This slide documentary is all about the life of garment workers & their unusual deaths in Bangladesh. All of the info in the slide are collected different national & international media.

1. Presentation on
MiseryofGarmentWorkersinBangladesh
Submitted to: Dr. Md. Monirul Islam
Head & Associate Prof.
Dept. of CSE, IIUC
By
Abdur Rahman
International Islamic University Chittagong
Dept. of CSE
Student ID: C151023
27/5/2015

2. Major Bangladeshi Factory Disasters:
> Moon Fashion Fire
> Biswas Garment Fire
> Shan Knitting Fire
> Phoenix Garment Collapse
> Shamim Spinning Fire
> Sayem Fashions Stampede
> Spectrum Sweater Collapse
> Gharib & Gharib Fire
> Hameem Fire
> Tazreen Fashions Fire
> Rana Plaza Collapse
27/5/2015 *Source: Wikipedia.org

3. Spectrum Collapse:
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4. Response to Spectrum and other
disasters 2005:
Inditex: “The audit of the Asian manufacturers, carried out in accordance
with BSCI methodology and by SAI-certified auditors, is in progress and is
expected to be complete by the end of May.”
BGMEA/Government/ILO : “In February 2006, BGMEA began a programm of
factory inspections to ensure there are fire exits, no locked exits, and to conduct fire
drills. Since March 2006 BGMEA has recruited 20 staff in addition to the existing 20 to
carry out these inspections. 1042 factories in Dhaka and 253 in Chittagong have been
inspected in April 2006.”
27/5/2015
*Source: globallabourrights.org

5. Garib and Garib Sweater Factory:
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6. After the Garib & Garib fire: February
2010
Government: “The teams will make surprise visits and immediately inform BGMEA if
they find any factory lacking adequate safety measures…BGMEA and BKMEA will take
actions against the non-compliant factories…all garment factories must keep their
rooftops accessible; the rooftop doors, factory entrances, fire escapes, and
emergency gates must always remain unlocked; fabrics and other flammable
materials cannot be kept laying around on factory floors; and all factories must
arrange fire drills on a regular basis.”
27/5/2015
*Source: globallabourrights.org

7. Ha-meem Garment Factory Fire:
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8. After the Ha-meem fire: December 2010
Unions, NGOs convene meeting in Dhaka, April 2011, and implore brands and
retailers to commit to an urgent program of independent inspections and to pay for
renovations and repairs.
27/5/2015
*Source: globallabourrights.org

9. Death Toll in Garment Factory Disasters
Since 2010:
27/5/2015
Year Factory Brands Deaths
2005 Spectrum Garments Target, JC Penney, Abercrombie & Fitch
and Gap
64
2005 KTS Uni Hosiery, Mermaid International, ATT
Enterprise, and VIDA Enterprise Corp.
54
2006 The Phoenix Building European Brands 150
2006 Shamim Spinning 26
2009 Tazreen Fashion US Marines, C&A, Walmart, Li & Fung 124
2010 Garib and Garib Sweater Factory H&M 21
2010 Ha-Meem Group Gap, Target, Denim & Others 29
*Sources: nytimes.com
: cleanclothes.org
Total Deaths: 468

10. Tazreen Fashion:
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11. Tazreen Fashion:
When it opened in 2009 the Tazreen Fashion factory employed 1,630 workers and
produced T-shirts, polo shirts and jackets for various companies and organizations.
Such as: the US Marines, the Dutch company C&A, the American company Walmart
and the Hong Kong based company Li & Fung.
The factory was flagged in May 2011 by Walmart as high risk condition.
The fire, presumably caused by a short circuit, started on the ground floor of the
nine-storied factory, trapping the workers on the floors above.
More than 124 workers have died.
27/5/2015 *Source: Wikipedia.org

12. Rana Plaza:
Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April, 2013 in
the Savar where an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza, collapsed.
It is considered the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the
deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history.
Warnings to avoid using the building after cracks appeared the day before had been
ignored. Garment workers were ordered to work and the building collapsed during
the morning rush-hour.
1,127 has died; more than 2,000 injured, including many on-site amputations
27/5/2015 *Source: Wikipedia.org

13. After Rana Plaza collapse:
Home minister MK Alamgir: “A huge number of picketers had attacked the building
during the opposition-called hartal(strike), resulting in the collapse of the multi-
storied building.”
Compensation: $21.5 million has been deposited so far to the Rana Plaza donor’s
trust fund, the international fund created for the compensation. But unfortunately
the victim’s family have got only 30% of the amount
27/5/2015
*Sources: thedailystar.net
: cleanclothes.org

14. 21/5/2015
Collapsed Rana Plaza

15. 21/5/2015
Fire Fighters, Military & General People are Rescuing

16. 21/5/2015
The Rescue Team are Working on Night

17. 21/5/2015
Concealed Workers Under the Walls

18. 21/5/2015
Roars & Prayers of Victim’s Relatives & Family

19. 21/5/2015
Dead Bodies of Workers & Coffins

20. Increasing Death Chart of Garment Workers:
100
300
500
700
900
1100
1300
1500
2005 2006 2009 2010 2013
Death Chart
Deaths Injured
27/5/2015

21. Bangladesh Garment Industry:
Thousands of Deathtraps
• Many poorly constructed buildings with weak foundations; floors added
illegally after original construction
• Most factories lack proper fire exits:
• No external fire escapes
• Missing safety systems
• No emergency lighting
• Missing fire extinguishers
• No worker role in safety management, no unions, weak or no safety
training
• Managers restrict egress: lock doors to control workers; delay exit to avoid
loss of production, hoping alarms are false
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22. Lethal Partnership: The Global Apparel
Brands and Bangladesh
• Conditions:
• Minimum wage: $37/months (18 cents an hour)
• Routine harassment and intimidation as management strategy to speed production
• Unionists are fired – or worse
• Most dangerous place in the world to be an apparel worker
• Garment workers position in Bangladesh:
• Bangladesh now the 2nd largest apparel producer after China
• 5,000 factories; 3 million workers (far more than US peak)
• More than 4,000 killed in fires and collapses since 2012
• Buyers are getting what they pay for: an industry of Triangle Shirtwaist
factories
• Bangladesh is winning the race to bottom, with room
to spare
27/5/2015

23. Walmart: Don’t Worry – Workers Are
Protected by Our Incompetent
Inspections
Walmart’s CEO, Mike Duke, in a public statement: “We will not buy
from an unsafe factory.”
Walmart’s head of labour rights compliance, in an internal memo:
“Fire and electrical safety are not currently adequate covered in ethical
sourcing audits.”
27/5/2015 *Source: cleanclothes.org

24. Unprecedented
The first binding agreement ever signed by global corporations that
forces them to pay to improve working conditions and to align their
sourcing decisions with their labor rights obligations
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25. What Students Can do?
• Students can teach them about the uses of Fire Extinguisher,
Emergency Exit etc.
• By making a strong community we can protest the greedy owners
• With the help of media students community can ensure the privileges
& proper wages of workers
27/5/2015

26. References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse
http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/2005/04/01/factory-collapsed-bangladeshi-garment-
workers-buried-alive
http://www.globallabourrights.org/reports/unprecedented-changes-in-bangladesh
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/bangladesh-building-
collapse.html?_r=0
http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/04/25/pro-shutdown-men-razed-plaza-says-
alamgir
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