Factory Tour

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to see the factory where the clothes that we all wear actually get made. It was to do this kind of thing that made coming here such an exciting prospect. I feel incredibly fortunate to get to see with my own eyes the things that cause so much discussion back home.

The factory we toured was one of the nicer ones. It is owned by Epic Group, and employs around 5000 workers at that factory alone. Here is a good (although definitely has a press release feel) article about the factory: http://www.just-style.com/comment/an-epic-opportunity-for-bangladeshs-garment-industry_id95318.aspx (I enjoyed the part where it called Bangladesh's weather "eclectic").  This factory also has a friendly relationship with the labour NGOs the Solidarity Center is affiliated with. This is important to remember for several reasons: 1) not all garment factories are terrible sweatshops that we read about in the paper and 2) the factories that the western buyers usually see are the nicer ones.

This factory's main buyers included Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and Levis. We started by talking with the head manager for awhile. I felt he was being fairly honest and frank which surprised me, given that he knew the organizations we were working with. We discussed the minimum wage, and he made the point that one problem with the current minimum wage debate was that it is exclusively about the base line wage, not about take home pay. For example, his factory paid workers (at the lowest grade)  Tk. 1,700 per month (minimum wage is Tk. 1662). BUT he felt this was misleading because the factory also provided attendance and production bonuses, overtime, subsidized lunches (workers pay Tk. 3 for a daily lunch, the company pays Tk. 20), onsite healthcare and daycare. He felt that if minimum wage is increased without any consideration into the benefits received by the worker (which his company had calculated to be about Tk. 3000 per worker beyond their starting salary) that factories will simply cut these benefits. One thing I did not ask, because I got sidetracked in the discussion of all the various kinds of benefits was even with these benefits if what the workers were making was still liveable. In the end I agree that factories should have a certain amount of flexibility in how the take home wage can be paid, as long as at the end of the day the workers are receiving a total amount of X taka (X being whatever is a decent wage). The discussion goes to show that things are always more complicated than either side would have you believe.

After meeting with the manager, the head of HR gave us a tour of the factory. The factory itself was much nicer than I had anticipated. It was clean, very well-lit, air conditioned (except for one floor where they cut the fabric because the AC damages the machines used, but there were at least big fans) and modern. I was blown away by all the aspects required to run a garment factory (like a whole room where the clothes are washed before being shipped and a million other elements). Each floor was huge (some had over 1500 workers) all workimg on various stitching or cutting. The mood was also not as dour as I had expected. Were the workers bursting with happiness and joy? No but the energy felt similar to an office or call center. People weren't overjoyed to be there but were not miserable. But, one important thing to remember is that they work much longer weeks than we do. They work 11 hour days (with 1 hour for lunch) 6 days a week. And despite bonuses and overtime pay they are still making enough to barely get by, living an existence that is probably unimaginable to anyone reading this (and to the person writing it).

When the tour ended we got to spend some more time with the HR manager and I felt had another interesting and frank discussion. He thought the key to running a succesful factory (even from a purely financial viewpoint) was that the workers needed to feel loyalty to the factory. To earn their loyalty the factory needs to offer them certain bonuses, and most importantly needs to listen to them and address their grievances. He felt the underlying cause of all the unrest occurring in the garment sector was that the workers feel they have no voice and have to turn to violence in order to be heard. This was the exact same sentiment that was expressed by the president of BILS (Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies) although the BILS guy felt that unions were the best solution to this, whereas the HR rep felt it could be done internally within the factory.

I was very grateful to hear the perspectives of factory management and think this is invaluable in forming a clear picture of the reality of the situation here. Ultimately my sympathies will always lie with the working man over management, but I am no Marxist, I realize that it is important to understand and respect the viewpoint of all those involved in the issue, and also to recognize that there is no easy solution.