Details of widespread and systemic labour rights violations across Bangladesh’s garment supply chain have been shared in a new report by Oxfam Australia, with support from the Human Rights Law Centre.
The 56-page report – titled Unravelling Exploitation: Exposing the Need for Responsible Business Laws in Fashion Supply Chains – draws on more than a dozen focus group discussions, key informant interviews and surveys of over 400 workers.
According to Oxfam, the report exposes how the current sourcing model enables and sustains conditions that amount to modern slavery. These issues may impact many Australian fashion brands sourcing from Bangladesh.
The report lays a particular focus on workers in informal workplaces, uncovering a “shadow system of subcontracting and home-based production where children are employed, wages are withheld, and abusive conditions are rife.”
Forced labour was self-reported by 28 per cent of workers, while 95 per cent of factory workers surveyed are paid below a living wage. This rises to 100 per cent among women.
More than one in five workers experienced wage delays or deductions, with coercive financial control, physical violence, and verbal abuse permeating the industry.
The report also noted that nearly a quarter of those interviewed said fingerprint-based attendance systems were used for blacklisting.
Regarding child labour, Oxfam conducted three focus groups made up of adults working in subcontracted factories, with participants reporting that the majority of workers in their factories were underage, with many aged between 12 and 14 years.
“These children are often given more work and paid significantly less than their adult counterparts,” the report read. “While adult workers may earn between 7,000 and 10,000 BDT (AUD $87 – AUD $125) per month for similar tasks, child workers typically receive only 4,000 to 5,000 BDT (AUD $50 – AUD $62), which is less than 25 per cent of a living wage and less than 50 per cent of the minimum wage.
“In many cases, they are required to operate two machines at once. They are not granted adequate breaks and are frequently subjected to more verbal and physical abuse than their adult co-workers.”
Oxfam also conducted a focus group with seven minors employed in subcontracted factories. The group included girls aged 12 (2), 13, 15 (2) and 16 (2).
According to this focus group, they were working long hours each week and were illegally employed as child labourers. These girls also reported that children as young as seven were working alongside them in the factory.
“Discussions with these child workers revealed a clear pattern of exploitation and intergenerational poverty. Due to their young age, they often lack awareness of their rights and are unable to challenge injustice. As a result, they are more vulnerable to low wages and mistreatment.”
The report added that one girl in the focus group ‘chose’ to work at the factory, citing health reasons and a need to help with family finances.
Oxfam Australia campaign and advocacy lead Nina Crawley said the report findings are shocking but not surprising.
“Our research serves as a stark reminder that the clothes Australians buy may come at the cost of someone else’s safety and dignity,” Crawley said. “For too long, Australian fashion brands have relied on opaque and exploitative supply chains to maximise profit.
“Workers must be placed at the centre of reforms to build a fashion industry where exploitation has no place. We urgently need strong, enforceable laws to hold them accountable and protect workers from harm.”
Despite the introduction of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act in 2018, Oxfam and the Human Rights Law Centre say legislation has largely failed to drive meaningful change. The Act currently relies on voluntary corporate reporting, with no penalties for inaction.
Human Rights Law Centre’s associate legal director Freya Dinshaw said the research supports the need for urgent action to strengthen Australia’s framework for addressing modern slavery.
“Buying clothes should never come at the expense of someone else’s freedom. The Albanese Government must do more to ensure that the people who make the clothes we wear can live and work in safety and dignity,” Dinshaw said.
“We need strong, holistic laws that require companies to investigate and prevent serious abuses like modern slavery in their supply chains, and impose hard consequences if they don’t. Australia must also ban imported goods made with forced labour so they don’t end up on our shop shelves.”
Bangladeshi labour activist and former child worker Kalpona Akter added that stronger laws overseas, such as the EU’s mandatory human rights due diligence directive, offer a clearer path forward.
“If we have that law, and if that is mandatory, and if rights holders have access to justice or remedy – then yes, that will transform the whole supply chain.”
Oxfam and Human Rights Law Centre are calling on the Australian Government to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act to require companies to take action to address modern slavery risks, with penalties for non-compliance.
They are also calling for new responsible business laws that require companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence, as well as a complete ban on imports made with forced labour.
This report builds on Oxfam Australia’s labour rights work and its existing ‘What She Makes’ campaign. Oxfam’s ‘What She Makes’ campaign launched in 2017 and has been calling, in solidarity with workers, for a living wage for the women who make clothes for Australia.