Apr 26, 2013
“The factory caught fire about 6 p.m. After the fire, they did not allow us to go out,” says Nazma. “They locked the gate. The workers were screaming together.”
Tazreen Factory Fire Survivors Describe Death Trap from Solidarity Center on Vimeo.
Nazma is among the Tazreen Factory fire survivors in this video who describe the horrific workplace conditions that killed 112 garment workers in November. The unsafe and deadly working conditions at Tazreen are similar to those many Bangladesh garment workers face every day.
But for many, living through the fire is just the beginning of their ordeal. The meager compensation Tazreen fire survivors have received from the government and the global apparel brands is not enough to replace the wages many no longer can earn because they are too injured to work.
For Nazma and the other mostly female survivors who sustained extensive physical wounds, the inability to support their families and the cultural stigma attached to their injuries means, in Nazma’s words, “death was better than living this kind of life.”
Solidarity Center staff in Dhaka, Bangladesh, compiled this video.
Apr 25, 2013
Workers Memorial Day, internationally observed each April 28, is more timely than ever this year. The rising death toll from yesterday’s building collapse in Bangladesh and the recent workplace deaths at the fertilizer factory in West, Texas, serve as tragic reminders of how much more needs to be done to ensure the safety and health of workers around the world. As part of Workers Memorial Day events, the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., is hosting a symposium: “From Mourning to Mass Movements: Garment Workers, Fire Safety and the International Fight for Social Justice.”
Sumi Abedin, a 19-year-old Bangladesh garment worker, was among the survivors of another horrific workplace tragedy, the disastrous Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory fire that killed 112 workers in November (injured survivors describe their efforts at survival in a video here). Sumi recently traveled to the United States on a trip to meet with congressional lawmakers and describe the unsafe and deadly working conditions at Tazreen—conditions similar to those many Bangladesh garment workers face every day. Solidarity Center staff compiled this report from her discussions in Washington, D.C.
On Nov. 24, 2012, Sumi finished lunch and, as she did every other work day, returned to stitching clothes on the fourth floor of the Tazreen garment factory. Hours later, she heard co-workers talking about a fire on the first floor. Her managers told them to get back to work—they said there was no fire. After a while, smoke began rising through the stairwells, and workers panicked. Along with her colleagues, Sumi ran for the stairs, but the two women’s stairwells were locked. The third, reserved for men and official visitors, was overwhelmed with workers who had fallen while trying to escape the burning building.
The electricity had gone out, and the stairwell was clogged with thick smoke. Unable to reach the first floor, Sumi made her way to the third floor, following co-workers who used their cell phones as flashlights. As some workers fought to open the barred windows, one of the mechanics managed to pry open the exhaust fan. Sumi faced a choice—risk death by remaining in the building or by jumping. She wanted her parents to be able to identify her body, so she chose to jump from the third floor.
Sumi passed out after the fall, but when she regained consciousness, she saw that her male colleague who had jumped with her lay dead next to her side. When she tried to stand, she realized that her right leg was broken, as was her left hand. She called to another worker to help her get home, where she found her grieving parents mourning her death.
Sumi’s parents rushed to a neighbor’s house to borrow money so she could go to the hospital. After receiving treatment for smoke inhalation, Sumi was sent to another hospital that was better equipped to treat her broken bones.
As compensation, Li & Fung, a multinational supply-chain management company, paid Sumi and some of the other survivors $1,200 through the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA). She was required to sign documentation she did not understand to receive the payment. The majority of the money has been spent on her medical bills, and she is still unable to work. The ready-made garment sector is her best hope for employment, but her injuries prevent her from holding a stitching job. Sumi also has nightmares about the fire and says she is too afraid to go back to a factory. Other workers sustained injuries even more debilitating than Sumi’s, but they, too, received only $1,200 and back-pay.
Sumi says responsibility for compensating survivors and families of those deceased should be shared among the factory owners, BGMEA, the Bangladesh government and the corporate brands that sourced from the factory. Sumi, who started working in garment factories at age 13, recounts that while she was at Tazreen, factory auditors representing a variety of buyers visited the factory regularly, often several times a month. Yet managers always knew about the audits in advance, and before each visit, they coached workers on how to answer questions. Managers also provided temporary safety equipment and “fire committee” T-shirts to workers, even though a real fire committee did not exist.
Managers told workers to lie about factory conditions, such as access to clean drinking water and timely payment of wages. Managers also doubled as translators for workers who were interviewed. As soon as auditors left, managers removed safety equipment, locked stairwells and returned fabric stockpiles to their “storage” spaces—which often were building exits. For survivors of the Tazreen fire who have received compensation, the funds fail to provide the long-term health care that many require. Meanwhile, 41 other factories in Bangladesh have had fires or fire-related incidents since the Tazreen tragedy, according to statistics compiled by the Solidarity Center in Bangladesh, illustrating the continuing disregard for human rights and human lives in Bangladesh’s garment industry.
Mar 15, 2013
Two massive fires at garment factories in Bangladesh and Pakistan last year killed hundreds of workers, many trapped in buildings with inadequate or locked exits. A new report examining both horrific incidents finds that the deaths and injuries were “caused or exacerbated by illegal, unsafe buildings, faulty electrics or machinery, poor safety procedures and avoidable hazards such as blocked or inadequate fire exits.”
The report, Fatal Fashions, points out that workers’ lack of freedom to form unions and bargain collectively to improve working conditions underlies this deadly environment. “Under different conditions, worker representatives could be expected to address this issue with factory management, but in both Pakistan and Bangladesh, factory owners generally refuse to allow trade unions into their factories,” the report says.
“In countries with generally higher factory safety standards, experience proves that involvement of workers in safety committees, the availability of complaint procedures and the freedom to refuse work under unsafe conditions, has contributed to improved safety.”
The report presents company profiles of the factory owners, Ali Enterprises in Karachi, Pakistan and Tazreen Fashions in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and details accounts of the September and November 2012 fires and actions taken in their aftermath, including victim compensation. The report was produced by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and SOMO (Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen), an organization that provides independent research for civil society organizations. Among the report’s findings:
• Bangladesh has only 80 inspectors in the entire country—including 20 inspectors for occupational health and safety—for 24,299 factories, 3 million shops and establishments, and two major ports.
• Many of the workers and families affected by the garment fires in Karachi and Dhaka have not yet received any compensation or have only received compensation that fails to cover the loss of income for the survivors and their families. Neither Bangladesh nor Pakistan has ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 121, which recommends a structured compensation plans for victims of workplace disaster.
• The legal minimum wage in both countries “does not equal a living wage.” Bangladesh garment workers are the lowest paid in the world, followed by those in Cambodia and Pakistan.
• Neither Bangladesh nor Pakistan has ratified ILO conventions on freedom of association or the right to a safe and healthy work environment.
In conclusion, the report states that the two cases “are not stand-alone incidents, but the result of systemic hazardous conditions in the garment industry in Pakistan and Bangladesh.” The fires “reflect systemic flaws on the level of government protection of human rights and lack of respect shown by the garment industry for workers’ rights.”
Read the full report.
Feb 20, 2013
Three months after at least 112 workers died in the Tazreen Fashions factory fire, dangerous and deadly working conditions are commonplace for the nearly 2 million Bangladeshi garment workers, who have little recourse than to take jobs that may kill them.
Despite international outrage and local promises to improve workplace safety, at least 37 fire and fire-related incidents have occurred in Bangladeshi garment factories since the Nov. 24 Tazreen tragedy, according to data compiled by Solidarity Center staff in Bangladesh. Nine more people have lost their lives at work and more than 650 garment workers have been injured. The Solidarity Center in the capital, Dhaka, has received reports that underage workers were injured at one factory fire incident.
February 20, World Day of Social Justice, highlights the necessity of promoting decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all. Despite a global outcry about workplace safety following the Tazreen fire, where flames engulfed a multistory building lacking in fire escapes and exits, Bangladesh has averaged three fire incidents a week. Bangladeshi garment workers—extremely poor and vulnerable and primarily women—risk their lives every day on the job, often too fearful to complain about substandard conditions and possible dangers.
Bangladesh is now the world’s second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of total national exports. Yet the base pay for a garment worker in Bangladesh is the equivalent of $37 a month—the same monthly amount it costs to buy food for one person and the definition of “extreme poverty.”
The Solidarity Center, which for years has been supporting workers’ rights in Bangladesh— including providing fire safety training—is working with partners to hold accountable the Bangladeshi government, which is bound by law to protect its citizens.
Crucially, workers must be empowered and protected—legally and physically—to demand accountability and review their government’s performance in enforcing laws. Bangladesh has laws that, on paper, protect workers, guarantee their right to freely speak and associate and mandate fire escapes. It must enforce these laws. Bangladesh’s workers are best-positioned to improve health and safety conditions. They are in the factory every day. They know which exits are locked, how hazardous materials are stored and when illegal building additions are being constructed above their heads.
Yet, when garment workers in Bangladesh have sought to improve their working conditions, they are harassed, attacked and, in the case of union organizer Aminul Islam, murdered.
“If the government and buyers are serious about addressing deadly working conditions, workers must be able to assert their rights, organize unions with their co-workers, raise safety concerns and demand better working conditions according to their best judgment,” said Tim Ryan, Solidarity Center Asia director.
