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[Music]
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this mountain of rubble is a monument to
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the 1100 lives lost here last
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April when this garment Factory
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collapsed in
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Bangladesh unleashing the stories that
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had long been locked
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inside a th000 people died no one said a
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thing do you recognize these shorts we
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meet the people who make your
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clothes and find out where those clothes
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were made this is your address this is
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where this came
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from the truth that retailers don't want
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you to know been hit been hit been hit
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do any of you worry that one day you may
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die in your
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factory dangerous factories and dark
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secrets
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hi I'm Mark Kelly and welcome to the
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Fifth Estate I'm standing by the rubble
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of what was once Rana Plaza when the
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eight-story factory collapsed in April a
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frantic search for survivors began so
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too did the search for answers how the
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world wondered could a disaster like
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this happen well we joined that search
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when we learned many of the victims died
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here making clothes for Canadian
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consumers along the way we uncovered
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this Ledger pulled from the rubble and
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using the information inside here we
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spent months piecing together clues that
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would reveal how and where your clothes
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are being made and what we would also
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discover is the disaster that happened
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here was no
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accident fashion is built on an image of
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beauty Glamour and
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style Creations that not only make you
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look good but feel
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good close without a
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conscience the reality of the fashion
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industry is far less glamorous a reality
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Canadian retailers don't want you to
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know
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about it's known as the race to the
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bottom where the cheapest prices win a
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race that created fast
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fashion and that's why today many of
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your clothes bear the label made in
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Bangladesh it was that glamour of the
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fashion industry that spoke to sjit
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senic even as a teenager growing up in
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the suburbs of
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Toronto I'm from a South Asian family my
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father is a doctor um and they wanted me
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to sort of Follow that follow that path
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um I was super creative so it was a way
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for me to say Hey listen there's a job
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for me it's an actual commercial career
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he went to Couture school and turned a
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dream into a dream job designing for
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Christian Dior and Balenciaga in
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Paris it was like a fish finding a pond
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it gave me a way out uh a way to you
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know lead my own life it gave me my
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freedom and uh it gave me everything but
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the growing popularity and increasing
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demand for fast fashion led him back to
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Toronto to design $20 blouses for
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Walmart instead of Paris his fashion
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Focus was
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Bangladesh there was a natural flow
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towards Bangladesh because of of fast
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fashion in the last in the last 10 years
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and trying to get trying to get clothes
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cheaper and cheaper but I think when the
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recession hit I think people just ran
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for the price it was you know it was
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Mecca it was
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Mecca but the road to Mecca decimated
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Canada's garment industry from 2001 to
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2010 75,000 jobs were lost here many
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deep rooted manufacturers had a stark
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choice move or
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close my
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great-grandfather was a rag dealer he
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used to go from sherbrook to
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Montreal uh in a horse and buggy buying
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Rags uh from the
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farmers Barry laxer family has been in
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the Garment business in Montreal and
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Toronto for three generations but he was
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forced to pack it all up for
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Price my single largest customer that at
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the time in Canada accounted for over
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50% of our volume told us that to
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continue doing business we needed to
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find a lower cost uh manufacturing base
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somewhere else and That Was Bangladesh
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it turned out to be
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Bangladesh companies around the world
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were now beating a path to Bangladesh
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from H&M to Walmart Nike and the
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Gap Barry laxer joined that garment Gold
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Rush today his company radical designs
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runs two factories outside DACA the
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capital of
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Bangladesh at least half the machines in
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this Factory all came from Canada we had
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like 80 containers of Machinery that
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came here and just rushed it over here
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to do business oh we just Lo wasn't
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doing anything in Toronto now he employs
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more than a thousand people and he pays
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them three times the minimum
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wage when you own a packer nothing is
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bad better than walking through it and
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seeing it fold and busy and busy yeah
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hey build Quint Empire here
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Barry what's the Allure for companies to
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come to Bangladesh the only real Allure
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is is Labor uh the workers will work for
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wages that most countries won't because
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there's no alternative working
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for next to nothing is better than
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working for
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nothing in real terms next to nothing is
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$38 a month or 24 an hour the lowest
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garment worker wage on the
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planet the floodgates for Canadian
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businesses opened when Ottawa dropped
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import duties from Bangladesh in
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2003 Canadian companies like Lululemon
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HBC and Walmart Canada climbed aboard
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the Bangladeshi
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bandwagon the result Imports grew by 68
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% some say the front runner in the race
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to the bottom was L Blah's brand Joe
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Fresh these tv ads show the appeal of
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its cheap and cheerful kids clothing
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line the brand has bounced its way to
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one of the top spots in the children's
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wear Market in
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Canada speaking to the CBC in 2010 the
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company president said he's just giving
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consumers what they want they wanted
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fashion and they wanted fashion that
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would play across the country and they
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needed it at amazing price
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points Joseph mimran was now a fast
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Fashion Icon but just how low could
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prices
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go well look at this TV ad for Walmart
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clearly the lower the better now more
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Styles and more stylish all at
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unbelievable prices exclusively at
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Walmart for designers like sujit senic
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Beauty took a back seat to
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price what was the pressure that was put
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on you to make cheaper and cheaper
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clothes price is the starting point it's
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it's everything it was down to you got
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six buttons on your shirt take it down
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to five can we take it down to four
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senic says he felt the pressure from
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retailers to cut costs and so did the
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factory owners they can't say no to to
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100,000 units that means a very long
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time that the factory is going to be
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sitting idle if they don't get that that
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order so they needed you they need you
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they need you and you know at the end of
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the day you know that's not my decision
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but like
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um I started wondering Mark I really
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started wondering how is it possible for
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clothing to be made at these low
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prices it's a good question because
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while price was the priority there were
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signs worker safety was
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not in the decade before ra Plaza
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hundreds of people died in Factory fires
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and building collapses in
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Bangladesh tragedy after tragedy year
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after year and no one in Canada seemed
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to notice that changed on the morning of
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April
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24th when the eight-story Rana Plaza
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collapsed more than 11 100 people were
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killed hundreds are still
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missing believed to be buried in the
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rubble tell me about what happened when
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you learned about Rana Plaza it was like
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if you if you start having
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nightmares and then they become real
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that was what what what Rana Plaza was
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for
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me the search for Survivor seem to drag
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on and
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on sujit remembers being called into one
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particular meeting after the collapse
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where prophets were put ahead of
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people we were in a room full of people
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when we were told that we were connected
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and no one said anything about a th000
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people a th000 people died no one said a
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thing
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they didn't they didn't say anything
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about them they just talked about their
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the loss in terms of units how are they
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going to make up their margins people
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were talking about that and I sat
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there I said
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nothing shame on
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me Walmart was just one of dozens of
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companies that had used Rana Plaza at
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the time of the collapse the biggest
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Factory in the building was making
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clothes for Joe Fresh their pink and red
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pants were found in the rubble along
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with the bodies of the workers who made
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[Music]
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them one week after the collapse Joseph
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mimran and lbla chairman gayen Weston
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faced the glare of the media this has
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been uh quite a tragic event um and it's
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something that has touched all of our
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hearts it's been u a very difficult uh
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weak for everybody I'm troubled that
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despite a clear commitment to the
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highest standards of ethical sourcing
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our company can still be part of such an
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unspeakable tragedy but just how deep
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was that commitment to ethical sourcing
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what did Canadian companies know about
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how their clothes were being made in
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Bangladesh and what did they do to find
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out sujit wanted to find the TRU
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so he made a lifechanging decision and
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quit his job I thought I don't want to
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be a part of this anymore I can't be a
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part of this so I I I
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stopped when we come back sujit's
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Journey are we sending people to
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factories knowing that there's a huge
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danger and a teenage garment worker who
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survived the
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collapse
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[Music]
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W welcome to the wild west of the global
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garment
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industry Bangladesh has one of the
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world's densest populations political
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instability and worldclass Corruption
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and since the '90s the economy has grown
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by double digits fueled by fast
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fashion factories sit unfinished just
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waiting for new floors to be added to
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accomodate new business and every
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morning scenes like this play out
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through the capital
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DACA as 4 million garment workers
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quietly file into
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work they carry with them the memories
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of RA
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Plaza
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wondering if a tragedy like this could
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happen to
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[Music]
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them the Rana collapse put sujit senic
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on a mission the former fashion designer
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from Walmart Canada now wanted to learn
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the truth about how the clothes he
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designed were made I had to find out for
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myself is this what my my industry has
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been doing are we doing this on purpose
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are we sending people to
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factories knowing that there's a huge
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danger sujit traveled with us to
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Bangladesh first stop a residential
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neighborhood in Dhaka an unlikely
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backdrop for the deadliest accident in
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the Garment industry before Rana
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Plaza this is
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tazarine
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it's
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massive November
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2012 Fire broke out in the tazarine
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fashion
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factory a 9-story building though the
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owner only had a permit for three
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stories there were no fire escapes many
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doors were blocked by boxes windows were
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barred
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shut months before the Blaze the
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Factory's fire safety certificate had
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been revoked
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most of the 112 victims here were burned
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alive when the tazarine factory fire
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happened I was horrified all these
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fingers were pointing all everywhere and
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no one was saying they listen Maybe
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maybe we might have just a little bit to
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do with
00:14:51
this wmart did indeed have something to
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do with this Factory their Faded Glory
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shorts were pulled From the
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Ashes the company tried to distance
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itself from the tragedy insisting tazin
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was not an authorized Walmart
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Factory there's bars on every single
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window how are these people supposed to
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get out of here there's no
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[Music]
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escaping I wonder for you CG what
00:15:29
what does this building what is this a
00:15:31
symbol of to you I think it's shame we
00:15:36
should be ashamed of ourselves to let
00:15:38
something like this
00:15:41
happen how is it possible that people
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didn't know that this Factory was built
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this
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way this woman emerged from the crowd
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the curious to tell us her story how
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workers knocked out a ventilation fan
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and how she survived by jumping three
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stories to the ground will you ever work
00:16:02
again will you ever have another job now
00:16:03
after your injuries here how am I
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supposed to work I'm afraid to work and
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no one wants to take me I cannot sit or
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lie down for a long time I get better
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when I take
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medicine but when I don't it's painful
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with few prospects she appears as
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disposable as the fast fashion she once
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made
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here this could been one of my prints
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you know snake skins in there it
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is you know could have been a shirt a
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dress is it that important that you have
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to Bar people into a building to to meet
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our deadlines it's not not for me it's
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disgusting so how did Walmart's clothes
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end up at such a dangerous Factory and
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in investigation by Walmart concluded
00:17:00
one of its suppliers subcontracted part
00:17:03
of the order to tazrin without their
00:17:10
permission but how hard would it be for
00:17:12
Canadian retailers to find out where
00:17:14
their clothes are being made we wanted
00:17:17
to find out so we bought a Walmart shirt
00:17:20
in Canada that suit had designed
00:17:22
shipping records led us to a factory on
00:17:24
the outskirts of
00:17:27
daaka the record names the factory
00:17:30
Hassan
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tanir Walmart publishes a list of banned
00:17:34
factories in Bangladesh factories that
00:17:37
have failed the company's Audits and
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this Factory has been on that list since
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June we made repeated requests to visit
00:17:46
the factory but it wasn't until we
00:17:48
showed up with our camera that the
00:17:50
manager would even talk to us hi I'm my
00:17:52
name is Mark I'm from Canada yeah
00:17:54
Canadian television how are you okay I'm
00:17:57
fine great we want to see where our
00:17:58
clothes are being made and how they're
00:18:00
being made and that's why we came over
00:18:02
here I want to go inside and visit but
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he wouldn't let us in instead he passed
00:18:08
us off to another manager have you made
00:18:10
this
00:18:19
here we have a shipping record here that
00:18:21
shows that it was made
00:18:24
here Hassan tan
00:18:26
fashion this is your address this is
00:18:29
where this came
00:18:32
from
00:18:41
[Music]
00:18:44
hello he says he's never seen this
00:18:47
before doesn't recognize it despite the
00:18:48
fact that we've got the shipping record
00:18:50
right here that shows it was in fact
00:18:52
made right there at Hen 10er fashion
00:18:57
wees Walmart puts it this way they do
00:19:00
make shirts here but not our shirt in
00:19:03
fact 3 months after black listing this
00:19:06
Factory Walmart admits they are still
00:19:08
making clothes here one last order they
00:19:18
say since we couldn't get in to meet the
00:19:21
workers then we would take sujit to meet
00:19:23
them at home after
00:19:27
work
00:19:28
this entire area here everyone who lives
00:19:32
here Works in a garment
00:19:34
Factory it's like a compound of garment
00:19:37
Factory workers so we're going to go and
00:19:39
meet some of them tonight
00:19:42
okay and here they are tonight oh
00:19:46
wow these are nine people who work at
00:19:52
the factory right they asked us to hide
00:19:55
their faces fearing they'd lose their
00:19:57
jobs simp for talking to us I want to
00:20:00
know who are you making garments for now
00:20:03
inside the
00:20:05
factory can can we hear that there's
00:20:08
some problems working inside Hassan
00:20:11
tanir we've heard reports that there was
00:20:13
a fire at the factory recently can they
00:20:16
tell us what
00:20:18
happened when the fire really started to
00:20:21
spread all the workers started to
00:20:23
protest they broke the gates and escaped
00:20:26
they didn't want to let us out let us
00:20:28
out they just want to turn off the
00:20:30
lights and keep us in there and say sit
00:20:33
down shut up and work do any of you
00:20:36
worry that one day you may die in your
00:20:43
factory of course of course and it
00:20:45
happens all the time it happens
00:20:47
regularly yeah it's happen all the time
00:20:50
every few days there is a
00:20:52
fire I want to know if if you recognize
00:20:55
this shirt if any of you
00:20:59
recognize having made this shirt over
00:21:02
the past few months is this something
00:21:03
that you made in the factory we showed
00:21:06
them sujit shirt that we bought in
00:21:10
Canada yeah it's from the fifth
00:21:13
floor I made it when I used to work on
00:21:17
the fifth
00:21:19
floor so she she worked on this garment
00:21:25
yes I designed this garment I Drew this
00:21:29
garment
00:21:32
okay look I did
00:21:36
this you put these two pieces together
00:21:39
so you put the sleeve
00:21:42
in thank
00:21:47
you how do you feel meeting the woman
00:21:50
who made your design I'm grateful to
00:21:53
meet
00:21:54
you I wanted to meet you
00:22:01
um it's nice to finally be able
00:22:04
to see
00:22:07
you and and tell you that I I think that
00:22:11
you should have a better
00:22:13
[Music]
00:22:18
life coming
00:22:21
up why were Joe Fresh clothes being made
00:22:24
in the death trap that was raana
00:22:26
Plaza we go inside a prison in
00:22:29
Bangladesh looking for
00:22:38
[Music]
00:22:52
answers every piece of clothing we wear
00:22:55
has a silent story stitched into it
00:23:00
the story of who made it and
00:23:02
[Music]
00:23:04
where when ranana Plaza collapsed in
00:23:07
April those stories came spilling
00:23:10
out so did the clothes from the ill-
00:23:13
fated Factory ever make it to
00:23:16
Canada well we visited six stores in the
00:23:19
Toronto area with a hidden camera 3
00:23:22
months after the ROP Plaza
00:23:25
collapse we found clothes made in Plaza
00:23:28
in store after store so I have a
00:23:32
question but you wouldn't know it by
00:23:34
asking the sales associates there was
00:23:35
really like there was really only one
00:23:38
product that we were making in that
00:23:39
particular Factory it was like this line
00:23:41
of pants that we did we never ended up
00:23:44
getting them like obviously like we just
00:23:46
like got rid of it and
00:23:47
everything it's doubtful that it was
00:23:50
from that factory last stuff that was
00:23:52
made in that place never even made it
00:23:54
here L's own shipping records reveal all
00:23:57
all these Styles hundreds of thousands
00:24:00
of garments were made in Rana Plaza
00:24:03
before the collapse and sold in Joe
00:24:05
Fresh stores this
00:24:07
[Music]
00:24:12
summer so how did closeth for Joe Fresh
00:24:15
end up being made in the death trap that
00:24:17
was Rana Plaza well that's a question we
00:24:19
had for the factory owner the problem is
00:24:21
he's Behind Bars charged with negligence
00:24:24
in the deaths of the workers so The
00:24:26
Fifth Estate petitioned the BNG adesi
00:24:28
government for permission to speak with
00:24:29
him the government eventually agreed but
00:24:32
with one condition our camera would not
00:24:34
be allowed inside the
00:24:36
[Music]
00:24:38
prison as public outrage grew after the
00:24:41
collapse basas Adan surrendered to
00:24:43
police his three factories occupied
00:24:46
almost half of Rana
00:24:48
Plaza we arrived at daaka Central Jail
00:24:51
where he's awaiting
00:24:52
trial he began our interview saying how
00:24:55
he had parlayed an $8,000 loan from his
00:24:57
dad had in 1992 and turned it into a $15
00:25:01
million a year business thanks in large
00:25:04
part to his best customer Joe Fresh Joe
00:25:07
Fresh was my biggest client about $6
00:25:10
million a year that's why I was going
00:25:13
bigger he says he was eager to please
00:25:16
his biggest client so work had begun on
00:25:18
ra Plaza to add a ninth floor for his
00:25:21
booming business I asked whether he was
00:25:24
under pressure to make clothes cheaper
00:25:25
and faster everybody is doing this they
00:25:29
all squeezed me but joof frish was a
00:25:31
very good customer their policy was just
00:25:34
ship it on
00:25:36
time before my time was up for the
00:25:39
interview I asked him to name one lbl
00:25:41
employee who had ever visited his
00:25:43
Factory at Rana Plaza before the
00:25:47
collapse he
00:25:50
couldn't this Ledger helps explain how
00:25:53
that could happen from the entries here
00:25:56
we learned la blah place orders with a
00:25:58
buying house in India called House of
00:26:00
pearl who in turn placed Joe Fresh
00:26:03
orders with the factory at Rana Plaza
00:26:06
House of pearl we learned hired
00:26:08
inspectors to check the quality of the
00:26:10
clothes made in R Plaza but not to
00:26:13
inspect Building
00:26:16
Safety Outsourcing ethical
00:26:19
responsibility to third parties enables
00:26:21
companies like lbla to distance
00:26:24
themselves from the work being done on
00:26:25
the ground according to our Canadian
00:26:28
Factory owner Barry
00:26:29
laxer you know after Rana Plaza happened
00:26:33
all these retailers were saying well we
00:26:34
didn't know I mean is that true that
00:26:36
they not know what's going on in this
00:26:38
country a lot of companies just want
00:26:40
cheap manufacturing so they don't really
00:26:45
look um or ask the tough questions or
00:26:48
ask the questions because it's if you
00:26:50
don't ask the questions you don't get
00:26:51
the answers that you don't want to hear
00:26:53
was the ranana plaza collaps was this
00:26:55
was this a wakeup call I mean do you
00:26:56
really believe it's going to change
00:26:58
anything here I think in the end a lot
00:27:00
of companies are really just look are
00:27:02
continuing just to look for margin and
00:27:06
cost
00:27:08
and and ultimately that's why that's why
00:27:11
they're here right that's why they're
00:27:12
here look if they if that if that wasn't
00:27:15
the issue they could be they could be
00:27:17
buying product made in the United States
00:27:18
or
00:27:22
Canada we wanted to know more about the
00:27:25
working conditions inside R Plaza
00:27:28
who better to tell us than the people
00:27:30
who work
00:27:32
there after the collapse cameras
00:27:35
captured this footage of survivors
00:27:37
recovering in
00:27:39
hospital we were intrigued by this girl
00:27:42
who was trapped in the rubble for 3 Days
00:27:45
pinned under two dead
00:27:47
bodies she lost her mother as well as
00:27:50
her
00:27:52
leg both mother and daughter were making
00:27:54
clothes for Joe Fresh
00:28:04
[Music]
00:28:06
months after the collapse we finally
00:28:09
found her her name is arudi she tells us
00:28:13
she's 17 though her grandmother says
00:28:16
she's really 15 a kid making kids
00:28:19
clothes for
00:28:23
Canadians do you recognize these
00:28:25
shorts like these
00:28:29
shorts yeah these pant were there she
00:28:32
sewed pocket seams 150 Pockets an
00:28:37
hour how do you feel when when you look
00:28:39
at those
00:28:41
pants
00:28:43
up I feel sad if I didn't work in that
00:28:47
factory this would not have
00:28:50
happened I feel very bad seeing these
00:28:54
pants she says she's been working in the
00:28:56
industry for 3 years meaning she started
00:29:00
when she was just 12 like many women in
00:29:03
Bangladesh she felt it was her only
00:29:06
hope when I was little I thought I would
00:29:09
grow up go to school study and have a
00:29:12
job if you study you have a job a doctor
00:29:16
a teacher you can have any job but I
00:29:19
couldn't do it because I'm poor I have
00:29:22
to work to eat that's why I wanted to
00:29:25
garment work
00:29:28
whatever a Rudy shift was punishing 12
00:29:31
hours a day 7 days a week and when a
00:29:34
rush order was placed overtime was
00:29:36
demanded how did your bosses treat you
00:29:39
and and the other
00:29:42
workers if the others didn't know how to
00:29:44
do the work they used to yell and swear
00:29:48
if I can't work fast enough and meet the
00:29:50
target they will swear at me as well I'd
00:29:53
feel really
00:29:56
bad
00:29:59
she also remembers how cracks had been
00:30:01
spotted inside Rana Plaza the day before
00:30:04
the tragedy the building was evacuated
00:30:08
she didn't believe the building owner
00:30:09
who insisted everything was safe just
00:30:12
hours before the
00:30:24
collapse the next day April 24th her
00:30:28
boss phoned her at home and ordered her
00:30:30
to get back to work or should be
00:30:33
fired on that day that they told you to
00:30:36
go back to work were you afraid were you
00:30:38
worried that that building was
00:30:43
dangerous there were many of us who
00:30:45
didn't want to go but they forced us
00:30:48
they said don't worry nothing will
00:30:51
happen if you die we will die too but
00:30:55
they didn't go inside they made us start
00:30:58
work and then
00:30:59
left I was scared but there was nothing
00:31:02
I could do if I stopped working the line
00:31:05
would stop and I would be in
00:31:11
trouble she and her fellow workers
00:31:13
returned an hour later the building
00:31:18
collapsed arudi was on the sixth
00:31:22
floor what do you remember about the the
00:31:24
moment the building collapsed
00:31:28
when it collapsed I thought I wouldn't
00:31:30
survive two dead bodies fell on my leg
00:31:34
and my leg was stuck there the roof fell
00:31:37
on top of the
00:31:38
bodies I didn't know then that I would
00:31:41
actually come out
00:31:45
alive her family received some
00:31:48
compensation from the government for the
00:31:50
death of her mother and the loss of her
00:31:51
leg when asked what she received from
00:31:54
lbla she told us she's still hoping
00:32:00
when we come back we expose an even
00:32:03
uglier side of the fashion industry in
00:32:07
Bangladesh
00:32:09
hit
00:32:21
hit after the collapse of Rana Plaza the
00:32:24
Bangladeshi government scrambled to to
00:32:27
assure nervous retailers and consumers
00:32:29
that the country was a safe place to do
00:32:33
business but even lobl who had been
00:32:36
making Joe Fresh clothes in this country
00:32:38
for 7 years wondered how garment workers
00:32:41
could be exposed to what it called
00:32:43
unacceptable
00:32:45
risk so we took a closer look and
00:32:48
discovered within 3 hours how easy it
00:32:51
was to find the ugly side of fast
00:32:56
fashion a factory dumping technicolored
00:32:59
Wastewater directly into a
00:33:03
[Music]
00:33:05
river a river that now runs
00:33:10
black then we saw a Jude Factory with an
00:33:13
open door that caught our
00:33:16
Eye Inside the air was thick with
00:33:20
dust dust from a toxic
00:33:23
dye yet no one here wore a mask
00:33:31
within minutes we were kicked out by the
00:33:33
owner and his
00:33:36
thugs Del finally we went into one last
00:33:39
factory with a hidden camera you very
00:33:42
good Factory have Loom everything in at
00:33:44
one
00:33:45
place and found these children operating
00:33:48
looms one manager admitted some Factory
00:33:51
owners hire kids under the age of 10 for
00:33:54
menial jobs and pay them about a dollar
00:33:56
a day
00:33:59
the Garment industry has made some
00:34:00
people in this country fabulously
00:34:03
rich but poverty is still everywhere you
00:34:08
look some of the poorest are these
00:34:10
squatters who live next to the railway
00:34:12
tracks in the shadow of
00:34:17
wealth this gleaming Tower is home to
00:34:20
the
00:34:21
bgmea that's the business group that
00:34:23
represents the titans of the Garment
00:34:26
industry in Bang
00:34:28
[Applause]
00:34:32
we arrived to find a thousand angry
00:34:34
workers protesting
00:34:36
outside they say they haven't been paid
00:34:39
by their employer in a
00:34:41
month they work for a factory that until
00:34:44
last fall made clothes for
00:34:48
Canadians so what happened sh sh you
00:34:52
been hit you been hit you've been hit
00:34:56
you been hit
00:34:59
who did this who did
00:35:01
this who the owners hired gangsters yes
00:35:05
gang and the gangsters came out and what
00:35:06
were you doing you were just protesting
00:35:09
you were protesting because you wanted
00:35:10
your your back wages you wanted your pay
00:35:14
and you make you make clothes for Canada
00:35:18
yes we had some questions for the
00:35:21
powerful head of the Garment industry
00:35:23
the top man Canadian retailers deal with
00:35:26
a Islam is a prominent Factory owner in
00:35:29
his own right he's made clothes for
00:35:31
Walmart Canada lbla and
00:35:33
HBC between I asked him about the
00:35:36
protest outside his
00:35:39
window this is completely open industry
00:35:42
if you don't like there you can go the
00:35:44
other work there we have a 25% worker
00:35:47
shortage in the industry still today
00:35:50
working in other words if workers are
00:35:52
abused his advice quit and work
00:35:54
somewhere else when I ask him about the
00:35:57
bad factories we saw the child labor the
00:36:00
pollution the dangerous working
00:36:02
conditions he wasn't alarmed a lot of
00:36:05
factories of the state of the art we've
00:36:07
seen the nice ones we've seen the
00:36:09
stateof the art we're seeing the example
00:36:11
of where the industry is moving yes but
00:36:13
you're you're at a point right now where
00:36:15
there's some shining examples so for
00:36:18
that sometimes the shin is covered by
00:36:20
The Cloud of these kind of things so we
00:36:22
need to uh clean the
00:36:24
cloud but what about a legal
00:36:26
subcontracting when one Factory gives
00:36:29
orders to another without approval if
00:36:32
the factories have the overbooked they
00:36:33
must say no I'm overbooked and as well
00:36:35
as the from the outside also the
00:36:37
retailer side also but you're you're a
00:36:39
businessman are they are they really
00:36:41
going to say I'm over booked and I can't
00:36:43
take the business everybody wants the
00:36:45
bus no no it's not like that it is not
00:36:46
like that things are completely changed
00:36:48
it is not like that we had spoken with
00:36:50
some sources who worked for Walmart
00:36:52
Canada they placed an order with your
00:36:54
group mhm and they said said that that
00:36:57
order then ended up being made at a
00:36:59
factory that was not approved Hassan
00:37:03
tanir
00:37:05
hassanan remember that Walmart shirt
00:37:08
well we had some questions about who
00:37:10
exactly made it take a
00:37:15
look we showed it to the workers there
00:37:18
and they said yep they made it just very
00:37:21
difficult for
00:37:22
me to know this whether I'm making a
00:37:26
this number one and number two there's
00:37:28
no way that we're giving the goods to
00:37:30
outside there absolutely no way our all
00:37:34
garments has made in our Factory but
00:37:37
Walmart told us Mr Islam did indeed have
00:37:40
the contract to make sujit's shirt but
00:37:42
at his own Factory not Hassan
00:37:46
tanir thank you okay thank you I'll take
00:37:49
that you don't need that can I just I
00:37:52
just want to see this one you just have
00:37:54
it sit and absolutely and then something
00:37:57
extraordinary happened after our
00:37:59
interview wrapped
00:38:01
up look in the background as Mr Islam
00:38:04
conceals the Garment behind his desk
00:38:06
with a pen in
00:38:10
[Music]
00:38:14
hand after we left we noticed the tag on
00:38:17
the shirt had been defaced the BARC code
00:38:20
and the Canadian import number that
00:38:22
could connect this shirt to a tikle
00:38:25
Islam's company were blacked out we
00:38:28
asked him the next day if he did it he
00:38:30
denied
00:38:32
it as for lbla and Joe Fresh the
00:38:35
Canadian company insists it will help
00:38:38
lead the way to clean up the industry in
00:38:40
Bangladesh our industry can be a force
00:38:43
for
00:38:44
good properly inspected well-built
00:38:47
factories play important
00:38:50
role in the development of countries
00:38:52
such as
00:38:54
Bangladesh did lbla properly inspect R
00:38:57
Plaza before the collapse they say they
00:39:00
did visit the factory so why were they
00:39:03
still making clothes there well that's
00:39:06
what we wanted to ask Joe mimran but we
00:39:09
were told he wasn't available for an
00:39:11
interview I'm troubled by the deafening
00:39:14
Silence from other apparel retailers on
00:39:18
this issue and while lbla CEO gayen
00:39:21
Weston publicly criticizes other
00:39:24
companies for their deafening silence he
00:39:26
declined to be interviewed for this
00:39:31
story lla did send us an email outlining
00:39:34
their efforts to help workers in
00:39:36
Bangladesh they say since the collapse
00:39:38
they've contributed a million dollar to
00:39:40
two Charities and joined a compliance
00:39:42
Accord with other retailers aimed at
00:39:45
improving working conditions in
00:39:47
Bangladesh and the company will now put
00:39:49
boots on the ground somewhere in the
00:39:52
region to inspect
00:39:55
factories
00:39:57
but there's another way Canadian Factory
00:39:59
owner Barry laxer wanted a safe Factory
00:40:02
so he built one it's run by a Canadian
00:40:05
team and he visits it
00:40:08
regularly but what are the effects then
00:40:11
of paying that cheapest possible price
00:40:14
in in a country like Bangladesh sooner
00:40:17
or later there'll be another ROP Plaza
00:40:19
it's just a matter of time sooner or
00:40:21
later there'll be another fire somewhere
00:40:23
uh that will claim more lives because
00:40:26
Bangladesh is just the floor and the
00:40:29
testing ground for how cheap products
00:40:32
can be
00:40:33
[Music]
00:40:35
sold before former Walmart designer suit
00:40:38
senic left Bangladesh we had one more
00:40:41
stop to
00:40:42
make there's one last thing I wanted to
00:40:44
show you before you
00:40:46
go this is where Rana Plaza once
00:40:52
stood oh my
00:40:55
God
00:40:57
there's nothing
00:40:58
left there are people walking around in
00:41:01
Canada wearing clothes that were made by
00:41:05
these people who died
00:41:07
here this is kind of a monument to
00:41:14
Greed this is a product of the race to
00:41:17
the
00:41:20
bottom so what are consumers to do
00:41:23
boycott clothes made in
00:41:25
Bangladesh the jobs are pulling millions
00:41:27
of women out of
00:41:30
poverty like a Rudy who despite her loss
00:41:34
knows she has to go back to
00:41:36
work especially now that her mother is
00:41:38
gone and she'll have to support her
00:41:40
younger sisters and her
00:41:43
grandmother do you want to go back and
00:41:45
work inside a garment Factory
00:41:49
now that if I wanted to work in the
00:41:51
factory it's not possible to walk back
00:41:54
and forth and go up up and down the
00:41:57
stairs I can't do it yet that's the
00:42:00
issue now I will be able to go back but
00:42:05
I'm
00:42:06
[Music]
00:42:13
afraid well after watching tonight's
00:42:15
episode you may be wondering more about
00:42:16
the clothes you buy and how they were
00:42:18
made well for some of the brands and
00:42:21
lines of clothing that we mention on
00:42:22
tonight's program you can find out more
00:42:24
information by going to our website
00:42:27
that's at
00:42:29
cbc.ca and of course we'll continue to
00:42:31
update that website with developments on
00:42:33
this story in the weeks and months ahead
00:42:36
stay with us we'll be right back after
00:42:39
this
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