Valerie Hauer of the Renew Europe group and José Manuel Fernandes of the European People’s Party group are co-reporters on the European Parliament’s setting out its resources for the EU budget.
The collapse of the Rana Plaza building 10 years ago in Dhaka, Bangladesh is etched in the memory of many. More than 1,100 people died that day in horrific circumstances as they were forced to go back to work in a collapsing building. The owners were fully aware of the risks, just as they were aware that their workers were making the rest of the world’s T-shirts and trainers under inhumane conditions: endless hours of hard work, poor hygiene, and for company Only one sewing machine.
and all this just for $1.25 per day – a meager salary for which he paid with his life.
Today, weeds cover the remaining debris on the outskirts of Dhaka. However, many institutions – from united nations international labor organization To transparency International Report that working conditions in the apparel industry have not significantly improved, and workers continue to face financial exploitation. Human rights, dignity and fair pay are at risk in the apparel sector. And the same goes for others, such as extractive industries, electronics or agriculture.
If there’s one thing we should all be ashamed of, it’s failing to do enough to improve the living conditions of the world’s poorest people – and their plight is often caused by our own shopping habits . Therefore, to tackle this scam, we propose a “fair border tax”, requiring companies importing products into the EU to pay a levy for any employees in their global supply chain , who paid salaries below the poverty level.
Part of the solution will be to make sure that companies that are importing and selling goods from third countries do not take advantage of bad regulations, leaving people on the other side of the world in need – or down. international poverty line Established by the World Bank. Depending on country category Whether they belong to low-income, lower-middle income or upper-middle income – the World Bank considers workers earning less than $2.15, $3.65 or $6.85 per day, respectively, to be (extremely) poor.
That’s why we are advocating the creation of this “reasonable border tax”.
This mechanism would follow a very simple logic: any company importing products into the EU single market, by workers who are paid below the poverty threshold in their respective country, would be required to pay between the said threshold and the limit. Fee equal to the difference will have to be paid. Salaries were received by their employees.
For example, if a clothing brand imports T-shirts from Bangladesh – whose poverty threshold is $3.65 – for sale in the European Union, the company will need to declare the wage costs of the workers who made the T-shirts. Was. Shirt to customs officers. And if it turns out that he or she – more often than not – has been paid, for example, $2.60 per day, the company must pay the EU the difference – ie $1.05.
The merits of this system are threefold. Firstly, companies operating in the EU would have a clear incentive to raise wages throughout their global supply chain, thus improving the living conditions of workers in third countries. Second, it should reform countries with poor labor standards and regulations. Third, European consumers would stop contributing to excessive exploitation.
Of course, as mentioned above, this is not a problem solely for the apparel industry. Thus, this measure should also apply to other regions to ensure that the EU is doing everything possible to reduce extreme poverty.
We believe that in the absence of such a mechanism, the gap between workers in rich countries and those living in countries with almost no social welfare will widen. Western countries can ensure that their workers continue to receive decent wages even in times of crisis – as they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. however, it is a luxury that poor countries cannot afford — or at least one that their leaders don’t prioritize.
Nevertheless, there is still something Europeans can do to tackle extreme poverty, and that is to stop promoting a perverse system that traps hard-working people around the world in misery.
Editors’ note: The authors will present their report on a “fair border tax” and other innovative resources for the EU budget in January this year.