ZAKIR HOSSEIN CHOWDHURY
It's a good start, but Bangladesh's $40 billion garment industry still has a long way to go. The move to environmental protection at the enterprise level has not improved the performance of the industry's 4.4 million workers.
Wage theft and late payments are widespread. The minimum wage, at about 12,500 taka per month (about US$113), is far below the US$200 proposed by unions, meaning frequent strikes and protests over wages, overtime and job security. “Building safety and work conditions have improved since Rana Plaza came into being, but the mindset remains the same,” says AKM Ashraf Uddin, executive director of the Bangladesh Labor Foundation, a non-profit labor rights group. “Profits still come first and workers’ freedom of speech has not yet been realized.”
ZAKIR HOSSEIN CHOWDHURY
In the worst case, greener industry could actually worsen inequality. The sector is dominated by smaller plants and finds it difficult to afford modernization. But without these updates, businesses may find themselves excluded from certain markets. One of them is the European Union, which plans to require companies to address human rights and environmental issues in their supply chains starting in 2027. The clean Buriganga River corrects only a small corner of the huge picture of needs.
Zakir Hossain Chowdhury is a visual journalist from Bangladesh.
