孟加拉國之後，製衣業尋找新的生產基地
2013年05月16日
Andri Tambunan for The New York Times
在三寶壟的一家服裝廠，新近的培訓中心畢業生在開始工作前參加一次介紹會。
印度尼西亞三寶壟——本內特·莫德爾(Bennett
Model)在1975年參與了中國最早的一批服裝出口業務，當時毛澤東還在世。從那時起，他的紐約時裝公司一直在尋找其他有能力為波道夫·古德曼
(Bergdorf Goodman)和尼曼(Neiman Marcus)之類的頂級零售商供應服裝的國家，其足跡遍布危地馬拉、越南和印尼等地。
孟加拉國的一座高層工廠建築的坍塌導致1127人死亡，在這起全球服裝業史上最致命的行業事故之後，從未停止過的新地點搜尋工作變得更緊迫起來。莫德爾說，在孟加拉國購買服裝「從諸多問題出現後已經變成了政治不正確的事，因此許多大型買家都開始尋找替代者」。
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Andri Tambunan for The New York Times在三寶壟的一家服裝廠，新近的培訓中心畢業生在開始工作前參加一次介紹會。
美國一家頂級大眾服裝零售商的一位高管上周跟他通電話，對孟加拉國的供應商表示了擔憂，並計劃前往越南和柬埔寨以尋找替代者，莫德爾的建議是，「我告訴他加上印尼。」
今春，許多西方企業管理人員都在展開這類出差活動。去年
11月份孟加拉國的一場致命的服裝廠火災，自1月份以來的33場地區或全國罷工，自2月份以來已經導致了數百人死亡的派系街頭暴力衝突，以及4月底拉納廣
場(Rana Plaza)的坍塌事故，都讓各國企業爭相尋找其他替代者。
「現在，孟加拉國這個名字只能破壞公司的名聲，」約瑟夫-
莫德爾聯合公司(Joseph Model
Associates)精幹的首席執行官莫德爾說。該公司設計並經銷高檔服裝品牌安娜貝勒紐約(Annabelle New
York)，也為不同百貨連鎖店的自營品牌生產服裝。
西方高管正在越南南部、柬埔寨中部和印尼爪哇島的腹地尋找
潛在的新供應商。雅加達的JW萬豪酒店(JW Marriott
Hotel)是西方服裝買家喜愛的下榻場所，在這些天里顧客爆滿，以至於短時間內難以預定到房間。印尼服裝業高管稱，他們在最近幾周和幾個月來看到來訪者
絡繹不絕，詢問的總是同樣的關於政治穩定、勞動法、安全合規和工資的問題。
「首先是因為中國變得太貴，隨後是孟加拉國的火災悲劇，接下來還有孟加拉國層出不窮的麻煩，」印尼紡織協會(Indonesian Textile Association)主席阿德·蘇德拉查(Ade Sudradjat)說，「一些買家對下訂單給孟加拉國感到不安。」
孟加拉國已成為緊隨中國之後的世界第二大服裝製造國，但在該國的街頭衝突和政治驅動的全國罷工愈演愈烈時，許多跨國公司都開始物色其他的選擇。這個國家的伊斯蘭主義運動在最近幾周變得愈加激進，並開始要求把更多的伊斯蘭教旨應用到日常生活和政府中。
香港利豐集團(Li & Fung)是世界上最大的採購集團之一，該集團總裁兼首席執行官樂裕民(Bruce Rockowitz)說：「人們不得不做另一手準備，制定應急計劃，以防騷亂惡化。有些人想完全撤出孟加拉國，但那只是少數人。」
對於零售商就騷亂表達的擔憂，潔衣運動(Clean
Clothes Campaign)發言人苔塞爾·保利(Tessel
Pauli)不以為然，她認為那只是零售商裝腔作勢，找借口避免提高那裡的安全標準。她說：「孟加拉國的政治局勢在過去10年里一直不好。」但她也補充了
一句，「當然，他們也應該跟政府明確表態，對街頭抗議活動進行血腥鎮壓的行動必須立即停止。」
有幾十個貧困的國家在生產T恤等非常基礎的服裝。但只有幾
個國家——其實只有中國、孟加拉國、越南、印度尼西亞，柬埔寨和巴基斯坦一定程度上也可以算在內——發展出了高度複雜的系統，可以生產和運輸幾萬甚至幾十
萬件相同的、高品質的襯衫或褲子，並在接到訂單幾周後就可以交付全球的零售商。
衣服需要打上正確的標籤，這樣才能順利地通過零售商的大型
配送中心將衣服準時送到世界各地的每一個門店裡。這個過程需要人數可觀的熟練工人，他們要監督質量控制，同時還有衣服的貼標和運輸。大型零售商和時裝公司
反覆嘗試要開發一些替代選項，最終都失敗了，他們在印度、非洲和拉美進行實驗，結果受制於基礎設施瓶頸和熟練管理人員或工人的匱乏。
相比之下，莫德爾說他一直都拒絕幫客戶在孟加拉國下訂單。他說他和其他一些高端零售連鎖店供應商一直都擔心孟加拉國的大廈式工廠的可靠性，一旦有火災工人會被困在樓上，不像東南亞那些一層或兩層的廠房設計。
比如印度尼西亞從上世紀90年代初就開始實施一項行業規
範，服裝廠的高度不能超過兩層，這樣更利於火災、火山噴發和地震時進行疏散。這裡的工會領導人說只有幾家印尼服裝廠會高一些，因為他們是在規則實施前建起
來的。在印尼，即便只有兩層的工廠也必須在二層建有通往院子里的通道或通向一層的長台，以便於逃離；雖然印尼存在其他的勞工虐待情況，但當地工會領導人
說，這項規則得到了嚴格遵守。
孟加拉國最大的制衣商之一莫哈馬迪集團(Mohammadi Group)的總經理盧巴納·哈克(Rubana Huq)說，孟加拉國大廈式工廠的盛行反映出這個國家不正常的高房價，再加上很難說服公共事業單位到一些較大的場地安裝電力和燃氣管線。
跨國公司在從成本不斷上升的中國逃離，它們把訂單交給東南
亞工廠，令那裡的產能飽和，這可能會讓孟加拉國避免落入出口訂單瞬間急劇下降的厄運。「今年的話，不可能——我們都訂滿了，」大型日本服裝生產商華歌爾
(Wacoal)的印度尼西亞子公司總裁蘇爾亞迪·薩斯米塔(Suryadi Sasmita)說。
The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by
10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a
light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry.
Thursday's accident at the Wing Star Shoe factory in the Cambodian
capital took place when a section of ceiling collapsed onto a group of
several dozen workers. The factory, which has 7,000 staff, is contracted
to manufacture shoes for Japanese athletics brand ASICS.
On Thursday, the Kobe-based company told DW that it was still assessing what had happened and would issue a statement in due course.
Dave Welsh, the country director at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, a labour group, visited Wing Star on Thursday and said it looked as though the ceiling at the Taiwanese-owned factory had been “badly overloaded” with materials.
Garment workers protested on May 1 in Phnom Penh
He said the casualties could have been far higher: "This is huge factory
by Cambodian standards with 7,000 workers, but the collapse happened in
a corner section."
The incident follows last month's disaster in Bangladesh when more than 1,100 workers died after a building housing several garment factories collapsed. The building's owner had reportedly added two illegal floors and placed generators above that, overloading the structure.
Welsh said the deaths and injuries at Wing Star were symptomatic of wider problems.
"This is an entirely international supply chain, and ASICS is a big Japanese company," he said. "That this happened at all is inexcusable - it highlights how bad conditions are for workers, and that this is not isolated to Bangladesh but is a regional and a global problem."
Greater awareness
Cambodia's garment manufacturing sector has boomed in the past decade, in part benefiting from rising wages in China that have driven companies to move to lower-cost nations such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Garment and shoe manufacturing is now a pillar of Cambodia's economy: Exports last year, most of which went to the European Union and the United States, brought in 4.6 billion US dollars.
Over a thousand people died in a factory fire in Dhaka in early May
The industry is also the largest formal employer with more than 350,000
workers. In March the government ordered the minimum wage increased from
61 US dollars a month to 75 dollars effective from May 1.
The industry has brought much-needed jobs and foreign exchange to the impoverished nation. Yet with expanding trade has come greater scrutiny. Conditions in the global garment and shoe manufacturing industry have garnered increasing media coverage in recent years, and Cambodia has had its share of issues over the past year with strikes, mass faintings and a triple shooting.
Ken Loo, the secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia, a trade body, said Thursday's incident was “of great concern”.
"Not because of the scope of the incident but because of the ripples that will come of this - the assumed bad publicity and the assumed linkage with Bangladesh," he said.
Loo was quick to separate what happened in Cambodia with the disaster in Bangladesh, and said the ceiling collapse was not indicative of a systemic problem: instead the deaths and injuries at Wing Star, which is a GMAC member, looked more like the consequence of shoddy construction.
Loo, who visited the Wing Star factory on Thursday, said that the rebar - the steel rods used to provide support inside the concrete ceiling - looked to his layman's eyes to be "very, very thin."
Trade unionists and monks took part in the Labor Day protests
He predicted that Thursday's incident would not affect brands in the way
that Bangladesh's has done, because "it's a different situation we have
here - it's not a sector-wide problem." But he said GMAC, which has 405
garment factories as members and 42 shoe factories, would work with
stakeholders to find solutions. One of those would require the
government's building inspectors to enforce building codes.
Better factories
The most effective set of eyes on Cambodia's garment exporters belongs to the International Labor Organization's Better Factories Cambodia program. BFC inspectors monitor factories such as Wing Star to ensure that they pay wages promptly and accurately, that they do not employ underage workers and that they have fire safety codes.
Jill Tucker, the BFC's chief technical adviser, said although Thursday's accident was uncommon it had highlighted the need for factories to adhere to building standards too.
"So now we have to add this to our toolbox," she said. "We will have to consider new requirements - clearly this is something that's got to change."
Tucker said the BFC program enjoys good relationships with 40 brands, all of which are American, European or Canadian. Thursday's accident, she said, showed it was time that the hundreds of buyers from other countries - including Japan - that have in the past shown little regard for labor issues finally stepped up to the plate.
"We need all of those buyers who are under the radar to have the spotlight shone on them so they will take action," she said, adding that buyers would need not only to pressure factories to make changes, but must also pay a fair price to ensure that they could afford them.
And although Cambodia's garment industry was typically the centre of attention, Tucker said more scrutiny was needed on the country's footwear sector. Thursday's accident at Wing Star, she concluded, ought to increase that focus because to date "there hasn't been that much."
On Thursday, the Kobe-based company told DW that it was still assessing what had happened and would issue a statement in due course.
Dave Welsh, the country director at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, a labour group, visited Wing Star on Thursday and said it looked as though the ceiling at the Taiwanese-owned factory had been “badly overloaded” with materials.
Garment workers protested on May 1 in Phnom Penh
The incident follows last month's disaster in Bangladesh when more than 1,100 workers died after a building housing several garment factories collapsed. The building's owner had reportedly added two illegal floors and placed generators above that, overloading the structure.
Welsh said the deaths and injuries at Wing Star were symptomatic of wider problems.
"This is an entirely international supply chain, and ASICS is a big Japanese company," he said. "That this happened at all is inexcusable - it highlights how bad conditions are for workers, and that this is not isolated to Bangladesh but is a regional and a global problem."
Greater awareness
Cambodia's garment manufacturing sector has boomed in the past decade, in part benefiting from rising wages in China that have driven companies to move to lower-cost nations such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Garment and shoe manufacturing is now a pillar of Cambodia's economy: Exports last year, most of which went to the European Union and the United States, brought in 4.6 billion US dollars.
Over a thousand people died in a factory fire in Dhaka in early May
The industry has brought much-needed jobs and foreign exchange to the impoverished nation. Yet with expanding trade has come greater scrutiny. Conditions in the global garment and shoe manufacturing industry have garnered increasing media coverage in recent years, and Cambodia has had its share of issues over the past year with strikes, mass faintings and a triple shooting.
Ken Loo, the secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia, a trade body, said Thursday's incident was “of great concern”.
"Not because of the scope of the incident but because of the ripples that will come of this - the assumed bad publicity and the assumed linkage with Bangladesh," he said.
Loo was quick to separate what happened in Cambodia with the disaster in Bangladesh, and said the ceiling collapse was not indicative of a systemic problem: instead the deaths and injuries at Wing Star, which is a GMAC member, looked more like the consequence of shoddy construction.
Loo, who visited the Wing Star factory on Thursday, said that the rebar - the steel rods used to provide support inside the concrete ceiling - looked to his layman's eyes to be "very, very thin."
Trade unionists and monks took part in the Labor Day protests
Better factories
The most effective set of eyes on Cambodia's garment exporters belongs to the International Labor Organization's Better Factories Cambodia program. BFC inspectors monitor factories such as Wing Star to ensure that they pay wages promptly and accurately, that they do not employ underage workers and that they have fire safety codes.
Jill Tucker, the BFC's chief technical adviser, said although Thursday's accident was uncommon it had highlighted the need for factories to adhere to building standards too.
"So now we have to add this to our toolbox," she said. "We will have to consider new requirements - clearly this is something that's got to change."
Tucker said the BFC program enjoys good relationships with 40 brands, all of which are American, European or Canadian. Thursday's accident, she said, showed it was time that the hundreds of buyers from other countries - including Japan - that have in the past shown little regard for labor issues finally stepped up to the plate.
"We need all of those buyers who are under the radar to have the spotlight shone on them so they will take action," she said, adding that buyers would need not only to pressure factories to make changes, but must also pay a fair price to ensure that they could afford them.
And although Cambodia's garment industry was typically the centre of attention, Tucker said more scrutiny was needed on the country's footwear sector. Thursday's accident at Wing Star, she concluded, ought to increase that focus because to date "there hasn't been that much."
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