April 24, 2014 will mark one year since the occurrence of the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry. With 1132 Bangladeshi workers dead and 2500 seriously injured, it provoked a pervasive global debate. One year on, where does this debate stand? What impact has it had? Have alternatives emerged? As of today, only one Canadian company has signed the Fire and Safety Accord. Vested interests continue to suggest that consumers may be neither willing nor able to bear the cost of safety. Similarly, we are warned that a “living wage” for garment workers may prove too “costly” for “us”. How real is this fear? How much of the price we pay as consumers goes to the worker? How can we arrive at a solution where millions of workers – mostly women – do not constantly have to negotiate their dignity, freedom and livelihoods?
Join us for a talk by
Ananya Mukherjee-Reed
Professor & Chair of Political Science, York University
Noor Cultural Centre, 123 Wynford DriveToronto, Ontario M3C 1K1
http://www.noorculturalcentre.ca
Presented as part of the York-Noor Lecture Series 2013-14