Bangladesh
Cheap. Thats all that Walmart wants, very inexpensive produce that they can sell in their stores. They don't care where it comes from, they don't care how much it costs, they just want profits. In Walmarts garment factories people are paid as little as 6 cents an hour and work seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day, some even all night at 19-20 hour shifts. Children, too poor to afford food, are forced to work in these factories and are forced to abandon their education. The wages are so low that many of the child workers get up at 5:00 a.m. each morning to brush their teeth using just their finger and ashes from the fire, since they cannot afford a toothbrush or toothpaste. The children report being routinely slapped and beaten. The workers say that if they could earn just 36 cents an hour, they could climb out of misery and into poverty (8). The workers also live in horrible conditions, On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story garment factory (the top three floors illegally built) collapsed after a government inspection killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,515. Fashion should not cost lives (9).
8: "Children Found Sewing Clothing For Wal-Mart, Hanes & Other U.S. & European Companies - National Labor Committee." Children Found Sewing Clothing For Wal-Mart, Hanes & Other U.S. & European Companies - National Labor Committee. Accessed June 02, 2014. http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/lwp/NLC_childlabor.html.
9: "2013 Savar Building Collapse." Wikipedia. May 24, 2014. Accessed June 02, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse.
Figure 5: "Collapse." Digital image. VoaNews. http://gdb.voanews.com/453E563E-7894-405B-95BA-859AEC15F3EC_mw1024_s_n.jpg.
9: "2013 Savar Building Collapse." Wikipedia. May 24, 2014. Accessed June 02, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse.
Figure 5: "Collapse." Digital image. VoaNews. http://gdb.voanews.com/453E563E-7894-405B-95BA-859AEC15F3EC_mw1024_s_n.jpg.