The Savar Tragedy

Devastation swept through Bangladesh as news of the collapsed Rana Plaza in Savar echoed throughout the country several days ago. At least 3000 people - mostly garments workers - were inside the building when it collapsed at 9am on Wednesday morning. The building owner had been forewarned of its structural inadequacies on Tuesday by industrial police who had observed large cracks in the building, advising that work be suspended immediately. These warnings were ignored, and workers were pushed to attend work regardless. The top 4 floors of the 8 story building were also constructed illegally. Details of the story can be read here. As of now, over 360 people are known to be dead and 2500 have survived, although 1000 suffer injuries of which many are critical.

Rescue teams as well as the general public have been gently and carefully lifting survivors into safety. They've been selflessly risking their lives, rummaging through the rubble for signs of life and distant, hopeful cries for help, night and day, rain or shine. By now the stench of decomposing bodies is unbearably strong, and larger machinery such as cranes are being brought in to lift the concrete pieces as hopes of recovering further bodies by a slower process diminishes. BBC has posted photographs of the incessant and extremely courageous rescue efforts on the scene.

Bangladesh houses some 3.2 million garment workers, mostly female, who sew clothes for big Western brands such as Wal-mart, Primark, Gap, Mango, Matalan etc. They work for 12-14 hour shifts, 30 days a month for an average wage of a meager $37/month. Aside from structural integrity, Bangladeshi garments factories also lack emergency fire evacuation exits as exposed by the Tazreen Fashion factory burning in November 2012, in which 117 were killed. Following investigations it was found that a supplier was using clothing from Tazreen without Wal-mart's approval.

This disaster, alongside many other cases of indecent safety standards in third world factories (e.g. in Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Mexico), have attracted criticism from rights groups against large Western companies that exploit cheap labour in these countries without taking responsibility for safety. The companies do not own the building, but this is not sufficient justification for neglect if they are using the products manufactured by the workers there.

Western activists criticise retailers and apparel companies for not doing more to force improvements in a country where working conditions are poor and government oversight is lax.

Companies often resist efforts to force a deeper discussion about the tradeoffs.

Before Wal-Mart invited shareholders to this year's annual meeting, to take place June 7, the board of directors rebuffed another effort to force a shareholder vote on workplace safety issues.

According to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a shareholder presented a proposal to require the company to report on its progress for assessing risks to human rights in its operations and supply chain. But Wal-Mart said the proposal was so similar to the one that failed in 2011, and that it already addresses the request through its standards for suppliers, that it did not merit reconsideration. The SEC approved its decision to reject the request for a shareholder vote.

Source: http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/04/27/despite-disasters-bangladesh-works-for-retailers

It just makes me sick to my stomach to think that retail giants continue to get richer by wringing every ounce of production possible from the poor, with complete disregard for their lives. The Walton family, founders of Wal-mart, is the richest family in the world. People like Glenn Murphy, CEO of Gap, earns a staggering salary of $1.5 million a year. Maybe this is unrelated, maybe these facts are disjointed and irrelevant, but I'm just underlining the gulf of difference between the rich and the poor in this world. Exactly how much more money do they need for themselves at the expense of our innocent people? It's very heartbreaking.

...the Clean Clothes Campaign calls upon brands sourcing from Bangladesh to sign on to theBangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement immediately.

The CCC, together with local and global unions and labour rights organisations has developed a sector-wide program for action that includes independent building inspections, worker rights training, public disclosure and a long-overdue review of safety standards. It is transparent as well as practical, and unique in being supported by all key labour stakeholders in Bangladesh and internationally.

This agreement has been signed last year by PVH Corp, and campaigners are hoping that the signing of this agreement will pave the way for establishing safer work environments in Bangladesh's retail industry. The National Garment Workers Federation of Bangladesh has also been fighting for this cause and has lodged a petition on Change.org.

>> Please sign this petition and share: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/primarkjobs-mango-matalan-ensure-safety-for-workers-compensate-victims-of-building-collapse <<

The collapsed Rana Plaza in Savar, Bangladesh

No human life should be sacrificed simply to maintain the luxury of consumerism in the developed world. Every person who died in this tragedy represents an established life and a family. This is not only the responsibility of Western retailers, but every person involved in the construction of these buildings, such as the engineers and owners who were rightfully arrested over the last few days, as well as the corruption of the government/bureaucrats for not ensuring that people are paid their due wage and rights. The tragedy reflects the deep injustices and malpractices abundant within society and deserves immediate attention from us all as a whole.