Interview with Injustice
by Samantha Cerchero
The Bangladeshi population have been deeply affected by globalization.
Throughout the extreme poverty and high unemployment rate, there is a saving grace: the garment industry. Employing over 1.5 million people, the garment industry is on the rise in and around Dhaka, the nation’s capital. Although more and more Bangladeshis are becoming employed, they are working under intense exploitation. Females make up 90% of garment workers, and there are numerous cases each year of sexual and physical abuse happening in the workplace.
The Bangladesh Workers’ Tour recently exposed college and high school students throughout the U.S. to the inhumane and roughshod treatment of Bangladeshi garment factory workers. Executive Director of the National Labor Committee Charles Kernaghan led the month-long tour in which two young women who work in a garment factory in Dhaka told stories of the torture they have to endure each day at work. Mr. Rafiq Alam, a devoted labor rights activist, translated for the women.
For Robina Akther, age 18, her life consists of working, sleeping, and eating the little food she can afford. She has been working as a sewing operator for the past few years sewing clothes for major companies like Wal-Mart. Earning only 17,000 taka, or 14 cents, an hour she can only afford select vegetables, potatoes, rice, and lentils. She has to borrow money each month just to survive and owns only the three dresses she wears to work. Robina lives in a room with eight people and one wooden platform “bed”. She cleans her teeth with her finger and ash from a fire, since toothpaste is too costly. Her life is dedicated to her work; she has never gone to school, gone out with friends, or simply been able to relax.
Robina recalls having to sew 120 flaps on the back pockets of Wal-Mart cargo pants per hour, and if she did not meet the target, she would get struck in the face so hard it would result in a bloody nose. She has been forced to work 19-hour shifts into the night, and would have to sleep on the backless sewing benches until her morning shift would come . Her usual work shift is from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. She is supposed to get paid for overtime, but none of the workers ever get the proper amount, if any at all. Robina and her coworkers are allowed two or three bathroom passes per day. The bathrooms are filthy and lack soap and toilet paper. If the guards think the workers take too long in the bathrooms, they will be docked pay.
Maksuda, age 19, has been working in garment factories since she was 11 years old. She also never had a chance to go to school. Her mother, her baby and she live in one room divided so that they can earn extra money by renting out the other half. She lives on lentils and rice, and needs to borrow money each month to survive. The little possessions she had were lost in recent floods that struck Bangladesh.
Sk. Nazma, president of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, also spoke out against the treatment of the garment workers. She is a former factory worker, and knows firsthand what these women have to go through to simply afford food to eat. She is currently fighting for paid maternity leave for four months for the female workers since most factories deny leave and even fire women who leave to have their children. There is not a single plant in the Bangladeshi garment industry with a union, and she is working to change that and create solidarity between workers.
Both Robina and Maksuda stated, in their public interview on October 26th, 2004, “We have no life. We live only to work.” Although their working conditions are inhumane, they need these jobs. Without them, they would be living in even more poverty.
They do not want the American people to boycott, but rather help garment workers all over the world earn the rights they deserve as human beings. Both women say that if they could get paid just 25 cents more per garment, it would be enough to be able to live at least at the poverty level. It would be a dream for all garment workers if they were able to get paid a quarter more per garment. They could afford baby food, clothes, and occasional meats and fruits. Twenty-five cents more means nutritious food and bearable living conditions.
Their requests are reasonable: The garment workers would like one day off per week to be able to rest and be with their families. Since most workers receive only five hours of sleep per night, they would be able to have one day to relax. If they are forced to work overtime, they want to be paid for their extra hours. They want to be able to go on maternity leave without losing their jobs. They want to work in a place where they do not have to fear being beaten if their chalk line is not straight enough. They would like a bathroom with ample supplies and time to use them.
Boycotts will only hurt the garment workers in Bangladesh. Protests result in beatings, layoffs, and even death. If corporations raise the price of garments twenty-five cents, it would enable factory workers to receive 20 cents more an hour, and $1.60 more a day. The American people can help lift millions of Bangladeshis out of agony and gain their rights by paying only a quarter more for their clothing. If nothing is done to help these garment workers, their condition will only get worse. Textile quotas are being raised in 2005, and if there is nobody to help, wages and rights will be cut back even more.
The makers of the majority of Americans’ clothes, sporting goods, sneakers and CD Players are young people hoping for a better future. Americans, especially young Americans, are asked to help fulfill the modest request to be treated as humans rather than machines.
