In a follow
up story on the horrible factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan last week, the New
York Times reports that this fire, probably among other things, has brought the
global system for safety inspections under much needed scrutiny. A few weeks
before this textile fire two inspectors from Social Accountability
International gave the factory, Ali Enterprises, a prestigious rating declaring
that they were up to international standards in nine areas; including, child
labor, minimum wages, health and safety. The S.A.I. is a non-profit group,
based in New York, which focuses on investigation and monitoring of labor and
factory conditions, and is funded by corporations.
The issue is
this: it is true that there is corruption and poor application of regulations
by the Pakistani government and factory owners, however another large part of
this are the policies of the Western producers who look to Pakistani factories
for their textile production needs. The failure of success for the S.A.I was in
part because the factory owners were given plenty of time to rig employee
answers to investigators, ensure exits were open and unobstructed and hide the
fact that they were involved in any child labor. Also, the S.A.I is, as
mentioned before, based in the West and funded by large, most likely Western,
corporations. Unfortunately, this system does not bode well for protecting the
rights and safety of the workers. For example, nearly 300 workers died in the
Ali Enterprises fire, while only 250 workers were registered, and in reality approximately
1,000 people were employed in total. Only ONE of their Western clients came
forward and admitted to using the productions of this factory. The client, a
German jean company called KiK, said that they had requested three audits. One
of which said the factory failed to meet fire safety standards, while the next
declared the fire hazards had been remedied. While the other producers remain
unidentified, it is clear that a large part of these slights to labor rights are
in response to Western producers’ desires for cheap labor at what ever cost to
human rights.
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