A US consumer body today launched a Facebook campaign aimed at enhancing the safety of textile workers in Bangladesh after last month's deadly factory collapse that killed over 1,100 people.
National Consumers League (NCL), a consumer and worker advocacy group, said that it is launching the social media campaign that enables consumers to inform retailers that they would be willing to pay 10 cents more for every garment purchased which will go towards improving worker safety in Bangladesh.
The NCL says, its '10 cent' campaign is based on scientific calculations.
According to a Worker Rights Consortium calculation, rebuilding Bangladesh's unsafe factories and installing appropriate safety equipment would cost USD 3 billion, or a USD 600 million investment every year for five years.
With approximately 7 billion individual garments exported annually from Bangladesh, a mere 10 cents tacked on to the price of each garment would generate USD 700 million per year - more than enough money to cover the costs for all necessary factory improvements, NCL said.
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter of western brands.
"American companies like Walmart, JC Penney, and Gap, who depend on factories that employ low-paid workers in dangerous environments think consumers would not be willing to pay 10 cents more for clothing," said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director.
"It's time consumers prove them wrong, and let their collective voice be heard. By taking this pledge on Facebook, consumers can exercise their enormous power to influence retailers," she said.
Since the April 24 disaster, many European retailers signed onto an accord backed by European-based labour unions IndustriAll, Uni Global Union, and many non-profit groups that would mandate independent factory inspections and hold retailers financially responsible for fire safety and building repairs needed to correct violations.
"American companies, however, have been slow to act," NCL said.
Till May 15, only two US-based companies (PVH and Abercrombie and Fitch) have signed the accord, it added.
