough to visit her work mate.

MUKTA (subtitles): I thought I wouldn't see you again.

SARAH FERGUSON: Labony's arm was amputated when they cut her out of the wrecked building.

MUKTA (subtitles): When will the doctor release you?

LABONY (subtitles): I don't know.

MUKTA (subtitles): Are you feeling a lot of pain? I thought we would die in there.

SARAH FERGUSON: The three women had landed close together. Labony remembers opening her eyes in complete darkness.

LABONY (subtitles): It was so dark and nobody could get in. I couldn't even lift my head.

MUKTA (subtitles): You said, "My wrist is under the beam." If they had cut it here, it would have been okay, but there was no alternative.

LABONY (subtitles): Yes, if it had been cut here, I could have moved and done work with it. Since it was cut here I can't do anything.

SARAH FERGUSON: Thousands of people were buried in the rubble of the eight storey building. More than 1000 died.

LABONY (subtitles): Mukta called out to me, "Labony are you alive?" I said, "I'm okay, how are you?" She said "I hurt my head but I'm okay." As for Deepa, Mukta said, "I can see her leg." I touched Deepa's head and realised she was dead.

SARAH FERGUSON: The ward is a pitiful place. The vast majority of clothing workers are women and all of these women were working in factories in Rana Plaza when it collapsed. The doctors saved their lives but no one can restore their lost limbs or dead work mates. Of the thousands injured, more than a hundred had limbs amputated. Women like Pakhi whose name means "bird" in Bengali. Or 18 year old Sonia, whose wounds still throbs with pain where her leg was cut off. Others have different injuries. Shilpi's chest was crushed under concrete. Aruthi is 14. She began work in the factory when she was 12.

ARUTHI (subtitles): I worked on the seventh floor of Rana Plaza.

SARAH FERGUSON: Her factory produced clothes for international retailers including Benetton. She has no idea what will happen to her now.

ARUTHI (subtitles): What can I do if I go to my village or if stay here? If I get an artificial leg then I could try to make a living.

SARAH FERGUSON: In a country with no social security these women rely on their families to take care of them, doing the simple tasks they can no longer do. None of them knows if they will be properly compensated. So far they've received a few hundred dollars each in lost wages from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Association. Labony's husband, Abu Musa is only 23.

ABU MUSA (subtitles): We are very poor but I will stay by her side. But I won't be able to be at home all the time because I have to earn money. I will need some financial support to hire someone to look after Labony when I'm not there.

SARAH FERGUSON: In the centre of Savar next to the site of the disaster, is a small office belonging to one of Bangladesh's fledgling unions, the Garment and Industrial workers federation. Every day survivors of the building collapse come here looking for help. They're still in shock.

WOMAN I: The ceiling of level 8 fell on my head and I fell on a dead body.

WOMAN II: Another one had his stomach crushed and died after 15 minutes. He cried a lot and told me, "Take me to you, hold me."

SARAH FERGUSON: As well as the survivors there are men still searching for their wives and daughters who were working in Rana Plaza.

Mohammed Alam's wife, Beauty, is missing.

MOHAMMED ALAM (subtitles): After searching for her everywhere, I told the children that if she hasn't died, she must be somewhere. She might have a head injury and can't speak. Don't worry I said, we will find her.

SARAH FERGUSON: None of the survivors we met or the bereaved relatives questioned the neglect of the global companies that put them in this building. But as outsiders it seems to us that that is one of the most obvious questions. But there is evidence in the rubble that those companies had priorities other than the workers.

SARAH FERGUSON: You know what strikes me about all this paper work still here? It's all about quality for the retailers, tests on fabric, on zips, on buttons. This is an email from Benetton talking about whether the factory had passed a test, a strength test on the fabric. But Benetton, not Benetton, not any of the companies that were here bothered to check that the actual building where the workers were working was a safe.

SARAH FERGUSON: On April 23rd, the day before the collapse, cracks appeared in the walls on the 3rd floor of the building. Rana Plaza was evacuated for the afternoon.

NAYAN MIA: The cracks were snaking around the pillars. One had a large crack and the other two had small cracks.

SARAH FERGUSON: The owner of Rana Plaza Sohel Rana, went on television to insist that the building was safe.

SOHEL RANA: It's not a crack. The sand and cement of the pillar has just come out and it's very insignificant, a hair line crack. People are just exaggerating.

SARAH FERGUSON: By morning a bank and other shops on the lower floors had closed. Only the garment workers were forced back to work, Lota was one of them

LOTA (subtitles): They said, if you don't go inside you won't get your wages, you'll be sacked and you won't get a job anywhere. Some went in. Then officials arrived with batons and ordered us to go inside.

SARAH FERGUSON: Just as work began, there was a power failure in Rana Plaza.

SHULI (subtitles): The generator is automatic so the lights should have come back on. Instead one of the pillars behind us fell down causing a big bang.

LOTA (subtitles): Then there was a huge shake and the building fell down.

SARAH FERGUSON: Rafiqul Sujan heard the crash of the building from the union office.

RAFIQUL ISLAM SUJAN (subtitles): We came running out and saw that Rana Plaza had collapsed. I ran up the side and climbed into the building, there were countless people, some dead and some injured.

LOTA (subtitles): It was dark. My leg was pinned under a table and a beam was lying across my chest.

SARAH FERGUSON: Outside the rescue was chaotic and rudimentary. Survivors were borne through the crowds on stretchers, a few lucky ones managed to climb out. Others were buried so deep under the concrete their screams couldn't be heard.

SHILPI (subtitles): There wasn't enough space. It was so small that I could hardly move. I'd never faced a disaster like this before. With the light of my mobile, I saw a carton just beside me, there was a water bottle in it. I cried a lot and my throat dried up. I drank a little bit of water at a time, not knowing how long I would stay there.

SARAH FERGUSON: Teenager Shilpi spent five days buried alive surrounded by the dead

SHILPI (subtitles): I didn't think I would ever see my parents and my brothers and sisters. The only reason I came to work in the garments factory was to provide for them.

SARAH FERGUSON: The friends Mukta and Labony were in a similar predicament

MUKTA (subtitles): The space where we were trapped was smaller than you'd dig for a grave. It was totally dark and silent in there. I screamed for help but the sound didn't carry.

SARAH FERGUSON: On the second day they heard the rescuers working outside

MUKTA (subtitles): I told Labony if we don't get out today, we won't make it. The Hindu girl's dead body was decomposing. It was very hot and there were insects crawling all over my body.

SARAH FERGUSON: Labony's husband Abu Musa had gone to search for Labony amongst the dead laid out at a local school.

ABU MUSA (subtitles): I found so many dead bodies, different types, parts separated from bodies. I was looking at those and I was praying to Allah that Labony wasn't there.

SARAH FERGUSON: Meanwhile the rescuers were digging further into the rubble

MUKTA (subtitles): When they found Labony, they saw that her arm was trapped. They tried hard to save her arm but then they had to cut it off which took three to four hours. A doctor cut off her arm.

SARAH FERGUSON: It's the screams of the workers that still haunt Sujan and the other rescuers.

SUJAN (subtitles): What I remember most is the screaming. I hear those screams in my dreams. They wake me from my sleep.

SARAH FERGUSON: As the death toll mounted, international retailers with operations in Bangladesh distanced themselves from the accident.

BENETTON'S TWITTER: Benetton group wants to clarify that none of the companies involved are suppliers to Benetton group.

SARAH FERGUSON: Pages of Benetton order sheets and samples were found in the rubble. The company, worth $1.5 billion, was forced into this admission.

BENETTON'S TWITTER: A onetime order was completed and shipped out of one of the manufacturers involved.

SARAH FERGUSON: Large Spanish retailer Mango went further. Mango which plans to sell clothes in Australia through David Jones is refusing to pay any compensation to the workers in the Phantom factory.

MANGO STATEMENT: The Company affected Phantom, was not an official supplier.

SARAH FERGUSON: Mukta was the safety compliance officer for Phantom

MUKTA (subtitles): We were doing Mango's order. We got the order.

SARAH FERGUSON: Phantom produced samples for Mango and documents found at the site show 25,000 garments were due to be delivered in mid June. Mango offered a further excuse

MANGO STATEMENT: It would have been impossible to detect the structural defects of the collapsed building. Mango would not have been able to ascertain the owners had built three more storeys than is permitted.

SARAH FERGUSON: Were you ever asked to check or provide the certification for the building?

MUKTA (subtitles): No I was never asked to do so.

(Footage from media frenzy)

SARAH FERGUSON: Even a cursory investigation would have revealed the building's owner had a reputation for breaking the rules. Four days after the disaster Sohel Rana, a notoriously corrupt businessman and local politician, was arrested trying to flee the country. His Rana Plaza was built to house shops and offices not to support the heavy equipment and thousands of workers in the garment factories. Nor was it meant to be eight stories high.

JAMILUR CHOUDHURY, ENGINEER: It was extended by another three storeys so obviously ah the loads on the foundation, the loads on the columns, they've increased. I think in any other place this would not have been allowed.

SARAH FERGUSON: Dr Jamilur Choudhury is Bangladesh's leading engineer.

JAMILUR CHOUDHURY: That's a mystery to me also, how some of the very well known brands ah decided to outsource their work to these factories located in vulnerable buildings.

SARAH FERGUSON: The sheer scale of the disaster meant the world's attention focused on the shocking safety record of the Bangladesh garment industry. US Congressman George Miller is in Dhaka on a mission, to hold industry and consumers to account.

GEORGE MILLER: The public really has to understand. Do they really want to continue to, you know, buy clothing and garments that really does have blood on its labels?

SARAH FERGUSON: Miller has been one of the industry's most outspoken critics for years. He's meeting with victims of the fire last November that killed 112 workers. On the night of the fire the workers were locked in to the factory.

(Footage from meeting with victims)

GEORGE MILLER: So you spoke to them about locking the doors?

KALPONA AKTER, BANGLADESH CENTRE FOR WORKER SOLIDARITY: Those workers totally was in death trap and just 112, they just some of them were suffocated and rest of them burned to ash, 43 or 53 body even couldn't identify because they just burned to ash.

SARAH FERGUSON: The international retailers involved at Tazreen factory offered limited, or in some cases no compensation

GEORGE MILLER: They're spending most of their time trying to distance themselves that they weren't there, it was unauthorised. We didn't mean to be there; we're going to stop using that retailer, that factory next month. They have a million excuses 'cause they've been using them, for several decades so they're pretty well versed in them.

SARAH FERGUSON: Clothing production in Bangladesh has quadrupled in the past decade. Thousands of new garment factories were built or converted from existing buildings to meet the demand.

SARAH FERGUSON: Do you remember what the attitude was in your industry when they realised how cheap Bangladesh could be?

HOLGER FISCHER: Let's take the next plane and place orders there.

SARAH FERGUSON: So it was a gold rush?

HOLGER FISCHER: Yes. And still is.

SARAH FERGUSON: European and US retailers drove that boom. Holger Fischer has run sourcing operations in Asia for a decade for one of Europe's largest trading companies. Unlike his Australian counterparts, Fischer is frank about the industry's failings in Bangladesh.

SARAH FERGUSON: Have they given back to that country as well as reaping huge profits?

HOLGER FISCHER: No. Clear no. Otherwise, they would pay higher prices for the products, that would be giving back something. But still, even now, after 10 years, the buyer of the companies want the same prices 10 years ago.

SARAH FERGUSON: Australian retailers have also joined the rush to Bangladesh. Since 2008 production of clothes for the Australian market has increased by 1,500 per cent. But locating the factories which do that work is like finding a needle in a haystack. There are approximately 5000 garment factories in the country. We asked Australian retailers to tell us the locations of their factories; they refused. To break the code of secrecy we approached local labour activists. Out of fear of retribution they asked us to conceal their identities.

Sayed as we'll call him works with the US based Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. He's arranged for us to meet in secret with workers from a factory making clothes for the Australian brand "Forever New." Rubiya is waiting for us. We move quickly to her house. Six days a week Rubiya works on a sewing machine at Northern Fashions. She is paid $22 a week. Six and a half thousand taka a month is barely enough to live on.

RUBIYA (subtitles): How could it be? Room rent is 1,700 taka. Fire wood costs 600 taka a month. One bag of rice is 1,600, 1,700 or 2000 taka.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hiding in her tiny room, she says the workers at the factory are abused by the supervisors to make them work faster.

RUBIYA (subtitles): Sometimes they say "son of a bitch" or "mother fucker." What do I feel? I work at the garments factory with a distressed heart. What can we do? We are working there because of poverty. We have to survive.

SARAH FERGUSON: Northern Fashions is a relatively modern factory but joining a union to improve conditions is not allowed.

RUBIYA (subtitles): No one wants to do that. Everyone is afraid. Where would we go? If we do this, they may say something or fire us from the job. If anyone does politics, they will be fired.

SARAH FERGUSON: Rehana and her brother Belal also work at Northern Fashion. They earn four dollars a day. They say they are constantly under pressure to complete orders.

BELAL (subtitles): They give us more jobs than we can do. We have to go so fast we sometimes make big mistakes. If we make mistakes, they mistreat us.

SARAH FERGUSON: By moving to Dhaka, Rehana hoped to she would earn for an education.

REHANA (subtitles): I used to study. I had ambitions to take higher education, learn computer and fulfil my parents' dream. I will never be able to do that because of poverty.

SARAH FERGUSON: This jumper, I bought in Sydney, I think it's made in your factory, do you recognise the label there?

REHANA (subtitles): I join this. I join the sides.

BELAL (subtitles): Tell everything that we do in the factory.

REHANA (subtitles): Yes everything is done in our factory except this. Neck joint, neck and shoulder, everything.

SARAH FERGUSON: That's the price tag of it. It cost 60 Australian dollars.

REHANA (subtitles): Wow.

SARAH FERGUSON: Are you shocked by how much that is?

BELAL (subtitles): There would be no loss if we were paid little bit more. If they realized that they would still make a profit, not a loss, then they wouldn't make us work for a whole month merely for the price of a jumper. They couldn't do such a thing.

(Forever New advertisement)

SARAH FERGUSON: Australian label Forever New supported here by Delta Goodrem, is valued at $200 million dollars. They have 250 stores in 11 countries. We wanted to ask the founders of "Forever New" Dipendra and Amanda Goenka about the workers who make their clothes. They refused to be interviewed. Instead we took our questions directly to the factory.

SARAH FERGUSON: I'm looking for the managing director.

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: I'm the director.

SARAH FERGUSON: Oh you're the director. Hi I'm Sarah Ferguson, I'm a reporter from Australia

SARAH FERGUSON: The management told us the pay at Northern Fashions is correct according to Bangladesh law

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: So the government is taking care of it, so when the government declare this new pay scale we will follow it.

SARAH FERGUSON: And are you happy with that pay scale?

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: Yes, why not?

SARAH FERGUSON: The director also said the managers on the factory floor are not abusive.

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: Sorry, I can't accept this ah this claim from this - from the workers.

SARAH FERGUSON: Are you suggesting that they made it up?

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: Yes, they made it up or you know they could not maybe understand your questions, something like that, you know.

SARAH FERGUSON: I'm very confident that they understood the question because they told me the language that was used, very strong abusive language used to them.

NORTHERN FASHION DIRECTOR: You know, we assure that you know it didn't happen, even though we'll check, yeah, even though we'll check, we'll ah we'll take - tell our admin department to, they should take more care so that this kind of thing should not come.

SARAH FERGUSON: There are 3.5 million garment workers in Bangladesh, the majority of them, young women. Providing jobs in factories for them was progress, raising women out of rural poverty. But it also provided the garment industry with a workforce ripe for exploitation.

JUDY GEARHART, HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM: That whole responsibility of the home means that the pressure on women to just stick it out and keep working no matter what, means that they're much less likely to organise, much less likely to complain, much less likely to demand a higher wage.

SARAH FERGUSON: Nazmin and Rehana met us a safe distance from their homes. They say they are paid $3 a day as sewing machine operators in a large factory on the edge of Dhaka. They also report intolerable pressure to finish orders.

NAZMIN (subtitles): The system is how many pieces I have delivered in an hour. If I can't meet it, the abusive language starts.

REHANA (subtitles): When they get angry, they shout and slap us. Some workers cry at that time. They cry while they're working.

NAZMIN (subtitles): They slap us on the face, on the head and on the back.

SARAH FERGUSON: Nazmin says she makes clothes for Australian brand, Rivers. At three dollars a day, her wage is so small she can only go home to her village to see her son once a year.

NAZMIN (subtitles): It's just break even. Even then, sometimes I need to borrow money from someone. Because the educational expenses of my younger brother need to be met and I also need to provide for my child. After meeting all these, it becomes really hard for me.

SARAH FERGUSON: Their factory is called Eve Dress Shirts. According to the women when foreign buyers visit the factory the workers are forbidden to speak to them

NAZMIN (subtitles): They announce over the loudspeaker that we should not look at anyone who comes in. "You just focus on your own job. There is no need to look at anyone. Don't look at them and don't speak."

SARAH FERGUSON: We spoke to a manager at Eve Dress Shirts who denied making clothes for Rivers.

(Rivers advertisement)

SARAH FERGUSON: Rivers is a privately owned company with 150 stores and an on line business in Australia. They take lack of transparency to a new low. Rivers refused to comment on their relationship with Eve Dress shirts. Their only communication after weeks of trying was a single email.

RIVERS STATEMENT: Senior management will be in contact if they are interested.

SARAH FERGUSON: Exports of clothing from Bangladesh are set to triple by 2020. Driven by its low costs Bangladesh may overtake China as the largest producer of garments in the world.

HOLGER FISCHER: It's the main reason why people or companies went or retailers went to Bangladesh, and it's the main reason why they in my opinion don't care with whom they work and or the companies, its price, price, price, price, price and profit.

SARAH FERGUSON: In 2012 the US based Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights discovered widespread abuse of workers at garment factories in Northern Bangladesh.

CHARLES KERNAGHAN, INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL LABOUR AND HUMAN RIGHTS: We found out that the Rosita and Megatex was owned by South Ocean, which is the largest Chinese manufacturer of sweaters in the world and they were cheating the workers in every single way imaginable.

SARAH FERGUSON: One of the eight retailers using the factories was the Wesfarmers owned Coles. In 2011 Coles started a low cost fashion brand called Mix.

CHARLES KERNAGHAN: It doesn't speak well of Coles, that's for sure. I mean this is just one of those labels which doesn't care, and they will always turn their back on the workers. They'll always come forward with these phony codes of conduct that are never implemented.

SARAH FERGUSON: The management of the Rosita factory told auditors that the workers were paid between $1.90 and $2.40 a day. According to Coles they relied on that audit in selecting Rosita as a supplier.

CHARLES KERNAGHAN: When the workers asked for their minimal rights, the company turned on them, beat them, fired 300 workers, told the union leaders, Belal and Helal, that they would kill them if they didn't shut their mouths.

SARAH FERGUSON: Once the information about Rosita became public, Coles stopped using them as a supplier. But Coles had deals with other factories in Bangladesh. In Chittagong 200 kilometres from Dhaka, local labour activists tracked down the Coles label "Mix," workers smuggled the labels out of the factory. Selma says she sewed garments for Coles at Gous Fashions 2012. At the factory overtime demands were excessive.

SELMA (subtitles): In fact, we feel bad working after nine or 10pm. This should be our rest time. Sometimes, we feel sick working at that time. We can't complete the work we are given. It becomes physically impossible to deliver the products.

SARAH FERGUSON: The workers were brought to meet us away from their homes. Shahanas is still working at the factory.

SHAHANAS (subtitles): They call us and say there is a shipment on a certain date. The clothes must be finished before this date.

SELMA (subtitles): Once or twice a month we are made to work until 3.30am. In special circumstances, the pass card is taken away and the girls are locked in.

SARAH FERGUSON: Coles confirmed Gous Fashions was a supplier from May 2011 until recently. Managing director Mr Azim told us the factory had changed hands four months ago. He said the practices described by the female workers had ceased. Mr Azim also said he would take no more orders from Coles because their prices were too low to enable him to run a safe factory.

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID, GOUS FASHION INDUSTRIES: I need to mention that we're not getting Coles orders directly. We are getting the orders through buying houses, so I don't know what are they making, but what they left for the factory, it is impossible to be a compliant factory with the Coles offer prices.

SARAH FERGUSON: So they are squeezing you hard?

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID: Yes.

SARAH FERGUSON: The only factories he said that could afford to run at Coles prices, were the sort of factories found in Rana Plaza.

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID: If they want to do the business, they'll have to go to the non compliant factories, like you know you have seen the Savar tragedy. So many people died.

SARAH FERGUSON: Three years ago Kmart, also owned by Wesfarmers, came down this road in Dhaka to assess a factory here as a potential supplier. The run down building had floors added at different times, along with the Kmart supplier Ratul Fabrics, a low cost sub-contractor occupies the second floor.

SARAH FERGUSON: So if you came down that same road and looked at that what would be your response?

HOLGER FISCHER: To pass by as soon as possible and not work with that company, Jesus.

SARAH FERGUSON: Holger Fischer has assessed factories all over Asia including in Bangladesh for one of Europe's biggest trading companies.

HOLGER FISCHER: Even I have not seen in our supply portfolio at all in Bangladesh. Never

SARAH FERGUSON: Never anything as bad as that?

HOLGER FISCHER: Even the worst we had was by far better than this.

SARAH FERGUSON: But this is a factory used by a very prestigious Australian company.

HOLGER FISCHER: Hard to believe.

SARAH FERGUSON: We asked the management at Ratul fabrics if we could visit the factory. They said no, referring us instead to Kmart Public Relations in Sydney.

SARAH FERGUSON: Kmart made sure that we didn't get access to this factory. There is no transparency here; neither Kmart nor any of the Australian retailers want us or anybody else to know where they do business and who they do business with. Fire represents the biggest threat to garment factories in Bangladesh. At Ratul the windows are barred.

HOLGER FISCHER: No go. Like in a jail, a prison, the bars, this is most horrible thing you can do.

SARAH FERGUSON: There have been 43 factory fires in the last 18 months. In May this year, eight people burned to death in a sweater factory because they couldn't get out in time.

HOLGER FISCHER: You see burned bodies, dead bodies hanging in these bars because they tried to get of the window and couldn't cause of the bars, this should be the first thing, all bars, take them off.

SARAH FERGUSON: When Kmart went into business with Ratul Fabrics in March 2010, a recent audit of the company found it did not provide sufficient wage to meet basic needs. There were also problems with the regulation of child labour.

SARAH FERGUSON: So between this audit which was done in 2010 and the building, what would you say to using this factory?

HOLGER FISCHER: No go. If you really speak about social compliance as a as a buyer, as a retailer, you should really say, no.

SARAH FERGUSON: Stay away from this one.

HOLGER FISCHER: Yes.

SARAH FERGUSON: Kmart has overseen improvements in the factory's conditions and the workers are paid more, on average $16 a week. But after three years at Ratul, Kmart has also decided the factory's location in the mixed use building is too risky, the order currently in production will be the last. We found Australian companies working in poor quality shared buildings like Ratul Fabrics all over the city. The Big Boss factory produces clothes for Cotton On, Big W and Rivers. Big W told Four Corners they are pulling out of Big Boss once the current order is complete. While the Australian retailers refused to be interviewed, local factory owners were much more open. Centex Fashions is part of a group of factories producing samples for Target. Director Mr Zahid says western retailers are squeezing them much too hard.

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID, CENTEX FASHIONS LTD: They just asking for lower price, lower price, lower price so.

SARAH FERGUSON: Can you actually do, create a top class compliant factory with the prices so low?

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID: No, no, no, definitely not, definitely not because a compliant factory requires much more expense to run the factory.

SARAH FERGUSON: He says only a few buyers take safety compliance seriously.

SARAH FERGUSON: And do they do the retailers actually come to visit the factory? So do they do they see it with their own eyes?

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID: Very rare, very rare. They're just improving the factory just telling that I am ah putting bigger orders, bigger quantities.

SARAH FERGUSON: So it's a it's a bit risky for the for you and the people that work here?

ANWARUL AZIM ZAHID: Yes, a little bit.

SARAH FERGUSON: Did retailers give enough back to Bangladesh in terms of developing the industry?

HOLGER FISCHER: This is just my personal opinion. I still say no, they did not. Otherwise we would not have companies like in the Rana Plaza what happened there, no. I always repeat, I come to the same point again, if proper prices are paid, this money can be invested in in proper constructions, proper buildings, proper wages and proper working environment.

SARAH FERGUSON: Until now Australian companies, including some of our best known brands, have avoided scrutiny of their business here. They have taken advantage of Bangladesh's remoteness and lack of transparency to market cheap clothes with apparently little thought to the consequences. If Rana Plaza teaches us anything it is that greed, neglect and exploitation can have terrible consequences. Mohammed Alam will have to tell his children soon that their mother Beauty is not coming home.

MOHAMMED ALAM (subtitles): Now I don't know what to tell them. I have a little kid who just stares at me without speaking.

SARAH FERGUSON: Lota's spine is cracked, she finds it painful to move. Her husband is sick and the family relied on her income from the factory in Rana Plaza. Now it is gone and she has received no compensation.

LOTA (subtitles): If the buyers remember that the workers gave up their lives for them they should help the workers. But they didn't give anything, not even any consolation.

SARAH FERGUSON: Labony's consolation is her friend Mukta whose presence in a collapsed building kept her alive

LABONY (subtitles): Both of us were given new lives and as long as we live we will be close. Even if we live apart, we'll stay in contact and always see each other.

SARAH FERGUSON: Fifty brands worldwide, including Kmart, Target, Cotton On & on Friday afternoon Forever New, have signed up to the Bangladesh fire and safety accord. An international effort to change conditions in the factories. It's time that all companies operating in Bangladesh were forced to apply the same standards there, that are expected of them at home.

KERRY O'BRIEN: It does strip a little of the sheen off some of those glamorous brands, doesn't it? As they say, out of sight, out of mind. As a post script, Benetton has agreed to pay compensation to the victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse.

Next week on Four Corners, a first world variation of tonight's story, how to live on $35 a day. We find out what life is like for the half a million Australians living on the dole. Until then, good night.

END

Background Information

FOUR CORNERS BLOG

Rana Plaza by Sarah Ferguson - In this blog post, Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson shares her first impressions when witnessing the garment factories in Bangladesh - and visiting injured workers from the collapse of Rana Plaza - in the making of the report 'Fashion Victims'. http://abc4corners.wordpress.com/

CLOTHING RETAILERS RESPOND

**Target has informed Four Corners that while Centex is not on their list of approved Bangladesh factories, an Australian-based supplier had engaged Centex "to produce some Target apparel lines without Target's knowledge or authorisation." Target says it has now terminated its relationship with this supplier. **

MEDIA STATEMENT from Target to Four Corners | 26 Jun 2013 - A statement provided to Four Corners detailing Target Australia's intention to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Agreement. [PDF 313Kb]

MEDIA STATEMENT from Coles to Four Corners | 21 Jun 2013 - "Coles is currently contracted with just one supplier in Bangladesh for a small Mix clothing order which will be completed in the next few weeks..." [PDF 250Kb]

MEDIA STATEMENT from Forever New to Four Corners | 11 Jun 2013 - "The Forever New team were deeply saddened to learn of the tragic factory collapse in Bangladesh. This terrible event has highlighted the need for the garment industry to work positively together to significantly improve the safety standards for their workers in Bangladesh." [PDF 130Kb]

Kmart Australia Becomes Signatory to the Accord | 7 Jun 2013 - Kmart Australia Limited (Kmart) announced today that it would be a signatory to The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

BIG W to sign Bangladesh Safety Accord | 7 Jun 2013 - Discount department store BIG W has written to IndustriALL to indicate that it will sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

MEDIA RELEASE: BIG W to sign Bangladesh Safety Accord | 7 Jun 2013 - Last week, BIG W wrote to the global union organisation IndustriALL to signal our support for the Accord's aims and express our intention to become a signatory once the Accord working group, which includes retailers from around the globe, reports on how the agreement should be implemented.

MEDIA RELEASE: Kmart Australia becomes signatory to Bangladesh Safety Accord | 7 Jun 2013 - Kmart Australia Limited (Kmart) announced today that it would be a signatory to The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, headed by the two international union bodies IndustriALL and sister union UNI Global Union.

Mango Clothing, Cotton On and The Benetton Group took to social media in response to the fire at Rana Plaza. Read some of their comments below.

25 April | Benetton - In reference to the tragic news...

28 April | MANGO - MANGO deeply regrets the tragedy that has occurred ...

29 April | Benetton- Regarding the tragic accident in Dhaka, Bangladesh...

30 April | Cotton On - We are deeply saddened by the recent tragedy at a Bangladesh factory...

30 April | Benetton - At Benetton Group everyone is deeply shocked by...

15 May | Benetton - Today we announced the signing of the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord. Press Release

21 Jun | Cotton On - The Cotton On Group has signed the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord...

REPORTS AND COMPANY AUDITS

How sustainable are Australian retailers' new sourcing strategies? | AMP | Jul 2012 - Cautious consumers have led discretionary retailers to increase their focus on supply chain efficiencies. However, only chasing cheaper labour costs can backfire. Investors need to understand the direct and indirect consequences of unsustainable supply chain practices. Download this report from AMP.

See Nothing, Know Nothing, Do Nothing | Inst. for Global Labour and Human Rights | May 2012 - European and Australian retailers stand by as women sewing their garments at the Northern Fashion factory in Bangladesh are cheated of their maternity benefits, beaten, forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day for just 21 cents an hour... Read this report from IGLHR.

Chinese Sweatshop in Bangladesh | Inst. for Global Labour and Human Rights | 8 Mar 2012 - At the Chinese-owned Rosita Knitwears and Megha Textile (Megatex) factories in Bangladesh: five thousand workers toil under harsh and illegal sweatshop conditions; workers paid a starvation wage of 16 to 22 cents an hour; all overtime is forced-routine, seven-day, 84-hour work weeks. A report from the Inst. for Global Labour and Human Rights.

Bangladesh's ready-made garments landscape | McKinsey & Co | 2011 - This report provides an overview of the rapid growth being seen in Bangladesh's ready made garment industry and then describes the main hurdles that exist for buyers when it comes to sourcing in Bangladesh. [PDF 1.4Mb]

2011 Sustainability Report | MANGO - MANGO clothing company conducts a social audit on all the suppliers it works with , in order to verify the working conditions of its employees: read the company's 2011 Sustainability Report. [PDF 10Mb]

Ethical Code of Conduct | Forever New Clothing Pty Ltd - Forever New operates within the following Ethical Code of Conduct. Download here. [PDF 82Kb]

Labour Practices in our global supply chain | Woolworths Limited - Woolworth's policy on ethical sourcing.

The Cotton On Group Vendor Code of Conduct - In their Code of Conduct Cotton On states that they: respect human rights and local laws; do not hire underage workers or use forced labor; ensure the safety of all. Read their full statement. [PDF 2.5Mb]

WORLD NEWS COVERAGE

Big-name brands struggle to improve Third World factories | 25 Jun 2013 - Opinion piece by economist Andrew John and Professor of Management Jill Klein, Melbourne Business School. (First published in the Australian Financial Review.)

Dreams of Bangladesh garment workers often go unrealized, or become nightmares for families | Star Tribune | Jun 2013 - Moushumi's family now has one of the largest homes in their village - two bedrooms plus a living area with walls made of sturdy brick... It is the dream of nearly every Bangladeshi garment worker to earn enough money to build such a life back in their village. Yet for most it remains just that: Wages are so low they can find themselves struggling to eat, let alone save. Read this story.

LISTEN: Fashion's Victims: An Artist's Focus On Garment Workers | NPR | 19 Jun 2013 - In Madrid Spanish artist Yolanda Dominguez has produced a controversial art installation, 'Fashion Victims', meant to conjure images of the Rana Plaza garment disaster. Listen to this report.

Bangladesh Factories' Safety Issues Run Deep: Survey | The Irrawaddy | 17 Jun 2013 - Bangladeshi garment factories are routinely built without consulting engineers. Many are located in commercial or residential buildings not designed to withstand the stress of heavy manufacturing. Some add illegal extra floors atop support columns too weak to hold them, according to a survey of scores of factories by an engineering university.

Most US Retailers Choose Not to Sign Bangladesh Factory Accord | Voice of America | 17 Jun 2013 - The tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Bangladesh in April that killed more than 1,200 people has brought greater pressure to increase garment building safety and worker protections. A number of European fashion companies have signed an accord to address workplace safety. But, most U.S. retail firms have not signed the pact.

Uncertain future for Rana Plaza survivors | Dhaka Tribune | 11 Jun 2013 - Primark wants to help all workers it registers, planning to pay them three-month's salary, including those not making Primark clothes.

'Rana deserves life term' | The Bangladesh Chronicle | 22 May 2013 - A government enquiry committee has recommended life terms for the owners of the collapsed Savar building Mohammad Sohel Rana and the five readymade garment factories it housed.

The Cost of Making Factories in Bangladesh Safer: Ten Cents | The New Yorker | 16 May 2013 - It's often reported that the recession turned Americans into frugal shoppers. Well, here's a bargain: spendin about ten cents more on a piece of clothing produced in Bangladesh could prevent disasters like the horrific collapse, last month, of the Rana Plaza factory, which killed over a thousand people, the deadliest accident in history of the garment industry.

LISTEN: Australian retailers snub Bangladesh factory safety accord | ABC PM | 16 May 2013 - Pressure has been growing on international fashion labels in the weeks since a building collapse killed more than 1,000 people at a Bangladesh textile factory.

Death Mill | Foreign Policy | 9 May 2013 - How the ready-made garment industry captured the Bangladeshi state.

Bangladesh Collapse Shows Safety Audit Shortcomings | Huff Post | 4 May 2013 - Many worker advocates criticize these auditing systems as well-meaning, but flawed, pointing to an inherent conflict of interest: The groups are largely funded by the very corporate members whose contracted facilities they're meant to monitor. The auditing process, these critics claim, ends up catering more to the brands involved than the workers toiling on the line.

VIDEO: Bangladesh factory disasters ask questions of Australian companies | 7.30 | 30 Apr 2013 - Australian companies are among those under pressure to ensure workers in Bangladesh aren't exploited or endangered after recent disasters at factories there.

Bangladesh: Tragedy Shows Urgency of Worker Protections | HRW | 25 Apr 2013 - The collapse of an eight-story factory building near Dhaka shows the urgent need to improve Bangladesh's protections for worker health and safety, Human Rights Watch said today. Reforms should include a drastic overhaul of the government's system of labor inspections and an end to government efforts to thwart the right of workers to unionize.

INFORMATION ON ETHICAL GARMENT MANUFACTURING

Accredited Brands | Ethical Clothing Australia - A list of businesses that are accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia for their Australian-made textile, clothing and footwear products only as of 19 June 2013.

The Culprits - Who is to Blame? | FairWear Australia - Many people ask us "Which companies are exploiting workers?" or "Who are the bad guys". There is no simple answer to this question. fairwear.org.au/the-culprits/

Eco Fashion World - Eco Fashion World's GUIDE is your essential resource to sustainable designer brands and online eco fashion stores. www.ecofashionworld.com

Find Ethical Australian Products | Ethical Clothing Australia - This website contains information for consumers about which brands have their Australian-made garments accredited. www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/

Retailers | Ethical Clothing Australia - Retailers can also participate in efforts to support an ethical Australian textile, clothing and footwear industry by becoming a signatory to the National Retailers Ethical Clothing Code. Find out how to become a retail signatory and read a full list of Retail Signatories. www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/

Supply Chains in the Clothing Industry | FairWear Australia - An educational resource about outworkers in the Australian clothing industry. [PDF 1.1Mb]

The Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord | International Labor Rights Forum | May 2012 - The signatories to this Agreement agree to establish a fire and building safety program in Bangladesh for a period of five years. [PDF 70Kb]

AID, ADVOCACY, RESOURCES

ActionAid: The Rana Plaza - ActionAid have created a fake sweatshop clothing site, created to raise funds for garment workers' rights. Visit the site. www.theranaplaza.com.au

Benefit for Bangladesh | Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia - Read more about the Benefit being held this month to raise money for injured Rana Plaza workers. tcfua.org.au/

The Clean Clothes Campaign | Oxfam UK - The Clean Clothes Campaign is dedicated to improving working conditions and supporting the empowerment of workers in the global garment and sportswear industries. www.cleanclothes.org/

Ethical Clothing Australia's accreditation and labelling system helps consumers make an informed choice for ethical shopping. http://www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/

FairWear - A community campaign working to eliminate the exploitation of sweatshop workers and home-based outworkers in the Australian clothing industry. fairwear.org.au/

Garment Workers' Appeal | ActionAid Australia | @ActionAid_aus - ActionAid raise funds and awareness to support workers' rights of women factory workers around the world. www.actionaid.org/.../garment-workers-appeal

International Labor Rights Forum - ILRF seeks to challenge sweatshop conditions globally, and promote ethical alternatives to sweatshop-produced goods. www.laborrights.org/

Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights - A non-profit human rights organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of internationally recognized worker rights in the global economy. www.globallabourrights.org/

Oxfam Australia Campaign: Support The Bangladesh Factory Workers - The Rana Plaza factory collapse, in which more than a thousand people have lost their lives, is the most recent example of a series of similar tragedies throughout the past decade. Poor working conditions and hazardous factory environments are commonplace in the Bangladeshi garment sector. The AUD $37 a month minimum wages in Bangladesh are amongst the lowest in the region. www.oxfam.org.au/.../support-the-bangladesh-factory-workers/

The Solidarity Center's mission is to help build a global labor movement by strengthening the economic and political power of workers around the world through effective, independent and democratic unions. www.solidaritycenter.org/

Sweatshops in Bangladesh | War on Want - In Bangladesh, 3.5 million workers in 4,825 garment factories produce goods for export to the global market, principally Europe and North America. The Bangladeshi garment industry generates 80% of the country's total export revenue. However, the wealth generated by this sector has led to few improvements in the lives of garment workers, 85% of whom are women. www.waronwant.org/.../sweatshops-in-bangladesh

The Worker Rights Consortium - An independent labor rights monitoring organization, conducting investigations of working conditions in factories around the globe. www.workersrights.org/