Judges rule against high court order banning film about Rana Plaza building collapse after appeal by producer

Workers’ rights groups highlight H&M supplier among firms failing basic safety measures initiated after 2013 Rana Plaza disaster

More than half of H&M’s top suppliers based in Bangladesh have yet to install basic fire-safety measures more than two years after the Rana Plaza factory collapse spurred an international effort to improve safety in the country.

More than a third of H&M’s top-rated “gold” and “platinum” graded suppliers have not removed sliding doors and collapsible gates, according to a report by workers’ rights groups, including the Clean Clothes Campaign.

The report adds that 13% of those suppliers have failed to take the basic step of removing locks from doors which could impede workers escaping a fire.

More than 1,100 workers died in the collapse of Rana Plaza in April 2013. The building housed several factories making clothing for brands including Primark, Matalan and Benetton. The scale of the disaster led to the creation of two international coalitions designed to assess and help fund improvements to building and fire safety at thousands of garment factories in Bangladesh.

Most European retailers signed up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which oversees more than 1,600 factories used by stores such as H&M, Marks & Spencer and Primark.

The accord’s inspectors have set out structural, electrical and fire-safety improvement plans for the majority of the factories. But more than two and a half years on all but 10% of those plans are behind schedule and only two were completed by December, the time of the last progress report.

The accord’s list of factories does not reveal the brands. H&M is one of only a handful of brands to reveal a list of all its suppliers internationally, and campaigners have used that to check up on its progress.

“We are particularly concerned by the slow pace of those renovations that are most critical to saving lives in the case of a fire,” said the report. “The hazards still waiting to be addressed are life threatening in nature.”

Anna McMullen, from Labour Behind the Label, a pressure group which is part of the Clean Clothes network, praised H&M for revealing its list of suppliers enabling third parties to check progress at the factories. But she said: “This huge collaboration is not delivering on what it promised to do. Key brands need to lead the way and the biggest bear most responsibility.”

A spokesperson for H&M said: “Fire exits are one of the most fundamental requirements for a supplier, in order to be allowed to produce for H&M. There have always been clear escape routes in our supply chain although they are in the process of being improved in accordance with new standards. We are in close dialogue with the suppliers and are following up on the work that remains to be done.”

The spokesperson added: “We continue to take a very active role within the accord and are following the remediation plan progress closely. We see good progress, but to further speed up the remediation we are currently working closely together with [international trade union] IndustriALL with full transparency to use our combined leverage where needed.”

An accord spokesman said that it recognised that progress in making factories safer had been too slow and that it had hired more than 30 engineers to speed up monitoring. It had also sent out more than 200 formal warning letters to factories, which could entail their being struck off as suppliers under the legally binding agreement.

Five factories were struck off in December and one this month, taking the total to nine so far.

Three defendants also charged for helping complex owner Sohel Rana flee after incident in which five garment factories fell in 2013, killing 1,135 people.

 

A court in Bangladesh has formally charged 38 people with murder in connection with the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building which killed 1,135 people in the country’s worst industrial disaster.
A total of 41 defendants face charges over the collapse of the complex, which housed five garment factories supplying global brands. Plaza owner Sohel Rana is the principal accused.
Public prosecutor Abdul Mannan said 38 people had been charged with murder while three were charged with helping Rana to flee after the incident. Rana was arrested after a four-day manhunt, apparently trying to flee across the border to India.
 

 

 

Of the 41 people charged, 35, including Rana, appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty, Mannan told reporters. The other six are fugitives and will be tried in absentia.
If convicted, defendants could face the death penalty.

The collapse of the complex, built on swampy ground outside the capital Dhaka, sparked demands for greater safety in the world’s second-largest exporter of readymade garments and put pressure on companies buying clothing from Bangladesh to act.
Duty-free access to western markets and low wages for its workers helped turn Bangladesh’s garment exports into a $28bn-a-year industry that is the economic lifeblood of the country of 160 million people.
The minimum monthly wage for garment workers in Bangladesh is $68, compared with about $280 in mainland China, which remains the world’s biggest clothes exporter.
The Rana Plaza tragedy prompted safety checks that led to many factory closures and the loss of exports and jobs, but the industry had begun to recover strongly despite sporadic attacks in Bangladesh claimed by Islamic State and al-Qaida. These have included murders of liberals, gay people, foreigners and members of religious minorities.
But a targeted attack on a restaurant in Dhaka on 1 July that claimed the lives of 20 people including 18 foreigners, many of whom worked in the garment business, could pose a fresh threat to the industry.
Islamic State said it was responsible for one of the most brazen attacks in the south Asian nation’s history, although that claim has yet to be confirmed.

 

Justice in Bangladesh grinds slow, but at least it grinds. Three years after 1,135 workers lost their lives in the collapse of the multi-story Rana Plaza garment factory, the court case against 38 people has begun, on charges of murder.

It might have been thought that this disaster would at most have generated manslaughter charges. However, the Bangladeshi authorities are entirely right to have gone for murder. These poor people died because of a willful act, a decision which placed their lives in jeopardy.

Only the day before the Rana Plaza collapsed like a house of cards, cracks which had long been observed in the building became noticeably worse. Bits of cement fell off walls and ceilings. There were some 5,000 people in the building. The workers streamed outside in alarm. Top managers were called who assured everyone that the place was safe. When some employees refused to return, they were told that they would not be paid for work that they had already done and would be fired. 

The next day the workforce, still anxious, dutifully returned. There was one of the power cuts that bedevil the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Heavy diesel generators on the roof of the four stories that had been added by the owners without permission were started up. The vibrations of the generators, together with that of the serried ranks of machinery on the shop floors, almost immediately brought about the collapse.  Apart from those that died, around 2,500 occupants were hideously injured. 

There can be no doubt that this crime amounted to corporate murder.  Now 38 people including the building’s owners and the bosses of the garment firms within it are on trial, very possibly for their lives.

But this is only part of the Rana Plaza tragedy that is being examined. Far more remains unclear. Recoiling in horror at the carnage, the big Western brands whose products were made so cheaply in similar death-trap factories, vowed that they would force their suppliers to clean up their acts.  There was much virtue-signaling and self-serving publicity made from visits by big brand executives to Bangladeshi garment factories. The local owners promised to make changes. Some factories were shut down, though as it turned out, only temporarily. In one case the interior of a multistory manufactory was reinforced with an internal steel frame. Union officials claimed it would be of dubious use. More importantly, the steel girders constricted the already tight space in which the workers operated and effectively blocked access to the emergency exits.

Bangladesh’s garment industry has been a noticeable success story, making a major contribution to the country’s gross national product. But there has to be a clear balance between wealth creation and the welfare of the workers who make it happen. At the heart of the Rana Plaza disaster were spectacular regulatory failures. This was a building zoned for offices not manufacturing. It was built on a rubbish dump without proper foundations.

Four floors were added without any action from planning officials. At every stage, this was an entirely preventable tragedy.  It must be hoped that the trial that has begun will expose why regulators turned a blind eye to a succession of planning breaches. All those guilty of this slaughter deserve to be punished but it is equally crucial that the lessons learnt from this crime will not only be learned, but rigorously applied.

From: Amirul Haque Amin
General Secretary
National Garments Workers Federation

Greetings from Bangladesh and National Garments Workers
Federation.Yesterday 24 garment workers killed in a factory fire. I am writing the news from one of our daily English Newspaper.The picture is in the attached file.

In solidarity
Amirul Haque Amin
General Secretary,NGWF

At least 23 garment workers were killed and about 100 others suffered injured in a stampade at a building housing several garment factories in the city's Mirpur area on wednesday.

The tragic accident of stampade happened as a fire broke out at "Macro Sweater" on the 7th floor of the 8th storeyed building at plot No M-2,Main road -1,Mirpur - 14.

They faced the tragic end of their lives as the workers of four garments factories housed at the same building tried to escape the fire originated from an Electric short-circuit at about 9.15 am.The name of another factory at the building is Europa Garments.

The identities of the dead and injured persons could not be khown immediately. Of the victims 13 were women.Bodies of 17 victims were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital(DMCH) for autopsy.

Of the injured, 3 were undergoing treatment at the DMCH in critical conditions.Some of the wonded were given first aid and released from the hospitals.

Apart from the DMCH,the injured were admitted to diffirent city clinics and hospitals including South View Hospital and Suhrawardy Hospital.

Police and fire brigade soures said being panicked at the alarm of the emergency belt,the workers of all the factories tried to come out of their respectives floors at a time.

they said the number of casualities were high because the main gate was Loocked at the time.Scores of the panicky workers tried to save their lives using the single emergency staircase.

Locals and Fire fighters rushed the spot,extinguished the fire and rescued the survivors.

Being angered at the accident,local clashed with the police .Hundreads of locals thronged the spot to see the incident, but police interepted them,resulting the clashes.The police of Kaprul Thana , including the OC Elahi Box, came under mob attack.

The owners of the factories , however, claimed that they had safety measures at the factories and the workers were given proper training to escape through emergency exit.

High police officials visited the spot after the accident.

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, different labour organisations and left political parties blamed the owners for not following the laws related to the garment factories.They demanded compensation of Taka 2 lakh for each victims and Taka 50 thousand for each injured.

They said about 300 garment workers died in fire or stampede incidents in last 10 years.

Jatiya Garments Sramik Federation( National garments workers Federation) will hold a condolence and protest meeting at Muktangan in the city tomorrow(friday)."
The Bangladesh Observer
Dhaka, Thursday, August 9,2001

Garment workers brought out processions Thursday, held rallies and handed over a memorandum to the US embassy demanding duty-free and quota-free access of Bangladesh apprels to the US market.

Earlier, they held a rally in front of the National Press Club under the banner of National Garments Workers Federation (NGWF).

Speakers at the meeting criticised the US government for its bias towards other countries which they said jeopardesesd the country's garments industry that provided employment to two million people.

About 1000 garment industries have been closed and 300,000 people have already lost their jobs due to cancellation, suspension and rejection of orders by the US buyers following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA.

They critised the US government for providing duty-free and quota-free access of 72 sub-Saharan and Caribbean countries to the US market. Very recently Pakistan was also given the same facilities.

The meeting presided over by Amirul Haque Amin, general secretary of the federation, demanded immediate provision of duty-free and quota-free access of local garments to the US market.

The meeting was addressed, among others, by advocate Abed Raja and NGWF central leaders Shahida Sarker, Kazi Mohammad Ali, Mariam Begum, Jahangir Mollah, Shaheeda Akter and Mojibur Rahman Pintu."
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Friday,October 26 th.
First Page

In Solidarity
Amirul Haque Amin
General Secretary
National Garments Workers Federation

"A labour federation yesterday urged the US authorities to allow duty and quota-free market access of apparel items from Bangladesh to save some 16(1600000) lakh garment workers, reports UNB.

Around 300,000 garment workers have already lost their jobs and more stand under the threat, National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) general secretary Amirul Haque Amin told a press conference at its office at Topkhana Road.

He said the jobless workers are now passing inhuman life and staging demonstrations in different garment industry areas almost cvery day.

"Misery of many of the jobless workers accentuated as they were retrenched without compensation and many of the entrepreneurs did not pay wage arrears," the union leader told journalists.

Amin said the setback of the RMG industry was due to US TDA 2000 that awarded duty and quota-free market access to 72 Sub-Saharan and African countries leaving Bangladesh incompetitive.

The federation announced its plan for submitting a memorandum to US Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday urging duty and quota free market access.

To protect the industry, main export earner for the country, of the government to take immddiate measures to get the market access and remove the barriers in European markets."

The Independent
Wesnesday 24Th October,2001
Page 3