By Willie Burnley, Staff Writer, Emerson College
There is a group of people scattered around the remains of a collapsed building, digging through ash and rubble to find survivors and, more urgently, to identify crushed human bodies. They look for brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, neighbors, and people they have never known. One worker stops to throw aside a sweater with bold-lettering, the meaning of which is both foreign to him and pivotal to the disaster that has just taken place. In bright, joyous colors, it reads: EMERSON COLLEGE.
Nearly six months ago, on April 24th, the eight-story building known as Rana Plaza collapsed in what is considered the deadliest garment factory accident in history with 1,132 killed and approximately 2,500 people injured. The tragedy has rocked Bangladesh. However, as devastating as it was (and remains to be in the wake of little to no reparations for the families of the deceased), it is in no way the first incident of its kind in the nation. In the last year alone, two other garment factories have collapsed, killing hundreds. According to an inspection by engineer students at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, only one in ten garment factories are structurally sound in their country.
There is a group of people scattered around the remains of a collapsed building, digging through ash and rubble to find survivors and, more urgently, to identify crushed human bodies. They look for brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, neighbors, and people they have never known. One worker stops to throw aside a sweater with bold-lettering, the meaning of which is both foreign to him and pivotal to the disaster that has just taken place. In bright, joyous colors, it reads: EMERSON COLLEGE.
Nearly six months ago, on April 24th, the eight-story building known as Rana Plaza collapsed in what is considered the deadliest garment factory accident in history with 1,132 killed and approximately 2,500 people injured. The tragedy has rocked Bangladesh. However, as devastating as it was (and remains to be in the wake of little to no reparations for the families of the deceased), it is in no way the first incident of its kind in the nation. In the last year alone, two other garment factories have collapsed, killing hundreds. According to an inspection by engineer students at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, only one in ten garment factories are structurally sound in their country.
As remote as this issue may seem, the Emerson community is tied to the creation of unsafe factories through the way in which we choose to conduct our business. To understand how, it requires an understanding of how these dangerous factories are created.
What the globalization of markets has come to mean with regard to garment manufacturing is that multibillion dollar corporations, usually from the West, are able to find factories in parts of the world where they can receive cheap labor. This was the case for Rana Plaza and remains the case for garment factories throughout Bangladesh. Companies such as VF Corporation, Nike, Adidas, H&M, and many other Western brands send their clothing to be manufactured in countries where they have the luxury of paying a low rate to factory owners -- these owners then make due by both paying their workers some of the lowest wages in the world and by reducing costs for necessities associated with worker and building safety. Moreover, these brands use that same cheap labor to create collegiate apparel that young, liberal-minded people in the West wear with pride. Those same students unknowingly hand their money over to those who will use it to perpetuate what could be considered sweatshop labor and buildings that are deathtraps.
This is where our two worlds meet, a liberal arts college in the heart of Boston and those impoverished men and women who dig for their loved ones after preventable disasters. Emerson sells collegiate apparel from many brands, one of which is an American company known as JanSport, owned by VF Corporation. To put it bluntly, the money we spend in our school bookstore buying this apparel is, in one way or another, being used to create and perpetuate a cycle of impoverishment, sweatshop labor, and building collapse that often has deadly consequences. As an institution, we must make it a priority to not knowingly contribute to such unfair practices through our patronage. We should make it a moral point to try to put an end to these systems of exploitation, especially because we are privileged enough to be able to raise our voices to do so.
Now, I understand that people want to represent Emerson with sweatshirts adorned with our name. I am not saying we shouldn’t do that. Alta Gracia Apparel, a decidedly anti-sweatshop brand, makes Emerson collegiate apparel that you can buy from the bookstore and also pays their workers a living wage. That is not necessarily the case with factories that VF Corporation helps to create. Bangladeshi garment factory workers, for example, make the equivalent of around 38 dollars a month. To put that into perspective, that means a family trying to maintain food, shelter, and clothes of their own for a month with less money than we would make for six hours of work with a minimum wage salary.
As an institution, we can pressure VF Corporation to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety that would create a legally binding contract to ensure that workers have a right to organize and to a safe working environment. As a member of the Worker Rights Consortium, Emerson College has the power to push for VF Corporation to sign onto the accord as a part of a larger organization. However, due to the fact that no collegiate brands have signed on, it will take pressure from students, parents, and alumni in order to create the environment necessary for change.
But we would not be alone in our call for justice. Right now, 50,000 workers in Bangladesh are on strike to receive a raise in their pay from nearly 40 dollars to approximately 100 dollars a month. In solidarity, the international organization USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) is running a campaign to end deathtraps and educate people on the issue. In fact, one of our own on-campus organizations, Emerson PRIDE (Progressives and Radicals in Defense of Employees), is working currently to compel our administration to make this issue a priority when it comes to our collegiate apparel.
What the globalization of markets has come to mean with regard to garment manufacturing is that multibillion dollar corporations, usually from the West, are able to find factories in parts of the world where they can receive cheap labor. This was the case for Rana Plaza and remains the case for garment factories throughout Bangladesh. Companies such as VF Corporation, Nike, Adidas, H&M, and many other Western brands send their clothing to be manufactured in countries where they have the luxury of paying a low rate to factory owners -- these owners then make due by both paying their workers some of the lowest wages in the world and by reducing costs for necessities associated with worker and building safety. Moreover, these brands use that same cheap labor to create collegiate apparel that young, liberal-minded people in the West wear with pride. Those same students unknowingly hand their money over to those who will use it to perpetuate what could be considered sweatshop labor and buildings that are deathtraps.
This is where our two worlds meet, a liberal arts college in the heart of Boston and those impoverished men and women who dig for their loved ones after preventable disasters. Emerson sells collegiate apparel from many brands, one of which is an American company known as JanSport, owned by VF Corporation. To put it bluntly, the money we spend in our school bookstore buying this apparel is, in one way or another, being used to create and perpetuate a cycle of impoverishment, sweatshop labor, and building collapse that often has deadly consequences. As an institution, we must make it a priority to not knowingly contribute to such unfair practices through our patronage. We should make it a moral point to try to put an end to these systems of exploitation, especially because we are privileged enough to be able to raise our voices to do so.
Now, I understand that people want to represent Emerson with sweatshirts adorned with our name. I am not saying we shouldn’t do that. Alta Gracia Apparel, a decidedly anti-sweatshop brand, makes Emerson collegiate apparel that you can buy from the bookstore and also pays their workers a living wage. That is not necessarily the case with factories that VF Corporation helps to create. Bangladeshi garment factory workers, for example, make the equivalent of around 38 dollars a month. To put that into perspective, that means a family trying to maintain food, shelter, and clothes of their own for a month with less money than we would make for six hours of work with a minimum wage salary.
As an institution, we can pressure VF Corporation to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety that would create a legally binding contract to ensure that workers have a right to organize and to a safe working environment. As a member of the Worker Rights Consortium, Emerson College has the power to push for VF Corporation to sign onto the accord as a part of a larger organization. However, due to the fact that no collegiate brands have signed on, it will take pressure from students, parents, and alumni in order to create the environment necessary for change.
But we would not be alone in our call for justice. Right now, 50,000 workers in Bangladesh are on strike to receive a raise in their pay from nearly 40 dollars to approximately 100 dollars a month. In solidarity, the international organization USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) is running a campaign to end deathtraps and educate people on the issue. In fact, one of our own on-campus organizations, Emerson PRIDE (Progressives and Radicals in Defense of Employees), is working currently to compel our administration to make this issue a priority when it comes to our collegiate apparel.
Emerson College should innovate not only in the arts but also in the way we think about and live our lives. The multi-billion dollar garment industry is participating in nothing less than exploitation of workers who oftentimes are far too in need of money to be in a position to demand fair treatment. Therefore, we should join with those already fighting and fulfill our moral obligation to end our complicity in this exploitation. Emerson College should take a stand to make our partners sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety or phase them out as our partners.
Willie Burnley Jr is a feminist, anti-racist, and all around anti-oppressionist who believes that societal progress is almost always made through active effort. He likes politics and anime, though not always in that order. Contact Willie on Twitter.
Willie Burnley Jr is a feminist, anti-racist, and all around anti-oppressionist who believes that societal progress is almost always made through active effort. He likes politics and anime, though not always in that order. Contact Willie on Twitter.