Ten years after the multi-story Rana Plaza building collapsed in Bangladesh, killing 1,138 workers and injuring thousands more, garment workers and their unions say that although safety has improved in some instances, much more needs to be done. And fundamental...
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ANNIVERSARY OF THE RANA PLAZA DISASTER
April 4, 2020 Workers will commemorate the anniversary of the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, in which 1,100 garment workers were killed as the multi-story building pancaked in a preventable accident that also left thousands severely injured. Years...
6 Years after Rana Plaza: Bangladesh Set to Backslide
On a recent Friday, the only day off for Bangladesh garment workers—if they get a day off—I went to visit workers at their homes to better understand how the people who stitch our clothes live their lives. Walking through the puzzling narrow alleys, I entered a tin...
‘They Have Forgotten the Lessons of Rana Plaza’
Following the Rana Plaza collapse in which 1,134 garment workers were killed and thousands more injured in Bangladesh, the horror of the incident spurred international action and resulted in significant safety improvements in many of the country’s 3,000 garment...
Five Years After Rana Plaza, Leaders Emphasize Need for Brands to Sign Accord Renewal
Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center, said, “Every time there is new initiative to regulate corporate behavior through supply chains, it is incumbent on all of us to insist freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining be included… It just doesn’t happen. Most of the time, multi-stakeholder initiatives … center on every other form of rights but human rights in the supply chain.”
Five Years After Rana Plaza, How Much Has Changed in Bangladesh?
“Markets and corporations don’t magically conjure up shared prosperity,” said executive director of the Solidarity Center Shawna Bader-Blau. “It’s the agency of individual citizens coming together collectively… that push governments and corporations to make changes to the way our economies and democracies work that make them more fair.”
Year in Review: 4th Anniversary of Rana Plaza
As part of our year in review series, we are highlighting the 12 most popular Solidarity Center web stories of 2017. This story received the most reach on our Facebook page in April. Read the full story here. As we approach April 24, the fourth anniversary of...
4 Years after Rana Plaza: Increased Worker Repression
Bangladesh garment workers seeking to improve working conditions by forming unions at their factories are frequently verbally or physically abused by their employers, face an unfair and arbitrary government union registration process and are unable to seek justice...
Murder Charges for Rana Plaza Disaster ‘Much Delayed’
“Over the past three years, the Bangladesh government has approved fewer and fewer union registration applications. Through their unions, workers are able to speak out freely about safety and health concerns at their worksites and prevent horrible tragedies like Rana Plaza. Limiting workers from forming unions puts workers’ safety at risk,” said Tim Ryan, Solidarity Center director of Asia programs.
Murder Charges for Rana Plaza Disaster ‘Much Delayed’
Bangladesh courts this week charged 38 people with murder for their role in the collapse of Rana Plaza factory building that killed more than 1,130 garment workers in April 2013. Solidarity Center Asia Region Director Tim Ryan calls the move “a much-delayed step in...
Garment Workers Urge Justice for Rana Plaza Tragedy
Meherunnesa joined the crowds gathered in Dhaka over the weekend to commemorate the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh. Her son, Abul Kalam Azad, was one of the more than 1,100 garment workers killed on April 24, 2013, as the...
Bangladesh Still Full of “Rana Plazas” Three Years after Disaster
While local factory owners and foreign buyers engage in disputes, workers suffer, said Alonzo Suson, director of Solidarity Center programs in Bangladesh. “A lot remains to be done. We need the political will of the government.”
3 Years after Rana Plaza, Little Change without a Union
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, the conditions Sharina describes at the garment factory where she works can be summed up in three words: dangerous, unsanitary and exploitative. Wages are delayed. Legally required maternity leave is denied. Workers are sometimes forced to toil...
Rana Plaza Charges: ‘A Long-Delayed Step Toward Justice’
Reports that at least 41 government officials have been charged in the deadly 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh “represent a long-delayed step toward justice,” says Solidarity Center Asia Regional Program Director Tim Ryan. “Finally, after more than two years,...
Rana Plaza Survivors: Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied
Rabbi Sheikh, 10, began crying when talking about his mother, Shirina Akhter. “I always think about my mother,” he said. Two years ago, Shirina was among more than 1,130 garment workers killed when the multistory Rana Plaza building pancaked. Her husband, Latif...
Rana Plaza 2 Years Later: Garment Workers under Siege
In the initial months after the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24, 2013, a preventable catastrophe that killed more than 1,130 Bangladesh garment workers and injured thousands more, global outrage spurred much-needed changes. Dozens of garment factories were closed for...
To Prevent Another Rana Plaza, Build Better Societies, not just Better Factories
According to research by the Solidarity Center, less than 1 percent of women in garment factories participate in worker associations in Bangladesh’s export zones.
Thousands in Bangladesh Mark Rana Plaza Anniversary
Thousands of Bangladeshis began gathering before dawn at the site of Rana Plaza, the multistory building that collapsed one year ago today, killing more than 1,110 garment workers and injuring at least 2,500. Relatives of those killed, survivors of the tragedy and...
1 Year After Rana Plaza, Survivors, Families Struggle to Survive
One year ago today, as the walls of the multistory Rana Plaza building collapsed around her, Moriom Begum was trapped, injured and unable to move in the dark, surrounded by the lifeless bodies of her co-workers. A sewing operator at New Wave Style, one of five garment...
Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘I Cannot Find the Happiness of Life’
Shumi Akter was not quite 12 years old when she first started working at a garment factory in Bangladesh. By age 18, she had worked as a sewing machine operator at the New Bottom Style garment factory for more than two years, where the $75 a month she was paid helped...