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The tragic events in Bangladesh underscore that the apparel industry remains one of the most dangerous and abusive industries on the planet. From child labor on cotton plantations and impoverished cotton producers in West Africa, to dangerous working conditions and poverty wages throughout the Global South, including the Global North, the apparel industry is dangerous and unjust.

The apparel industry supply chain is a complex web involving many countries, long supply changes and razor thin margins. From field to t-shirt, it takes many steps, including:

  • Farming;
  • Ginning;
  • Spinning;
  • Knitting;
  • Dying:
  • Cutting & sewing:
  • screening.

  • Globally, most of the apparel industry, throughout the supply chain, is operated under sweatshop conditions. According to the Maquila Solidarity Network, “Sweatshop conditions include excessive working hours, forced overtime, poverty wages, child labour, unsafe working conditions, discrimination, verbal and physical abuse. When workers try to organize a union, they are often fired.”

    FTUSA’s standard is only auditing one step of the supply chain, “cut and sew” and ignoring the many other stages of apparel production. FTUSA is not even guaranteeing a “living wage” for the cut and sew stage.As the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) states, “The payment of a living wage [should be] a minimum standard, not an aspirational standard.” According to the CCC,
    “The right to a living wage: A living wage should be earned in a standard working week (no more than 48 hours) and allow a garment worker to be able to buy
    food for herself and her family, pay the
    rent, pay for
    healthcare,
    clothing,
    transportation and
    education and have a small amount of
    savings for when something unexpected happens.” For an apparel worker to earn a living wage in core apparel producing countries, like China, Mexico, India and Bangladesh, workers would need to earn several minimum wages a day to reach a living wage.