ARE WE ALL AWARE CONSUMERS?
Rana Plaza, four years later. Researchers and activists say working conditions have hardly improved for
garment workers since the Bangladesh factory collapse killed 1,138 people. Although many businesses fight
to create a better environment for employees, profitability and workers’ rights rarely have the same
importance in real life even now.
​
​
​
​
WHAT HAPPENED
On 24th April 2013, there was a collapse of The Rana Plaza, a clothing factory in Savar (a district in the division
of Dhaka, Bangladesh). The building was owned by Sohel Rana and it contained clothing factories, a bank, apartments and several shops. The factories manufactured clothes for brands including Benetton, Bonmarchè,
Monsoon Accessorize, Mango, Primark, and Walmart.
On the morning of the collapse, garment workers and managers refused to enter in the
Rana Plaza factory building because there were large and dangerous cracks in the factory walls. The owner, Sohel Rana, made them hit with sticks to force them to go into the factory because if they didn’t return to work, there would be no money to pay them for the month of April, which meant that there would be no food for them and their children.
​
WHO
​
After an hour of work the electricity went out, the workers felt the building began to move and heard a loud explosion as the building collapsed, killing about 1.130 workers.
Eighty percent of the workers were young women, 18, 19, 20 years of age and their work shift was 13 to 14
hours. Young workers earned 12 cents an hour, while junior workers took home 22 cents an hour and senior workers received 24 cents an hour. In fact, the minimum monthly wage for garment workers in Bangladesh
was $68, compared with about $280 in China.
CAUSES OF COLLAPSE
After the collapse, the government of Bangladesh organized an
investigation to determine the origins of the disaster.
It discovered that the main causes were:
-
The use of poor quality construction material
-
The building was built on an old pond which compromised
-
The building was planned for
shops and offices, but not factories. -
The addition of 3 irregular floors above the original permit
(from 5 storeys to 8) the structural integrity.
​
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER
​
Since the collapse, three major initiatives have been developed to improve conditions in Bangladesh:
-
the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group, between the United Nations and Bangladesh
All three initiatives are designed to encourage safe construction and work practices, empower the garment industry hiring additional inspectors and involve the big corporates by asking them to contribute in order to
reach appropriate safety standards. With these processes companies were also obliged to recognize that
workers were paid fairly and worthily.
HAVE REALLY CONDITIONS IMPROVED IN
BANGLADESH’S FACTORIES?
Despite progress has been made, lots of work still remains to be done to
ensure the rights and safety of workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry.
Global brands including H&M, Mango, Primark, the Gap and Walmart, among
a dozen others, have contributed $21.5m to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund,
which was set up to give compensation to victims and their families. But the real change will come in the form
of improvements to worker safety and worker’s rights. Both brands and national leaders had promised that
the review and updating of all of Bangladesh’s factories would be completed by the two-year anniversary.
In 2015 the review process was not finished and building improvements have just begun.
However, those processes are set to end in 2018.
HOW IT IS TODAY
Thirteen years ago, the land where Rana Plaza once stood was a pond, now it is
a pond again. Two years after the collapse, the Workers Party of Bangladesh built
a visible memorial to remind the disaster which is in front of the empty area where Rana Plaza once stood. It is composed by two giant granite fists clutching a
hammer and sickle.
​
​
​
CONCLUSIONS
​
The Rana Plaza disaster has been an important example of unsafe conditions in the garment industry.
Nowadays people must recognize the connection between the clothes they buy and the workers who make
them. The power of consumers and the media should not be underestimated and to change the situation
people should demand transparency in supply chains.
​
​
​
SITOGRAPHY
http://www.globallabourrights.org/alerts/rana-plaza-bangladesh-anniversary-a-look-back-and-forward
