Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘I Cannot Find the Happiness of Life’

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 support her husband and parents, with whom she lived.

On April 24, 2013, Shumi was among the more than 1,100 garment workers who perished in the collapse of the multistory Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories, including New Bottom Style. Before leaving for work the morning she died, she gave her father more than half a month’s wages so he could pay a debt he owned.

“Now, I cannot find the happiness of life,” says Shumi’s father, Ayub Ali, a rickshaw driver who described his daughter as extremely affectionate.

Shumi’s mother, Amena Begum, still cries at night for her daughter and since the tragedy, has been unable to work at the garment factory where she was employed. Shumi’s body, found 11 days after the collapse, was recognizable only from her identification card and dress.

When Shumi’s parents went to collect their daughter’s body, government officials gave them $244 in compensation. Later, they also received $1,223 from the prime minister’s office and some $300 from private agencies.

Ayub Ali, who makes $3 a day, said “when one of the family member’s income discontinues, then the need is obvious.” Shumi had no children, but two younger siblings remain at home.

“I know very well that even lots of compensation can’t give my daughter back,” Ayub Ali said. “But the compensation can bring little bit of relief towards my family.”

Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘My Husband’s Life Was Valuable’

Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘My Husband’s Life Was Valuable’

Rubina and her husband, Abdul Hamid, made enough to support themselves and their two children after they moved five years ago from a village to Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital. Both were employed as garment workers. But their efforts to ensure an even better future for their children ended April 24, 2013.

That day, the multistory Rana Plaza building collapsed, killing more than 1,100 workers, including Abdul Hamid. When Rubina left the factory where she worked to look for her husband in the hours after the disaster, her employer fired her.

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Abdul Hamid was killed in the Rana Plaza building collapse. Photo Courtesy Rubina

“I want nobody to become helpless like me,” Rubina said, tears in her eyes. “Me and my husband thought if both of us work hard, we may bring a better future for our children.”

“We once had money. I could feed my children well. They didn’t have to face difficulties. But now I can’t feed them properly, can’t buy clothes for them.” Abdul Hamid, who worked as a cutting master at New Wave Style, one of five garment factories in Rana Plaza, was paid $110 to $122 per month with overtime.

Without a job in a garment factory, Rubina is making $24 a month by cleaning five houses. Her monthly rent, $18, takes up most of her earnings, and she is three months behind in payments. She also must pay for school admission and exam fees.

3, fear that if Rubina returns to work in a garment factory, she, too, will be killed. “They say, ‘Father died, if you go, you will die too. Please don’t go.’ ”

Rubina received $1,223 in compensation from the government—roughly 10 months of her husband’s salary—and another $183 from private organizations, but she will be forced to return to her village if she does not receive sufficient compensation so she can pay her rent and feed her daughters.

The day before Rana Plaza collapsed, engineers identified cracks so serious they said the building should be closed immediately. But many factory managers threatened workers they would be fired if they did not show up for work.

Rubina waited eleven days before some of her husband’s remains were found. She identified him by the pants he wore.

“Hundreds of people lost their lives,” she said. “They (the factory owners) shouldn’t take people’s lives.” She thinks management should get more safety training and the government should inspect the factories to ensure they are safe.

“If (the factory owners) don’t give me compensation, I can do nothing,” Rubina said. The owners, she said, have a responsibility. “My husband died. But his life was valuable.”

Iraq Unions Continue to Press for Passage of Labor Law

Labor Committee Vice President Salih Al Asady (second from left) speaks at a press conference held by Iraqi unions

Labor Committee Vice President Salih Al Asady (second from left) speaks at a press conference held by Iraqi unions

Iraqi trade union leaders and members are keeping the spotlight on Parliament, urging lawmakers to pass a trade union law that has been pending since January.

Some 82 unions members and leaders from all Iraqi trade unions, with support from the Solidarity Center, held a press conference in Basra April 15, their latest effort to secure passage of the law. If passed, it would provide first-ever worker rights protections in line with core labor standards, including freedom of association.

In a demonstration of solidarity, the Kurdistan United Workers Union (KUWU) sent two delegates to the event, which also included the head of Parliament’s labor committee.

Union representatives also raised concerns over the scope of the law, which does not cover public-sector workers. Labor Committee Vice President Salih Al Asady, who took part in the event, said he would bring the issue to Parliament. He also urged the Iraqi union leaders and members to continue to show their strength through rallies and other campaign actions to push lawmakers to vote on the law before this session ends. Elections are scheduled April 30, and the current Parliament will remain in session until June 15.

Parliament has voted on 46 of 157 articles, however the remainder have been unable to be voted on due to an insufficient number of members of Parliament showing up to each session, though the law continues to appear each day on the agenda. This is the result of political conflicts, in particular around the inability of the parliament to pass the budget law.

Six major Iraqi labor unions, together with the Solidarity Center, have worked since June 2012 to bring proposed changes to the nation’s draft labor law in line with International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. Workers are still subject to labor laws from the Saddam Hussein era.

Watch a video of the event (in Arabic).

Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘Everybody Is Scared to Work’

Rana Plaza, 1 Year Later: ‘Everybody Is Scared to Work’

Most of the garment workers who survived the April 24, 2013, collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh say they have been so physically injured and emotionally traumatized, they are unable to ever again work in a garment factory.

“Everybody is scared (to work) now (after the collapse),” said Hamida Begum, 28, who survived the disaster but suffers from constant pain in her right leg and eye. Yet garment factory work offers a rare option for millions of Bangladeshis to earn a living, and now Hamida is unable to contribute the wages needed to support herself and her family. “I am not educated and I cannot manage a good job,” she said.

Hamida, who was employed as a helper in New Wave Style, one of five garment factories in the Rana Plaza building, moved a few years ago to Dhaka, the capital, in search of a job. With overtime, she was paid between $60 and $70 a month. A year after the disaster, she still has received almost no compensation for her injuries.

“When the prime minister came to visit the victims in the hospital, I received $122 and a sari,” Hamida said. She received another $400 dollars from private donations.

Hamida’s husband earns between $1 and $2 a day, and the couple live with Hamida’s sister. They are unable to provide for their four-year-old daughter, who lives in a village with relatives.

She must take pain killers to endure the pain from her injuries. During the collapse, her head was injured and a gas cylinder fell on her right leg. More than 1,100 workers were killed and thousands more injured. Some bodies have never been found.

Hamida and her co-workers did not want to go into the Rana Plaza building on April 24. But they were told to report to work, despite the findings of an engineer the day before that no one should be in the building because it was structurally unsound. Hamida said as soon as the building generator was switched on, the building collapsed. She remembers one co-worker falling on her as she fell on two others. Then she lost consciousness.

The government should fulfill its responsibility to ensure that garment workers are not injured or killed at work, Hamida said. And if she ever met the factory owner, she would ask for sufficient compensation to support her family.

“If the owners are morally conscientious, then they should make an arrangement for us so that we can live a normal life.”

Rana Plaza One Year Later: Living in Constant Pain

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Moriom Begun survived the Rana Plaza collapse but lives in constant pain. Credit: Solidarity Center

When the multistory Rana Plaza building collapsed on April 24, 2014, in Bangladesh, Moriom Begum was trapped for two days in the room where she worked as a sewing operator. Hunched in the dark, unable to move beneath a sewing stool and suffering from serious injuries, Moriom was surrounded by the lifeless bodies of her co-workers. As the long hours dragged by, Moriom thought, “I will never see the world again.”

Moriom, who had worked for more than three years at New Wave Style, one of five factories in the building, lost her right hand in the disaster and suffers from continuous pain in her wrist. She recently was fitted with an artificial hand, but she says “the hand is very heavy. “This hand seems like an extra burden for me.”

Like many of the garment workers in Rana Plaza the day of the collapse, Moriom and her colleagues didn’t want to enter into the factory. The day before, engineers had identified cracks so serious they said the building should be closed immediately. But many factory managers threatened workers, saying they would be fired if they did not show up for work the next day.

More than 1,110 workers were killed and thousands more injured when the building pancaked. A government inquiry concluded that substandard construction materials and the vibration of heavy machinery in the five garment factories were prime triggers of the building’s collapse.

Moriom, 30, came to Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, five years ago to provide her for her children. A single mother, she has returned to her village where she now looks after her parents and two children.

For the next few years, Moriom will receive enough monthly compensation from the Bangladesh government to support her family. To collect it, she must travel to Dhaka every month. But the money will eventually run out. She doubts she can ever work in a garment factory again and has set her hopes on launching a small food store.

“When people have their own hands, it is a big thing,” said Moriom. “The owners can get back money that they lost, but the workers won’t get back what they have lost.”

The government and the employers should understand the value of other people’s life, she said. If they value life, they will ensure that no more garment workers are injured or killed.

If Moriom had a chance, she would like to tell factory owners that they “should pay the workers according to the load of work you put on them.”

Despite her difficulty sleeping, her ongoing pain and her new caretaking burdens, Moriom remains positive because she expects her children will have a better life than she experienced.

“I may face lots of pain. But I hope my children will be educated and not face any problems in the future.”

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