Doubling the wages of a Bangladeshi textile worker would add just 2p to the cost of a t-shirt, says TUC

As the death toll in the Rana Plaza textile factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh two weeks ago tops 900, the TUC has today (Friday) published figures which suggest that the reason costs are cut and wages are low in the Bangladesh textile industry has nothing to do with cash-strapped consumers demanding cheap clothes.

In the days after the disaster, some commentators have claimed that the blame for the poor conditions and poverty pay rates could be laid solely at the door of Western consumers on the hunt for ever cheaper bargains on the high street.

But using figures supplied by textile workers’ unions in Bangladesh, the TUC has calculated that doubling the wages of a Dhaka textile worker would add just 2p to the cost of a t-shirt bought in any store on the UK high street (where ‘budget’ fashion tops tend to range from £2 to £10).

In Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector – which supplies high-street fashion stores across the UK and Europe – wages are as low as £27 a month, and working conditions so poor that factory fires are commonplace. In fact another fire took place just this week in which eight people died.

Unions in Bangladesh say that workers are usually paid just 12p for the six t-shirts they are expected to make every hour and as they work around 200 hours a month, this works out at roughly 2p for every t-shirt.

Commenting on the figures, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It isn’t UK consumers – trying to make their wages stretch further as their living standards take are hit – who are to blame for life and labour being cheap in Bangladesh.

“Wages paid out to the thousands of women who work in the clothing factories are just a tiny fraction of the end price we pay at the till.

“It’s the multinational companies – the brands, retailers and manufacturers who are all well-known names on our high streets – who bear the responsibility. They are the ones who must change their behaviour and encourage their overseas suppliers to pay higher wages and improve working conditions, not UK consumers.”

The TUC is asking consumers touched by the Dhaka tragedy to use social media to help share a graphic of this message with friends and colleagues, to build pressure on clothing brands and the Bangladeshi government over pay and safety.

The e-action at http://action.goingtowork.org.uk/page/content/bangladesh also allows consumers to show support for global textile workers’ union IndustriALL in its campaign to demand Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Rajuback carry out the recommendations of the UN’s International Labour Organisation on fire and factory safety.

The TUC is also working with other campaigning organisations and progressive employers in the Ethical Trading Initiative to ensure that workers’ rights are respected in Bangladesh.

Birmingham TUC Centre for the Unemployed seek to raise funds

On Monday 20 May Ian Nannestad will be taking part in the Birmingham Legal Walk to raise funds for the Birmingham TUC Centre for the Unemployed, the unemployed workers’ centre in Birmingham. Like all organisations in the voluntary sector the TUC centre is experiencing difficult times, with funding streams harder to access while at the same time the demand for services has never been greater.

Birmingham Legal Walk raises funds for a charitable body, the Midland Legal Support Trust, which in turn pledges to donate back to not-for profit and charitable agencies an amount equal to double the amount raised for the MLST. This is a very effective way of improving our very difficult financial position.

If you wish to make a donation online you can do this through the following link:

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/ian_nannestad

Alternatively please consider sending a cheque payable to Midland Legal Support Trust addressed to Ian Nannestad at Birmingham TUC Centre for the Unemployed, 448 Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 4AE.

All donations will be extremely welcome by the TUC Centre and will assist the centre to remain open and to continue to serve the people of Birmingham in these very difficult times.

For those who do not know of the centres work, we function primarily as an advice centre for the unemployed and people on low income, with the main focus on those who live in the Sparkbrook, Sparkhill and Small Heath areas of Birmingham, some of the most disadvantaged areas in the country. The centre offers free advice on welfare benefits and employment law as well as some welfare-to-work support for vulnerable people.

Please consider making a donation and/or circulating this appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

King regards

Ian Nannestad

Manager                                      

Birmingham TUC Centre for the Unemployed

Today’s Queen’s Speech should’ve been about the economy, says TUC

Commenting on the Queen’s Speech today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady, pictured right, said: “Three years on from the last general election, when ordinary working people are facing the biggest squeeze on their living standards in a generation, the government should really have used today to call time on its failed austerity experiment and change course.

“What we really needed to hear today were bold plans for a stimulus package to boost our growth, create decent jobs for those out of work and investment in our creaking infrastructure, and a jobs guarantee to offer hope to the many for whom work is still but a distant dream.

On the care bill

“On social care the government has made a step in the right direction, albeit a cautious one. But by devolving the responsibility for care to local authorities at the same time they are slashing budgets, we are still some considerable way off a decent and affordable system of care to look after us all in our old age.

On the deregulation bill

“Taking the protection of health and safety laws away from some of the UK’s many self-employed workers – who are more than twice as likely as employees to be killed at work – will not help businesses nor grow our economy one bit. It’s a recipe for confusion as many people will now be unsure about their rights and responsibilities. The result is likely to be an increase in workplace accidents. 

On the pensions bill

“While there is much to be said for the move to a simpler, flat rate state pension, there are fears that by doing so at no extra cost to the public purse, young people will end up with much less than they would have received under the current system.

“By raising the state pension age and ignoring persistent health inequalities, the government risks overseeing a dramatic rise in pensioner poverty. Instead of making people work for longer the government should be focusing on creating more jobs.

“The knock on effect that the ending of contracting out of the second state pension could have on national spending is also of great concern. If the NHS and other public sector employers have to find billions extra in increased national insurance contributions to pay to the Treasury, public services will face even sharper cuts.”

Images from Chesterfield May Day

Images from the fantastic Chesterfield May Day celebrations at which general secretaries from the NASUWT, Christine Keates, and Ucatt, Steve Murphy, addressed hundreds of trade unionists in Rykneld Square. Exhibitions from a wide range of trade union and community and activist groups were present in The Winding Wheel after the speeches.

Strikes highlight importance of key public bodies

A three-day series of walkouts by public bodies starting on the day of the Queen's Speech (8) will highlight the importance of their work, the Public and Commercial Services union says.
The strike action will be across a range of agencies and commissions whose work includes challenging unfair utility prices, ensuring charities spend donors' money appropriately, reducing inequality, and holding organisations to account for how taxpayers' money is spent.
While often small, these bodies provide vital public services that touch all our lives in some way, the union says.
This action forms part of a three-month campaign of strikes and protests by the union's 250,000 public sector members over imposed cuts to pay, pensions and conditions, which this week will also focus attention on the scandal of tax avoidance and evasion by wealthy individuals and companies.
Walkouts tomorrow will include workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, whose legal duty to eradicate prejudice and discrimination - a legacy of the Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry - was saved after a government U-turn last month.
They will also include staff at regulatory bodies, such as Ofwat and Ofgem, who work on behalf of consumers to ensure they are treated fairly by utility and energy companies, and the Food Standards Agency that uncovered the horse meat scandal.
In total the one-hour walkouts between 12pm and 1pm on Wednesday (8), Thursday (9) and Friday (10) will include around 1,200 of the union's members in more than 30 different organisations.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The government's U-turn on the equality duty, the horse meat scandal and the cold winter leading to massive utility bills, all highlight the importance of these bodies to our lives.
"These essential public services, often unnoticed and under-praised, should be well resourced and left to do their work, instead of facing cuts and denigration by ministers who shamefully claim they are cutting 'red tape'."


- The full list of bodies involved in the walkouts is:
Wednesday 8 May:
Charity Commission
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Food Standards Agency
Health Service and Parliamentary Ombudsman
Independent Police Complaints Commission
Information Commissioners Office
National Audit Office
National Police Improvement Agency
Office of Fair Trading
Office of Immigration Services Commissioner
Office of Rail Regulation
Ofgem
Ofsted
Ofwat
Security Industry Authority
Thursday 9 May:
Cabinet Office
Electoral Commission
Export Credit Guarantee Department
Houses of Parliament
Independent Living Fund
National Archives
National Savings & Investments
Treasury
Treasury Solicitors
Friday 10 May:
Department for Communities and Local Government HQ
Planning Inspectorate
Homes and Communities Agency
QE11 Conference Centre
Department for Energy and Climate Change HQ
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
British Council
Department for International Development HQ
- For information and interview requests contact PCS national press officer Richard Simcox on 020 7801 2747, 07833 978216 or richard@pcs.org.uk
- PCS is the UK's sixth largest union and represents civil and public servants in central government and in parts of government transferred to the private sector. Mark Serwotka is the general secretary and the president is Janice Godrich - on Twitter @janicegodrich