Mucho empleo, enorme precariedad
El sector textil, que emplea a más de 60 millones de personas en el mundo, tiene ante sí el reto de mejorar unas condiciones laborales que en ocasiones rozan la esclavitud
Pablo Linde Madrid 16 ABR 2014 - 18:53 CET
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Much employment, highly precarious
The textile sector, which employs over 60 million people in the world, faces the challenge of improving working conditions which sometimes border on slavery
Paul Linde Madrid 16 ABR 2014 - 18:53 CET
The textile industry employs over 60 million people worldwide , but most low-skilled , poorly organized and professional migrants , according to the International Labor Organization . The large scale production of very affordable clothes in rich countries has this duplex in which they are developing : one generates a lot of employment and is the engine of some economies , but otherwise the struggle for competitiveness contributes to conditions that come to touch slavery .
The vast majority of employees proliferating factories in countries like China , Cambodia , Bangladesh , India , Morocco, Turkey, the Philippines , Egypt and Sri Lanka (to name some of the biggest producers) do not work directly for large brands , but to subcontractors. Transparency for providers has been very limited until recently, favored what many companies desentendiesen full of the living conditions of these employees. Although much remains to be done, the situation is changing , thanks in part to tragedies that have destroyed thousands of lives.
Salaries textile
The Center for American Progress did a study last year in real wages (adjusted CPI and purchasing power in each country) of textile workers in major exporters between 2001 and 2011. These are monthly figures in dollars and percentage increase or decrease in this decade.
Bangladesh : $ 91.45 ( -2.37 %)
Cambodia: 126.26 ( -22.10 %)
China: 324.90 ( +124,29 %)
Dominican Republic : 223.83 ( -23.74 %)
El Salvador : 294.14 ( -11.52 %)
Guatemala : 345 , 75 ( -13.05 %)
Haiti : 154.78 ( +48,22 %)
Honduras 327.98 ( -8.76 %)
India: 169.67 ( +12,96 %)
Indonesia: 186,64 ( +38,35 %)
Mexico : 536.57 ( -28.94 %)
Peru : 393.43 ( +17,12 %)
Philippines : 233.39 ( -6.36 %)
Thailand: 337.12 ( +6.44 %)
Vietnam : 254.78 ( +39,66 %)
The greatest catastrophe occurred in 2013 with the collapse of the building Rana Plaza, in Bangladesh, a very attractive country for the industry for their low wages (the minimum was fixed and 30 euros until 2013 , is now 50 ) . The lives of 1,127 people dead and injured more than 2,500 , many with mutilation in their countries condemn them begging. It was no accident . The building, used for packing clothing brands like Primark , Benetton , El Corte Ingles or Le Bon Marché , was built on stagnant water, had cracks and powerful generators that operated during the frequent blackouts exceeded the weight to bear. Several companies came together to collectively compensate workers and since then, the inspection of buildings has hardened on the initiative of private labels .
But the tragedies in the sector are not new. More than 400 people died in factory fires in Bangladesh and Pakistan between 2006 and 2009, according to a report by the Clean Clothes network. And since then (also above) has been steady drip : 120 killed and 100 wounded in a factory near Dhaka in 2012; 21 killed in Gazipur in 2010; 280 in a textile factory in Pakistan in 2012 as a result of a short circuit are just some tragedies that had failed as a realization that led the Rana Plaza.
If security is the most pressing improvement by endangering lives , wages are just behind . Textile companies say their subcontractors pay at least the minimum wage in each country where they operate, but often , as denounced by NGOs, are not enough to lead a decent life. Bangladesh ranks last in the standings. Cambodia is next with $ 100 a month . There seems to be no coincidence that two of the places where businesses are moving much of its production. The Center for American Progress did a study last year that ranked in the real wages of workers in the textile industry by country ( CPI adjusted and purchasing power). Analyzed a 10-year period between 2001 and 2011 , and although you can see noticeable increases , like China ( 124% ) , there are significant falls ( see box at left) .
Working hours are another great workhorse in the textile sector. Although most producing countries have stipulated 48 hours working week with the addition of another 12 for overtime (that is including the code of conduct of the two largest companies in the sector : Inditex and H & M ) , is frequent failure either because it adds more time worked or because overtime is in ordinary reality, as reported, for example, the Clean Clothes study Spanish fashion in Tangier : work and survival of garment workers .
Large companies that adopt policies with increasing frequency of social responsibility to alleviate these problems, explain that to your order to be profitable , added in order to improve living standards in producing countries to pressure governments and local enterprises to include improvements in collective bargaining, wages and working conditions. Do they make enough? In response, a number: the IndustriALL union representing 50 million workers around the world, remember that labor costs in Bangladesh made a t-shirt that sells for 20 euros are 1.5 cents.
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