This is what happened at a meeting that took place in 2011. Walmart feigns not knowing about what factories they have their clothing made at, but here is the truth:
The comments from a Wal-Mart sourcing director appear in minutes of the meeting, which was attended by more than a dozen retailers including Gap Inc. (GPS), Target Corp. and JC Penney Co.
Details of the meeting have emerged after a fire at a Bangladesh factory that made clothes for Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed more than 100 people last month. The blaze has renewed pressure on companies to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, where more than 700 garment workers have died since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.
At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn’t share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.
‘Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,’ they said in the document. ‘It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.’
The comments from a Wal-Mart sourcing director appear in minutes of the meeting, which was attended by more than a dozen retailers including Gap Inc. (GPS), Target Corp. and JC Penney Co.
Details of the meeting have emerged after a fire at a Bangladesh factory that made clothes for Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed more than 100 people last month. The blaze has renewed pressure on companies to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, where more than 700 garment workers have died since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.
At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn’t share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.
‘Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,’ they said in the document. ‘It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.’
WALMART, THE LIVES OF PEOPLE ARE WORTH MORE THAN A FEW CENTS SAVINGS ON THE CLOTHES THAT YOU SELL!
Workers in the Bangladeshi garment industry are some of the poorest people in the world. Many of the families are now completely destitute because they lost their primary breadwinner. Next week there’s a conference in Geneva, Switzerland that will discuss how global brands can compensate the victims of the Tazreen fire., WHY IS WALMART REFUSING TO ATTEND?
CONSUMERS CONTINUE TO HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF 112 WORKERS AT THE TAZREEN FACTORY FIRE IN BANGLADESH AND THE SUBSEQUENT DESTITUTION OF THEIR FAMILIES.
Publicity gimmicks aren’t enough. I want to see Walmart attend the April 15 meeting in Geneva about the Tazreen fire and offer full and fair compensation to the victims.
Walmart depends on Bangladeshi garment workers, and it has a responsibility to ensure that their families can survive. Walmart can afford to compensate them.
Walmart could have prevented the Tazreen fire, but the world’s largest retailer decided that the lives of Bangladeshi garment workers weren’t worth a few cents per garment.
Like other major retailers, Walmart knew that the Bangladeshi factories making its clothes were unsafe. But notes from a 2011 conference on fire safety showed conclusively that Walmart took the lead in blocking a plan that would have committed global apparel chains to provide funding for improved safety measures at their suppliers.
WALMART’S DIRECTOR OF ‘EHTICAL SOURCING’ COLDLY ANNOUNCED THAT THE BASIC LIFE-SAVING PRECAUTIONS WERE ‘NOT FINANCIALLY FEASIBLE.’
FROM THIS POINT ON, I REFUSE TO SHOP IN YOUR STORE AND AM ADVISING ALL MY FRIENDS, INCLUDING THOSE ON FACEBOOK, TO DISCONTINUE THEIR BUSINESS WITH YOU.
Here’s a novel idea. Try manufacturing in America.
This is what happened at a meeting that took place in 2011. Walmart feigns not knowing about what factories they have their clothing made at, but here is the truth:
The comments from a Wal-Mart sourcing director appear in minutes of the meeting, which was attended by more than a dozen retailers including Gap Inc. (GPS), Target Corp. and JC Penney Co.
Details of the meeting have emerged after a fire at a Bangladesh factory that made clothes for Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed more than 100 people last month. The blaze has renewed pressure on companies to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, where more than 700 garment workers have died since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.
At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn’t share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.
‘Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,’ they said in the document. ‘It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.’
The comments from a Wal-Mart sourcing director appear in minutes of the meeting, which was attended by more than a dozen retailers including Gap Inc. (GPS), Target Corp. and JC Penney Co.
Details of the meeting have emerged after a fire at a Bangladesh factory that made clothes for Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed more than 100 people last month. The blaze has renewed pressure on companies to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, where more than 700 garment workers have died since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.
At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn’t share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.
‘Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,’ they said in the document. ‘It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.’
WALMART, THE LIVES OF PEOPLE ARE WORTH MORE THAN A FEW CENTS SAVINGS ON THE CLOTHES THAT YOU SELL!
Workers in the Bangladeshi garment industry are some of the poorest people in the world. Many of the families are now completely destitute because they lost their primary breadwinner. Next week there’s a conference in Geneva, Switzerland that will discuss how global brands can compensate the victims of the Tazreen fire., WHY IS WALMART REFUSING TO ATTEND?
CONSUMERS CONTINUE TO HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF 112 WORKERS AT THE TAZREEN FACTORY FIRE IN BANGLADESH AND THE SUBSEQUENT DESTITUTION OF THEIR FAMILIES.
Publicity gimmicks aren’t enough. I want to see Walmart attend the April 15 meeting in Geneva about the Tazreen fire and offer full and fair compensation to the victims.
Walmart depends on Bangladeshi garment workers, and it has a responsibility to ensure that their families can survive. Walmart can afford to compensate them.
Walmart could have prevented the Tazreen fire, but the world’s largest retailer decided that the lives of Bangladeshi garment workers weren’t worth a few cents per garment.
Like other major retailers, Walmart knew that the Bangladeshi factories making its clothes were unsafe. But notes from a 2011 conference on fire safety showed conclusively that Walmart took the lead in blocking a plan that would have committed global apparel chains to provide funding for improved safety measures at their suppliers.
WALMART’S DIRECTOR OF ‘EHTICAL SOURCING’ COLDLY ANNOUNCED THAT THE BASIC LIFE-SAVING PRECAUTIONS WERE ‘NOT FINANCIALLY FEASIBLE.’
FROM THIS POINT ON, I REFUSE TO SHOP IN YOUR STORE AND AM ADVISING ALL MY FRIENDS, INCLUDING THOSE ON FACEBOOK, TO DISCONTINUE THEIR BUSINESS WITH YOU.