Last week I was working on a story about garment factory workers and their campaign for a living wage with journalist, Liz Jones.

Petition has now closed. Thank you to everyone who signed our Humanity in Fashion petition, we have forwarded the 2082 names collected to the National Garment Workers Federation so they can show these companies their customers demand change.

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Safia meets Dolly and Hashi

People Tree has been working with garment factory workers to support their campaign for a living wage and better conditions for 12 years now. I’ve travelled to interview them in their homes and see the conditions they work in, in the garment factories.

Day to day life in the slums

These 3 million people – mostly women – generate over 70% of the national earnings of Bangladesh. It’s like ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ but ADD the heat and the smell. We have to realise we all have a part in keeping these people poor if we’re not part of the solution: helping them get a better deal, putting pressure on fashion companies, by not buying fast fashion without considering the real human cost.

I’d taken Liz Jones out 2 years ago to see how Fair Trade fashion could empower women and build sustainable communities.  So when we heard the news that garment factory workers are protesting for a living wage and why they need a better deal so urgently (a trebling of the minimum wage from £16 to under £50 a month) Liz and I decided to visit Dhaka a second time to see why workers were becoming so desperate.

We met Dolly, a young girl who at just 14 years old has been working in a garment factory for two years.  She’d just finished a 12 hour shift and must have been exhausted but she said she was happy to speak to us.  She said that she works as a machine embroiderer in a germent factory – a job often given to very young people as they have good eyesight and nimble fingers.  Her life is hard and she’s had to grow up quickly – she doesn’t spend any time with friends and instead works 7 days a week.  She’s not entitled to a day off.

She doesn’t tell us what factory she works for however she is happy to reveal what she earns – 2,800 taka (£16.86) a month, including overtime.  The current minimum wage in Bangladesh is 1,662 taka per month, about 50 pence a day.  Her mother’s concern is that Dolly is losing weight, due to long, hard night shifts, lack of sleep and money to eat good food.

She shares a room about 5 foot square with four others and her rent is 1,500 (£14.05) a month.  This little girl’s life ambition?  “One day I want to work on a sewing machine.”

Dolly is by no means alone.  There are thousands of garment workers across Bangladesh enduring terrible conditions, low pay and minimal job security.  A wave of strikes calling for an increase of the minimum wage has lead to individual workers being blacklisted and even entire factories being closed with no notice.  Desperately vulnerable people are living at the edge of poverty and “conventional” clothing companies are exploiting them.

Liz and Safia launch the campaign with Amin Amirol of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF)

Liz Jones supports Humanity in Fashion –

Garment workers have been campaigning for years:

Freedom of Association and Right to collective bargaining
The right of all workers to form and join trade unions and to bargain collectively shall be recognised.
Right to collective bargaining
The right of all workers to form and join trade unions and to bargain collectively shall be recognised.
No forced labour
There shall be no use of forced, including bonded or prison, labour.
No discrimination
Equality of opportunity and treatment regardless of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, nationality, social origin or other distinguishing characteristic shall be provided.
Maximum hours of work
Hours of work shall comply with applicable laws and industry standards.
Health and safety
A safe and hygienic working environment shall be provided with no physical abuse, threats of physical abuse, unusual punishments or discipline.
A living wage
Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week shall meet at least legal or industry minimum standards and always be sufficient to meet basic needs of workers and their families and to provide some discretionary income.
Security of employment
Obligations to employees under labour or social security laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship shall not be avoided through the use of labour-only contracting arrangements.

Miki and Safia working through the night on a photo story for Liz Jones

2am - still picture editing for the Liz Jones article