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Old May 13, 2013, 09:30 AM
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mufi_02 mufi_02 is offline
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My brother-in-law is an executive for some buying houses in Dhaka. After the Savar tragedy, his team immediately came to USA to talk to and assure their clients. He stayed over for the weekend and I got a chance to talk to him about the whole thing and the future in details. So he said --

1. The gov't and BGMEA should absolutely do more for the workers. The garment owners are making unbelievable profit but totally ignoring worker's wages and conditions. Both BNP/BAL has top level politicians who are garments owners and that doesn't help too.

2. BD has the cheapest cost as we all know. It is so cheap that the next country has 30-40% more cost comparing to BD. China is moving away from this industry and focusing on other things. So in the short run, there is no alternative for international companies except BD.

3. These big international companies don't really care about workers. All they care about is profits. So even during all these outcry, these companies are either quiet or just blaming others. They blame subcontractors (e.g. Walmart/Tazreen). But in reality they do know who does their work even though many subcontracting happens.

4. After Rana plaza, few factories were immediately closed by their owners. It was done to avoid the Govt/BGMEA inspection which will happen soon. But the biggest problem is many of the factories are in multi-business complex. The bottom floor is market and stores and top floor has factory.

5. We went to the mall and saw a Tommy Hilfiger khaki pants, originally at $78, but now on sale for $28. The retailer is still marking big profit even after marking down the price by 50%. He says the cost of each pair of pants is no way more than $4. But it was being sold at $78. So these big retailers makes huge profit but don't want to pass it to the workers.

6. In the short run, BD is the only option for these international companies. The cheapest cost + 1000's of existing companies with capacities + decades of experiences, makes it very lucrative. But in the long run, the industry will slow down. Few African countries are slowly coming up and trying to enter the market.
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