Introduction
Fast fashion creates a massive demand for clothing, putting pressure on the factory workers at the bottom of the supply chain. The owners of the factories force workers to work in rather bad conditions and sacrifice their liberties and time with their families. The cost paid for such sacrifices is the true social cost. The collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh is quite an unfortunate incident where workers were forced to continue working in the factory despite raising concerns about the building’s structural weakness. It is quite appalling that the factory manager forced the workers to continue working under such conditions. The tragedy has brought the attention of global media, which increased awareness of the social issues and violations associated with the garment industry in Bangladesh. Hence, the paper investigates the ethical considerations, the implications, and possible prevention strategies of the Rana Plaza collapse.
Rapid fashion has altered the fashion industry significantly. The product moves rapidly, from the runways to manufacturing to the stores and eventually to the clients. One can now get the most stylish trend even before it is off the runways. Such development has prompted the designers to thrust new assortment and seasons quicker than any other time. Every brand is continually compelled to evolve, advance, and maintain the pace in time to counteract its termination. Due to the high competition in the industry, most brands tend to cut costs on labor and outsource their production to countries where the labor is cheaper.
Background
After the growth of salaries in China, clothing manufacturers sought alternatives. Bangladesh saw the opportunity to attract foreign investments into the country and started to develop the garment industry and promote itself as a country with cheap labor. The demand for low-cost services was high; hence, clothing manufacturers and factories began to rapidly emerge in the country, leading it to become the third-largest clothing exporter in the world. Owners of clothing factories in Bangladesh, including Rana Plaza’s owner Sohel Rana, played a significant role in developing the negative turn of events by deliberately ignoring safety measures for the sake of profits. Thus, the cheap labor did not bring prosperity to the workers, as employers’ practices had numerous violations, and the workforce suffered numerous social issues, including malnutrition, poverty, and spreading diseases. Employee relations remained abusive, as the workers had no alternatives and were dependent on their wages. Continuous safety violations have led to the deterioration of facilities, which were not addressed timely.
Ethical Violations
Before the Rana Plaza tragedy, several fires and workplace accidents occurred in Bangladesh, leading to hundreds of casualties. Yet, those issues did not receive much attention, and the violations continued. The Rana Plaza building was located in Savar – the cheaper cost of land justified the choice of the city compared to Bangladesh’s capital (Kabir et al., 2018). However, the land did not have the architectural qualities needed for a stable factory. On the day before the collapse, the building owner inspected the building and was aware of the cracks. However, the commission concluded that the building would stand for another hundred years.
The first safety violation was that no adequate conclusions were made upon inspection. Hence, the next day, workers came to the factory and were forced to work under the threat that they would be fired. During the day, the power in the building shut down several times. This issue was also unaddressed as the generators were launched, and people proceeded to work. The collapse happened shortly after, causing 1134 people dead and nearly 2500 to injured. One of the main ethical considerations was the lack of responsibility by the owner, who ignored visible cracks in the structure and did not evaluate the possible risks. In addition, the building was designed to have five floors, but despite that, additional three floors were added, which caused additional pressure on the lower floors and foundation (Bossavie et al., 2019). Moreover, even though the facility was initially built for corporate purposes, it was later used for industrial operations, which involved heavy machinery and a big diesel generator (Williamson & Lutz, 2020). Hence, the tragedy resulted from continuous violations by the owner who approved the projects aimed at increasing profits.
The proper ethical response from the owner in such a situation would be to conduct a transparent audit of the building, identifying key safety issues and taking measures to address them. Hiring an independent architectural commission and developing a renovation and repurposing strategy would be required. During the time of inspections, the operation in the factory should have been stopped, and workers should have been ensured that their jobs were safe and they could receive compensation. However, none of this was done by the owner of Rana Plaza, Sohel Rana.
Response by Multinational Companies
The aftermath of the tragedy brought global attention to the issue of cheap labor and sweatshops in the garment industry. Public awareness started to increase as many consumers became mindful about their behavior to avoid supporting unethical labor practices. The governments started enforcing labor laws that compelled factory workers to increase their wages. The governments also addressed the environmental issues, implementing anti-pollution controls in cheap labor countries and requiring factories to properly dispose of their waste.
Fashion brands companies have a major role in improving the situation through corporate social responsibility. They ought to acknowledge that they enjoy their profits through the hard work of poor garment factory workers. They should as well disassociate with factories undertaking unfair labor practices. Multinational companies are now responsible for paying fairly for the garments for the benefits to trickle down to the bottom of the supply chain. Thus, the Rana Plaza tragedy significantly influenced multinational corporations’ managerial approach to global contracting. The implications of Rana Plaza’s case shifted the globalization trend in business management from exploiting workers in low-income countries to promoting remote job positions and optimizing expenses by reducing rental costs. The change also influenced the development of new directions in management, such as remote digital project management.
Furthermore, consumers are also important stakeholders who may alter the social and environmental impacts through a shift in their spending patterns. Reducing the consumption and disposal of clothing will have a positive social impact (Williamson & Lutz, 2020). Consumers should first be educated on the clothes’ social and environmental impacts. Such measures shall create greater responsibility with regard to purchasing and disposing of clothes. Legal measures would be highly effective in entrenching fair labor and environmental laws. In general, multinational companies began to shift their strategy towards more ethical and sustainable production.
The extravagant fashion industry has seen a reduction in product sales with the development of fast fashion. Another explanation behind the decline in sales was the adjustment in client socioeconomics. Over the past decade, the objective market of the extravagance fashion brands moved from Gen X to Z. The younger generation seems to be more aware of the ethical considerations as it plays an important role in their purchase decision-making process. Therefore, the multinational brands that avoid using cheap labor, and embrace sustainability receive more recognition among the youth.
Transparency Improvement
The garment industry remains to be prevalent in countries such as Bangladesh or the Philippines as many brands continue to use cheap labor for their production. Such strategy is associated with higher risks of being subjected to cancel culture, which could significantly decrease the revenue of such brands. Therefore, the companies need to ensure transparency of the entire supply chain to avoid human rights violations in manufacturing their clothes. This is a challenging task to achieve as it requires effective management strategies and loyal personnel.
Lack of transparency along the supply chain is often associated with bribery of local managers and lack of interest from the company that is paying for the product. Therefore, one of the strategies to achieve better integrity is hiring foreign managers for a short period of time. High turnover in a management position is associated with reduced rates of corruption because managers do not have enough time to adapt to the local schemes and act according to the rules (Sodhi & Tang, 2019). Such a strategy requires the development of standard training for foreign management. This would help eradicate corruption and enhance safety and labor standards in the long term.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Rana Plaza collapse is the biggest tragedy in the garment industry. In many ways, it reflected a number of continuous social issues and violations associated with cheap labor. Profit-oriented companies had employed abusive practices, bribery, and lack of transparency, which led to the tragic event. The aftermath of the Rana Plaza collapse has reshaped the fashion and clothing manufacturing industry as the customer became more aware of the ethical aspects behind their purchases. As a result, multinational companies had to adjust their strategy and develop strategies that ensured better transparency along the supply chain.
References
Bossavie, L., Cho, Y., & Heath, R. (2019). The effects of international scrutiny on manufacturing workers: Evidence from the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (9065).
Kabir, H., Maple, M., & Fatema, S. R. (2018). Vulnerabilities of women workers in the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh: A case study of Rana Plaza. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 19(6), 224-235.
Sodhi, M. S., & Tang, C. S. (2019). Research opportunities in supply chain transparency. Production and Operations Management, 28(12), 2946-2959.
Williamson, S. H., & Lutz, J. (2020). Sewing responsibility: media discourse, corporate deviance, and the Rana Plaza collapse. Sociological inquiry, 90(1), 76-100.