10 Years After Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza Disaster, Advocates Say There’s Still Work to Be Done

FILE - In this Friday, June 14, 2013 file photo, Bangladeshi Maksuda holds a picture of her son Mehedi who was a garment worker and is missing following the collapse of the Rana Plaza building as she poses next to the rubble in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. A delegation of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office is on a five-day visit to Bangladesh ending Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, to see the improvement of safety standards at factory sites and changes to legal documents allowing for wider workers’ rights, key conditions for regaining the Generalized System of Preferences facility under which the United States allows imports of more than 5,000 goods from 122 of the world’s poorest countries with low or zero-tariff benefits. The trade benefit was withdrawn after the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building complex housing five garment factories outside the capital, Dhaka in 2013. The garment industry is crucial to Bangladesh’s economy as it employs about 4 million workers, mostly rural women, and many other sectors including banks are heavily dependent on it. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

Ten years after the worst industrial accident in the garment industry’s history, labor leaders say much has been done to improve conditions. But much more remains to be done.

“We are not dying [by the] hundreds like 2013,” said Kalpona Akter, an activist and labor organizer from Bangladesh. “We still have a long way to go.”

On April 24, 2013, garment workers in the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, noticed cracks in the building’s walls. Under pressure to fill orders for hundreds of clothing retailers, supervisors said there was no reason to worry and to get to work.

More than 1,130 garment workers were killed when Rana Plaza collapsed later that day. Another 2,500 were injured.

After the tragedy, some workers said they only reported for work because they were told they wouldn’t be paid otherwise. Others reported being threatened with physical violence. Some said they were beaten.

It was a turning point in an industry with a questionable safety record.

Outrage over the disaster fueled riots and brought international attention to the safety issues plaguing garment workers in Bangladesh. This provided workers the confidence to begin speaking out and organizing.

Akter, who worked as a child laborer in the ready-made garment factories, said workers had been complaining about problems at Rana Plaza for at least two years.

“For the first time, workers received a voice to say no. We were no longer just equipment in the factory; we are people,” Akter said.

Agreements Protect Workers

The disaster led to reforms and an agreement that called for regular inspections and reports on workplace safety and required remediation of shortcomings. The Bangladesh Accord established a safety committee, safety training, and a mechanism for workers to complain. It also protected workers’ right to refuse unsafe work.

Retailers and garment merchants from the United States primarily led the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. It set and enforced safety standards for the ready-made garment industry. Alliance members committed to doing business with companies that met those standards. Companies that didn’t were blacklisted.

Michael Bride, senior vice president for Corporate Responsibility and Global Affairs at the PVH Corp, the parent company of Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and other well-known clothing brands, said the agreements were mainly signed because companies realized it was in their best interests to improve things.

Fashion Is More Regulated

He pointed out that in the past, most corporations focused solely on getting the best deal. They weren’t held responsible for their supplier’s working conditions.

But as consumers become more aware of labor conditions in other countries, corporations become more mindful of the impression they are making with their customers.

“Fashion is becoming a regulated industry,” Bride said.

Up to 1,600 factories were inspected under the agreements. More than 90 percent of faults had been corrected, with 428 factories reporting 100 percent corrected and 178 factories being blacklisted.

By 2019, both agreements had expired. Responsibility for enforcing their standards was passed to the Ready Made Sustainability Council. This group of business, government, and labor leaders was set up in June 2020.

US Must Take Clear, Bold Action

Kelly Fay Rodriguez, the U.S. State Department’s special representative for International Labor Affairs, said government officials have been hostile to union organizers and others who stand for workers’ rights.

She said the council couldn’t be left to do its work without oversight.

“Unless we take clear and bold action to show the world the value of workers, the underlying conditions that allowed the Rana Plaza collapse will continue,” she said.

Rodriguez said that it’s essential that the United States continue to support the freedom of association for workers. Many politicians have a financial stake in the factories, so they work to keep unions out of their shops.

She said that in response to worker protests for higher wages in 2019, many union leaders were blacklisted.

“This sent a clear message about what happens when workers raise their voices,” Rodriguez said.

‘Radical Change’ Necessary

After Rana Plaza, the garment workers’ union, IndustriALL, and retail workers’ union, UniGlobal Union, joined more than 190 clothing brands and retailers and four witnesses as signatories on the accord.

Businesses from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Global NGOs and Trade Unions, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States are all signatories to the agreements.

Although the agreements brought about positive changes, Scott Nova, executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium, said one thing is clear: “The fundamental lesson of Rana Plaza is that global corporations will not regulate themselves.”

He acknowledged that the movement has spread with similar agreements reported in other countries, such as Pakistan, India, Honduras, and Mexico. But Nova pointed out that workers still face hostile governments financed by factory owners in those countries and elsewhere.

According to Nova, there is a gap between the changes needed and the agencies that can and should enforce them. Nova said that the gap could only be filled by strong regulation.

“If we do that, we’ll see the kind of radical change that’s necessary,” he said.