Garment Industry (Working Conditions)

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Westminster Hall

[Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham, Ladywood) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dobbin. I am grateful for the opportunity to debate matters related to the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, the anniversary of which was a few days ago. I am grateful to be joined by colleagues who have a long-standing interest in Bangladesh and who have spoken a great deal about the Rana Plaza disaster and what it means for the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. Our time is limited, so I am grateful for their support. I know they will also want to make relatively short contributions in the limited time available.

I was privileged to visit Bangladesh last September with fellow members of the all-party group on Bangladesh. We planned the visit specifically to feed into our subsequent report, “After Rana Plaza,” which focused on the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. We made recommendations on what we think is needed to get the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh into the right place so that we can ensure that we do not see another Rana Plaza.

The disaster at Rana Plaza claimed some 1,100 lives, with 2,500 people injured, and it came only a few months after the Tazreen Fashions fire in Dhaka, which killed 112 workers. There is a pattern of industrial incidents that have claimed lives in one of the world’s poorest countries, and it is a stark reminder to the rest of the world that our cheap, fast fashion has a human cost that is often hidden. Those two disasters in Bangladesh have particularly helped to bring home the human cost to consumers in Britain, Europe and elsewhere in a way that had not necessarily happened previously.

I will address the recommendations made in the all-party group’s report, but I will first talk about our visit to Bangladesh. I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali) is here, because we went out to Bangladesh together, and she was with me when I visited one factory in particular. The Department for International Development, which was working with the all-party group during our visit, encouraged us to go to the factory. The incongruous image that comes to mind when I think of that time is of seven Bangladeshi women in shalwar kameez sewing zips on to bright pink skinny jeans that were destined for sale in Russia.

My hon. Friend and I were in the factory for our work on the all-party group’s report. We had been sent there by DFID because it was one of the better factories and had much better standards on health and safety, fire risk and work force engagement than many other factories in Dhaka. DFID was rightly keen for us to see what a good factory in Dhaka’s ready-made garment industry looks like. When I went into the factory, even though it was one of the better factories—I took that point on board—the first thing that hit home was the unbearable heat. The factory was not hot just because of the lovely weather in Bangladesh, because I am not a wimp when it comes to general heat and nice weather. Going into that factory, the first thing I felt was a blast of heat that was unlike anything I had ever experienced. When I stood near those women who were sewing zips on to the pink skinny jeans, it was all I could do to maintain for 10 minutes a reasonable conversation in broken Urdu that the women could just about understand before I thought, “I have to wrap this up and get over to the other side of the factory, because I cannot physically stand here for very much longer.”

I also remember clearly that the women were supposed to be wearing face masks because there was a lot of cloth fibre and dust in the air, which is damaging for people to breathe in every day at work, but because it was so hot they had to take off their masks. Even in a good factory that was doing its bit to meet some minimum standards, particularly after the Rana Plaza disaster, there were still issues that I, as a British woman, felt to be serious as I was standing in the factory.

On the side of the building, again in relation to health and safety standards, there was what we were told was decent fire escape provision. There was a door at the side of the building that led out to a stairwell that went down into the outside courtyard. Again, unlike what sometimes happens in other factories, access was clear and there were no boxes of garments in front of the door. The access was not blocked, unlike pictures we had seen of other, less good factories. When I saw that stairwell, which was the fire exit for hundreds of workers in the factory, I thought to myself, “God help me if I ever find myself working in a factory like this and having to run out into that stairwell, which feels pretty rickety to me.” That might be because of the British experience and the good safety standards that we expect for ourselves, but it was a stark reminder that even what passes for good standards, and what outside organisations such as DFID and others say are good standards for Bangladeshi workers, are things that I do not think many British workers would ever accept for themselves—I certainly would not accept them.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

rose—

[Jim Dobbin (in the Chair)]

Before the hon. Lady intervenes, I clarify that interventions are acceptable with the agreement of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) but speeches are not acceptable unless the hon. Lady and the Minister have agreed. The Chairman should also be informed.

[Rushanara Ali]

Thank you, Mr Dobbin. I will make an intervention.

My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) mentioned our visit to Bangladesh, and it is clear from that visit that, across the board in the garment industry, people face a threat to their life every day in such places. That was highlighted by the most appalling tragedy last year in the Rana Plaza accident.

My question is both to my hon. Friend and to the Minister. I seek progress and pressure from our Government to ensure that the issues with labour standards and building regulations that we found in our report are addressed quickly so that we see no further tragedies. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government should put more pressure on companies that have not paid compensation? Only $15 million of the $40 million has been paid. Will the Minister support the “No more fashion victims” campaign led by Labour Behind the Label and Katharine Hamnett, which seeks to apply such pressure?