A CHURCH-led campaign will lobby for better working conditions
and wages for Bangladeshi garment workers, in the wake of the more
than 1000 deaths caused by a factory collapse earlier this
year.
A global coalition of Churches launched the campaign in London
on Thursday of last week, highlighting the fact that garment
workers in Bangladesh are paid just ten pence an hour - only 14 per
cent of the living wage in Bangladesh - and that 1800 workers have
died in recent years in factory collapses and fires in the
country.
The Rana Plaza factory collapse at Savar, Dhaka, in April this
year, killed more than a thousand, and left thousands more injured.
The factory made clothes for many British high-street stores.
The Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh, the Rt Revd Paul
Sarker, said: "The Church of Bangladesh is passionate about the
fight for social justice. Ongoing support from the wider community
can help us deliver real justice for this oppressed group of
workers."
The coalition has produced resources to help consumers in the UK
lobby for wage justice and better working conditions.
Steve Pearce, from the Methodist Church, said: "The distressing
tragedy at Savar has given us the opportunity to take action and
make a difference for garment workers in Bangladesh. As the story
of the inexcusable loss of life at Rana Plaza fades from our media,
I hope people will use these resources to make sure it doesn't fade
from our memory before we have done our best to create irresistible
pressure for change."
There are about four million workers in the clothing industry in
Bangladesh, producing about 80 per cent of the country's export
earnings.
The alliance of Churches working alongside the Church of
Bangladesh includes the Church of Scotland, the Anglican Alliance,
the diocese of Llandaff (Church in Wales), the Church Mission
Society, the Methodist Church in Britain, Us. (formerly USPG), and
the Presbyterian Church of the Netherlands.