Solutions.

During the last few years, there is an increase in awareness by enterprises of their responsibilities towards workers. Corporate social responsibility departments and supply chain policies or codes of conduct implemented have been created as a result of consumer pressure and high profile campaigns. But is this enough? What should be done nowadays by enterprises, government and customers in order to solve problems that arise when companies do business in Export Processing Zones. What are the solutions? Will it be enough for the majority of the enterprises to ensure payment of a minimum wage, which is enough to meet employees ‘basic needs, and the needs of their children. It is a basic common sense part of any entity's accountability. But even though, even being paid the very low minimum wages, many women just don’t earn enough to feed themselves or their families. Considering that, Jo Wood, founder of Jo Wood Organics, who travelled to Bangladesh with the ethical clothing brand “People Tree”, says: "If just 10p was given to the workers (by the retailer), it would raise their wages by 20%. That's a start”.

If buying enterprise have serious concern about conditions along their supply chains and want to improve them considerably, they need to demand from suppliers not only the regular payment of the minimum wages to employees, but mainly to support employees by making better working conditions, for instance to reduce overtime.

Also entities need to change their ways of doing business. They have to trade ethically. Auditing is a critical first step towards ethical trading. It will help to manufactories and to the companies working with them, organize an efficient system in order to correct the mistakes they would find. The best audit would emphasis on interview with employees. A helpful conditions to ensure employees that they will say the right thing is when they are interviewed by a local person with experience of interviewing and who has the workers' trust. Would be better if employees are conducted off-site.  Otherwise it may appear to employees and campaigners that most enterprises are more focused on ticking the right boxes than they are in actually improving working conditions.

Long term relationship with suppliers is another way of taking responsibility by the company. For this goal, any company needs to demand lower prices and shorter lead times. On a company-by-company basis it is not easy to organize such a turnaround. Any enterprise doesn’t want to be the first to try new ways of doing things not to miss its perceived competitive opportunity. But there is always government. Government creates ultimately circumstances on this situation. Through legislation on corporate accountability government holds Clothing companies, Retailers and High Street Brands as responsible for their buying practices. Only being hold by government they will stop root themselves out and will take accountability for their part in the process of supporting conditions for the abuse of employees ‘rights. But until now Retailers and High Street Brands are very active on the top of the supply chain. They are surfing on a high water of the global trade and working together controlling the fashion industry.  There is no need for them to relocate in order to chase the cheapest labour.  Retailers and High Street Brands can easily commit to paying a living wage. They are absolutely responsible for their actions. And of course there are some clear profitable reasons why it is in their interests to maintain the absence of trade unions and minimum wages.

Brands could easily absorb the small increase in costs they generate. The question of the living wage concerns entities because they should take the root of the way they purchase and address the concrete their messages to factory managements. Enterprises need some credit in order to work actively to find industry-wide solutions that is convenient on a country-wide, to supply chain-wide and ultimately industry-wide level. But the companies have to do something, not only simply signing up. This means that buying companies need to:

• Develop strategies to improve wages, above and beyond

• Engage in good-faith negotiations with factories to ensure that a living wage can be paid out of prices paid to the factory. Accept that this may increase the cost they pay to suppliers;

• Make it clear to suppliers that they expect workers to be paid a living wage;

• Make it clear to suppliers that negotiating wages via a functioning collective bargaining agreement will not come at the expense of their custom;

• Ensure that local trade unions, who are better placed to get information from workers, and know the local cost of living, a involved in supplier audits;

• Work with other companies, trade unions and governments on a national and industry-wide level to develop strategies to raise wages, through active participation in multi stakeholder initiatives.

And of course there is always a role of The Customer. Nobody doubts that the pressure by customers on pushing entities to take a much more responsible approach needs to be maintained. Customers should realize the effect that may have the demand for a constantly changing cheap supply of clothes during short seasons. Enterprises have to understand that while they could be prepared to ignore the result of their companies purchasing practices, the rest of us won’t be so easily fooled. More people will know about the working conditions of employees in Free Trade Zones and the 'pittance' wage they are paid, more possible become the solution to create the Fair Trade, where employees will be paid a minimum wage and provided with adequate employment conditions. As a good example there is a fair trade producer group Swallows, located in Thanapara, a small village in north-west of Bangladesh. Swallows is a model of how fair trade garment production can work sustainably." At Swallows, it was a warm community of women who all have a great sense of independence but also work so well together in good conditions," says Jo Wood. "The village they live in is totally self- sufficient, yet it is miles away from what we would term civilization. They have a school, a crèche for the younger children, learning programs and an organic garden." "If you are an ethical and fair trade producer like Swallows, the workers don't have to live in the slums," says Wood firmly. "The workers can stay in their village with their families, their children can be educated and they also work in safer working conditions. Profits are also put back into the local community, making it a self-sufficient and rewarding scheme." Guinea, a Swallows employee, feels that discrimination and lack of opportunity for women in Bangladesh are the biggest barriers to improving living conditions there. But, she says: "The fair trade principles applied by People Tree have created economic stability for Swallows, allowing it to become an independent organisation. It has led to the empowerment of the women of Thanapara."

The child-labour promise, she thinks, is probably the main issue for most consumers, and probably most retailers, too: "No one wants to have pictures of children making their products splashed across the media. But for us, actually, the number one priority is that all workers get a proper living wage. If the parents were earning enough, they'd be able to send their children to school, instead of to work in a factory."

The formula for a minimum wage has been argued all over the world. The Free Trade Zones distributed by High Street Brands have been criticized by numerous authors such as Naomi Klein in her book No Logo, where disrespect to The Ethical Obligations of a multinational corporation towards employment conditions, human rights, corporation, environmental pollution, and the use of power which are not always clear-cut are demonstrated very well. However, there are not only High Street Brands. An increasing number of alternatives such as the ethical and environmental clothing market have seen a bit of an explosion over the past couple of years. This fact is usefully demonstrated at the latest issue of New Consumer magazine with showcasing 101 clothing, bag and shoe designers. "It's wonderful," says Sarah Ratty, who designed the Conscious Earthware line in the 90s and now designs Ciel - clothes that really are both beautiful and green (not literally green obviously - well, not all of them), and worn by celebs such as Sienna Miller. "I really believe that people are finally starting to wake up and notice what's going on. The thing I always wanted to do was to make these kind of clothes fashionable, not just a matter for your conscience, and I think that's starting to happen." The way forward then: secondhand clothes and small, ethical manufacturers and designers, and, in between that, harassing your favourite High Street shops about their ethical and environmental policies. Honestly, it is this season's big thing.”