Bangladesh Tragedy Reinforces Need for Fair Labour and Trade for Local Students

Friday, 26 April 2013 10:55

As the death toll continues to rise after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, local students are speaking out about sweat shops. It's part of the All's Fair Wear-athon which kicks off next week and looks to raise awareness of fair labour practices by asking residents to wear the same t-shirt for 110 hours as a way to see what life is like for someone working in a sweatshop. St Mary's student Amanda Geras says hearing about the tragedy in Bangladesh made her know she was doing the right thing in participating in the next week's event. "Well this is like, kind of a reason why we're doing the All's Fair Wear-athon. It's just to have people aware of it and have it to stop because this is the thing that will happen from it if we don't make a change." Geras says she wants to educate students that they are the future and changes need to be made in order for the future to look brighter here and in third world countries. Student Jamie VanVliet says being media savvy has helped her when selecting which companies to support when buying clothing. "Sometimes companies, they get negative publicity for the things that they do in their companies whether it's over seas or wherever it's taking place in the world. So by kind of paying attention to the news and other things around you and listening to what other people have to say it really does help you in know what companies do have fair trade and fair labour." Program Director for the Peace Project at YFC/Youth Unlimited Woodstock Dave Steenburg says this tragedy in Bangladesh really hits home the project's message. "With a tragedy like this it certainly gets people's attention as to where our clothes come from and who's paying the cost for the cheap clothes that we get. The event that we're running, the All's Fair Wear-athon, part of it is promoting the Fair Labour Association and this is a strategy for companies that are trying to do the right thing in developing nations." To get involved in the All's Fair Wear-athon, you can buy the t-shirt from Imogene's WERCreations at 426 Dundas St. for $15 by Tuesday, April 30.