INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The fight for safe conditions and fair pay in Bangladesh has not yet been won, campaigners are warning on the 10th anniversary of the
deadliest disaster in the garment industry’s history.On 24 April 2013, 1,134 people were killed and at least another 2,000 injured in the
collapse of a factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where clothing was being made for international brands including Primark, Bonmarché
and Canada’s Loblaw.The owner of the Rana Plaza building remains in prison but the murder trial against him and others, including factory
owners and local officials, continues to grind on almost seven years since charges were brought, with no one yet to be convicted.Campaigners
say workers in Bangladesh, which is the second-largest exporter of clothing in the world behind China, are still underpaid and can be
harassed for being part of a union, while factory owners face sharp practices from brands such as delaying payments, cancelling or
dramatically reducing orders without notice.Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress in the UK, said: “Ten years
after more than a thousand workers died in the Rana Plaza factory collapse, labour rights abuses are still rife in Bangladesh and many are
still working in unsafe conditions.“Relentless union campaigning secured important safety protections for factory workers
But many non-factory workers do not have the same protections.”Civilian volunteers assist in rescue efforts after the collapse of the Rana
Plaza garment building on the outskirts of Dhaka in 2013
Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty ImagesMoushumi Begum, who spent three hours trapped under the eight-storey Rana Plaza, said: “It all
I vividly remember every detail about that day, even though it was 10 years ago.”After the building collapsed, Begum spent the next three
hours fighting for her life
“Every second of those hours, I lay there praying to Allah
It was dark all around me and I couldn’t tell if I was dead or alive,” she said on a sunny afternoon in Savar, on the outskirts of
Dhaka, while cradling her baby.“I could hear people screaming and crying out for help
But I had taken in so much dust that every time I tried to open my mouth, no sound came out,” she added.Husnara Akhtar, 30, recalled
having breakfast with her husband, Abu Sufyan, before they made their way to work that day
“He always took four spoons of sugar with his tea and it drove me crazy,” she said, staring blankly at her own cup as she spoke.The
couple had both worked in the Rana Plaza building, though for different factories, said Akhtar: “He was on the 5th floor and I was on the
7th but we always had lunch together
He would wait for me by the gates after work so we could go home together
I last saw him alive by those gates … Little did I know how my life would change that day.”When Akhtar gained consciousness, after the
building’s collapse, she found herself wedged between two dead bodies
Her husband’s body was found a week later, crushed under a concrete pillar.The site of the former Rana Plaza building that collapsed on
the outskirts of Dhaka in 2013
Photograph: MD Mehedi Hasan/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/ShutterstockA positive legacy of the tragedy has been the creation of one of the world’s
toughest factory safety agreements, which has brought together brands, manufacturers and union representatives to check and fix buildings
and advise workers of their rights.Called the accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh, it legally bound fashion brands to help pay
for safety inspections and remediation in the country’s clothing industry
To date, there have been nearly 56,000 safety inspections across more than 2,400 garment factories in Bangladesh and more than 140,000
safety improvements made.More than two million workers are protected by the factory refurbishments
Although a similar number work in other factories not covered by the accord, their working conditions have had more oversight from
government-backed inspections since an increase in international scrutiny.Brands have contributed at least $3m (£2.4m) to helping renovate
Primark, Walmart, Zara’s owner Inditex and H-M were among those that contributed to a $30m compensation fund for the families of the
people who died or were injured in the Rana Plaza disaster.In 2021, an expanded international accord was developed that included more safety
and worker health provisions beyond fire, electrical and structural inspections and repairs of factories
It also committed brands to develop a similar structure in Pakistan and at least one other country.To date, at least 46 brands and retailers
have signed the Pakistan accord, which is expected to protect 750,000 workers, although inspections are only now getting under way.Wreaths
are laid at a monument near the site of the Rana Plaza building on the ninth anniversary of the disaster
Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty ImagesHowever, campaigners say some big multinationals including Levi’s, Gap, Walmart and Amazon have
yet to sign up to the Bangladesh factory safety deal.Atle Høie is the general secretary of IndustriALL, a global union federation that
played a key role in negotiating that accord
He said: “Although significant progress in Bangladesh’s garment industry has been made, safe factories still need to be fought for
Workers who produce the clothes that we wear deserve a workplace that provides them with a living wage and decent working conditions, not a
workplace that threatens to take their lives.“More brands need to join the accord, especially in North America, to gain the leverage we
need to extend it to more countries and make it truly global.”Levi’s said the accord was “not the only way to support workers in
Bangladesh or anywhere else”
The company said it was confident in its own system of factory oversight that provided “checks and balances [and] helped us go further and
gave us greater agility”.Walmart said it remained committed to sourcing from factories that maintained safe working environments
The US retailer signed up to the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety
After the dissolution of the alliance came the formation of Nirapon, a self-regulatory body that aims to regulate factories but does not
have legally binding commitments.Kalpona Akter, the founder and executive director of the grassroots organisation Bangladesh Center for
Workers’ Solidarity, said the achievement of persuading brands and factory owners to sign up to the accord should not be
underestimated.“No one believed this agreement was even possible,” she said
“Definitely we made a fundamental difference on [factory] safety but when we talk about other rights of workers such as wages and
gender-based violence it is still there.”Akter said the pandemic, during which many factories were forced to close, leaving workers
without pay in many cases, “showed how vulnerable workers” were and highlighted how they needed spare cash for emergencies.Michael
Posner, a former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour in the Obama administration, agreed.“Relationships
between Bangladeshi factory owners and their corporate customers, which were badly strained by the Covid pandemic, have continued to squeeze
the factory owners, and this exploitation leads to worse conditions for workers,” said Posner, who is director of the NYU Stern Center for
Business and Human Rights.Posner said he wanted to see more transparency on retail supply chains and commitments to payment deadlines
“Global fashion brands need to accept their share of the responsibility for ensuring the wellbeing of factory workers whose labour is a
crucial component of the continued growth and vitality of this industry,” he said.Now campaigners want brands to sign up to a new deal
which would support a living wage.Since the Rana Plaza disaster, the minimum wage in the garment sector in Bangladesh has been reviewed
The minimum was last reviewed in 2018, when it was set at 8,000 BDT (about £61) a month, half what workers were demanding.This wage, which
was not seen as enough to get by on five years ago, is still in place, despite hefty inflation and widespread worker protest.Akter said:
“The war in Ukraine has hit every single person’s kitchen
Even though so much work has been done, there is a whole system [that doesn’t work]
More than ever before, brands listen to consumers through social media, especially in Europe
Consumer pressure can bring some brands to the table.”
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com
