From what I saw today they had another fire in a garment factory?
Related:
May Day: Bangladesh Beat
Bumming About Bangladesh
Still am.
"Bangladesh official says collapse that killed 500 wasn’t ‘really serious’" by FARID HOSSAIN and JULHAS ALAM | Associated Press, May 04, 2013
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s finance minister downplayed the impact of last week’s factory-building collapse on his country’s garment industry, saying Friday he didn’t think it was ‘‘really serious’’ hours after the 500th body was pulled from the debris.
Please tell me he didn't really say that.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith spoke as the government cracked down on those it blamed for the disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar. It suspended Savar’s mayor and arrested an engineer who had called for the building’s evacuation last week, but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. The building owner was arrested earlier.
The government appears to be attempting to fend off accusations that it is in part to blame for the tragedy because of weak oversight of the building’s construction.
As people over the world know, governments suck.
During a visit to New Delhi, Muhith said the disaster would not harm Bangladesh’s garment industry, which is India’s biggest source of export income.
‘‘The present difficulties . . . well, I don’t think it is really serious — it’s an accident,’’ he said. ‘‘And the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it doesn’t happen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will be appreciated by all.’’
Good Lord, they are stacking bodies up like firewood and he's saying no big deal. Tell it to a family member who lost a loved one.
The government made similar promises after a garment factory fire five months ago that killed 112, saying it would inspect factories for safety and pull the licenses of those that failed. That plan has yet to be implemented.
Asked if he was worried that foreign retailers might pull orders from his country, Muhith said he wasn’t: ‘‘These are individual cases of . . . accidents. It happens everywhere.’’
What is it that money does to people?
Muhith, a longtime government official from a prominent family, has been criticized for insensitive comments in the past — even by his own party. Last year when thousands of small investors lost their savings and poured into the streets seeking government intervention, Muhith said it wasn’t responsible and the investors were at fault.
The official death toll from the April 24 collapse reached 519 Friday and was expected to climb, making it probably the deadliest garment factory accident in world history. It surpassed disasters such as New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers in 1911, and the 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that same year that killed 112.
Related:
Pakistan's Factory Fires
Factory Fires in Bangladesh
That's one reason I'm bumming. I was fool enough to believe corporations would change.
At the site of the collapse, workers carefully used cranes to remove the concrete rubble and continue the slow task of recovering bodies....
A government investigator said Friday that substandard building materials, along with the vibration of the heavy machines used by the five garment factories inside the Rana Plaza building, led to the collapse.
At least they didn't say it was jet fuel.
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"Garment industry in Bangladesh fears exodus of retailers" by Steven Greenhouse | New York Times, May 04, 2013
A day after the Walt Disney Co. disclosed that it was ending apparel production in Bangladesh, that country’s garment manufacturers expressed alarm that other Western corporations might follow Disney’s lead. They feared that could bring about a potential mass exodus that would devastate Bangladesh’s economy and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people.
That is NOT the ANSWER! The answer is NOT to MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE (probably cheaper) to avoid bad PR, it is to FIX and ADDRESS the WEALTH INEQUALITY, LOW WAGES, and LOUSY CONDITIONS!
Mohammad Fazlul Azim, a member of the Bangladesh Parliament and an influential garment factory owner, implored brands not to leave Bangladesh, noting that many factories do comply with safety standards.
‘‘The whole nation should not be made to suffer,’’ he said. ‘‘This industry is very important to us. Fourteen million families depend on this.’’
Factory owners in Bangladesh as well as apparel retailers in the West have faced intense pressure from governments, consumers, and labor groups to improve workplace safety there after a building containing five garment factories collapsed last week outside the nation’s capital, killing more than 430 people.
Yeah, and they REJECTED the UNION OFFER! This is WHY I am BUMMING because this is ALL PAP PRINT! They HAD THEIR CHANCE to IMPROVE CONDITIONS after the FIRES!
Several Western retailers indicated Thursday that they were considering new plans to ensure factory safety, efforts that would require investing in, rather than abandoning, their operations in Bangladesh. Few have made financial commitments to upgrade unsafe factory buildings or to endorse tougher and deeper inspections, however. So far, pledging money for relief efforts has been the most common response by big retailers.
The CORPORATIONS STILL DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Officials from two nongovernment organizations who attended a meeting in Germany on Monday aimed at improving factory safety in Bangladesh said Thursday that they were confident that several major retailers would soon join a broad plan to ensure fire and building safety in Bangladesh factories. But, so far, that plan has been embraced by just PVH, the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and the Tchibo Group, a German retailer.
I wouldn't be.
If a few more retail giants sign on, labor groups are likely to turn up the pressure on others to join the effort or face protests, several officials said. Some companies have taken steps on their own. In October, Gap announced a $22 million fire and building safety plan with its suppliers in Bangladesh, without identifying which factories it was using there or how many factories would be improved under the plan. And three weeks ago, Walmart pledged $1.8 million to train 2,000 Bangladesh factory managers about fire safety.
Yeah, AmeriKa's corporate contractors are on the case and everything will soon be great!
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"Global brands must step in to protect worker safety" May 04, 2013
Crowds in Dhaka, Bangladesh, chanted “Hang him!” as the owner of a garment factory complex was led into court Monday. Five days before, his eight-story building collapsed, killing at least 386 people in what is one of the world’s worst industrial disasters ever. Hundreds remain unaccounted for as hope of rescuing survivors dwindles. The landlord, a local politician named Mohammed Sohel Rana, rightfully faces charges of negligence and other misconduct that could put him in prison for seven years. But he’s not the only party that should be held accountable for this tragedy. Western retailers should demand safer working conditions from their suppliers as well.
They could have at any time, way before this.
Police evacuated Rana Plaza, as the complex was known, the day before the collapse because large cracks had appeared in the structure’s side. Managers, however, threatened not to pay monthly salaries — the minimum wage is about $37 a month — if employees refused to return the next day. In a country where 60 percent of people live on less than $1.25 a day, even that paltry wage can offer a much improved standard of living; for that reason, many workers felt they had little choice but to go back.
Wages aside, working conditions in Bangladesh’s rag trade are notoriously brutal and unsafe.
Look, they may not be top-of-the-line clothing for the elite, but....
The country is now the world’s second-largest apparel supplier, behind only China. Yet many garment factories fall short of Bangladesh’s own building codes. Two years ago, 29 people were killed and 100 injured in a fire at a factory manufacturing clothes for Gap Inc. A fire in November in a textile factory producing goods for Walmart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed 112 people. Managers in that blaze told workers to stay put when fire alarms went off.
The solution, however, is not simply for international buyers to leave Bangladesh, as the Walt Disney Company has announced it plans to do. Rather, they should commit to helping clean up safety practices from within. Major global clothing brands are bound to have more influence over their suppliers than either workers or consumers do.
Don't they also make enough profit to do it?
Disney, at least, deserves credit for recognizing a problem. Sadly, many global companies have been hesitant to take any responsibility for factory workers’ well-being.
What?
In 2011, Walmart shareholders voted by a nearly 50-to-1 margin to reject a proposal to require suppliers to report annually on safety at their factories. Walmart’s management strenuously opposed the measure, too, arguing that such reports would lead to higher production costs, lower returns for shareholders, and higher prices for customers.
Yeah, what's a few thousand bodies compared to low, low prices?
That stance also allows retailers to assert, as Walmart and others have in the past, that they don’t always know where products are being made or that dangerous conditions exist. Yet in today’s digitized age, companies’ ability to track products up and down their supply chains only improves over time. Other retailers that have faced criticism on worker-safety issues, such as Apple and Nike, now monitor manufacturers closely and invite outside review of safety audits. Labor-rights groups are calling on all global brands — including Walmart, Gap, and H&M — to sign a building and safety agreement for Bangladesh, a binding commitment to require more rigorous inspections and more transparency about the results. Bangladesh’s government also needs to take more responsibility for protecting workers. It’s not a panacea against abuse, but it is a useful step in preventing another Rana Plaza.
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And we are still waiting....
"A GRIM AND GROWING TOLL -- Workers carried the remains of a garment worker retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building on Sunday in Savar, Bangladesh. The death toll from the disaster climbed to 622 (Boston Globe May 6 2013)."
Yeah, the death count is about to skyrocket.
"Antiblasphemy rallies spark violence in Bangladesh" Associated Press, May 07, 2013
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladeshi police said they are investigating possible murder charges against Mohammed Sohel Rana, the owner of a shoddily built factory that collapsed nearly two weeks ago.
Officials said Monday that the death toll from the disaster had reached 675. Protests over working conditions have also shaken the government.
Rejecting the demand for an antiblasphemy law, the Muslim-majority nation has insisted that Bangladesh is governed by secular law.
On Sunday, police dispersed stone-throwing activists who were among thousands rallying around Dhaka.
And not a peep from US diplomatic circles.
In a separate development Monday, police banned all rallies in Bangladesh’s capital for the rest of the day Monday after at least 20 people died in clashes between police and large numbers of Islamic hard-liners demanding that the government enact an antiblasphemy law, officials said.
A police official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said 13 people, including two police and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in clashes in Kanchpur just outside Dhaka. He said seven others died in Motijheel, a commercial area of the capital.
The protesters blocked roads with burning tires and logs during more than five hours of clashes. They also attacked a police station and set fire to at least 30 vehicles, including police trucks, private Ekattar TV reported.
The private United News of Bangladesh reported that the violence erupted after security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters in the central commercial district.
Who trained them, Israelis?
Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in a statement that all rallies and protests had been banned in the city until midnight Monday for fear of more clashes.
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"Bangladesh garment disaster death toll crosses 800" by JULHAS ALAM | Associated Press, May 09, 2013
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Dozens of bodies recovered Wednesday from a collapsed garment factory building were so decomposed they were being sent to a lab for DNA identification, police said, as the death toll from Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster topped 800.
Following protests, authorities also began disbursing salaries and other benefits to survivors of the collapse.
The European Union’s delegation to Bangladesh urged the government to ‘‘act immediately’’ to improve working conditions. Authorities said the government has closed 18 garment factories in recent days for failing to meet work and safety standards.
Police said 803 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the eight-story Rana Plaza building by late afternoon and more were expected as salvage work continued two weeks after the collapse.
The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, far surpassing fires last year that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and 112 in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh earns nearly $20 billion a year from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.
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"A new fair-trade issue: clothing" by Stephanie Clifford | New York Times, May 09, 2013
NEW YORK — The revolution that started in food is expanding to clothing:
Origins matter.
With fair-trade coffee and organic fruit now standard on grocery shelves, consumers concerned about working conditions, environmental issues, and outsourcing are now demanding similar accountability from their T-shirts.
Just like "green consumersim," we have the agenda-pu$hing paper promoting a movement that leaves the basic system of corporate con$umer capitali$m intact.
And some retailers are doing what was once unthinkable, handing over information about exactly how and where their products were made....
New research indicates a growing consumer demand for information about how and where goods are produced....
Oh, "new research" indicates that, huh?
The garment factory collapse that killed more than 800 workers in Bangladesh last month has added urgency to the movement, as retailers have seen queries stream in from worried customers.
Until it fades and is again forgotten just as the fires -- and then it will be back to bidness until the next "disaster."
‘‘In the clothing industry, everybody wears it every day, but we have no idea where it comes from,’’ said Michael Preysman, Everlane’s chief executive and founder. ‘‘People are starting to slowly clue in to this notion of where products are made.’’
Yeah, sure they don't.
Major retailers have long balked at disclosing the full trail, saying that sourcing is inherently complex, workplace protections are expensive, and cheap clothes, no matter where or how they are manufactured, still sell.
And we don't want you to know we are employing sweatshop slaves to make products you once did, Amurkn.
But....
But what, Boston Globe?
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"Bangladesh clothing factory fire kills 8; Toll from recent collapse rises to nearly 1,000" by Julhas Alam | Associated Press, May 10, 2013
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A fire fed by huge piles of acrylic products used to make sweaters killed eight people at a Bangladesh garment factory, barely two weeks after a collapse at another garment factory building where the death toll was approaching 1,000 on Thursday.
That dropped my belly about four inches when I flipped the page and say the headline.
The dead in Wednesday night’s fire included a ruling-party politician and a top official in the country’s powerful clothing manufacturers’ trade group.
Hmmm.
But unlike the collapse at the Rana Plaza building, which was blamed on shoddy construction and disregard for safety regulations, the Tung Hai Sweater factory appeared to have conformed to building codes. A top fire official said the deaths were caused by panic and bad luck....
The fire engulfed the lower floors of the 11-story factory, which had closed for the day. The smoldering acrylic products produced immense amounts of smoke and poison gas that killed those trying to flee, Mamun Mahmud, the fire service’s deputy director, said. The victims died of suffocation as they ran down the stairs, Mahmud said.
The building appeared on first inspection to have been properly built, though fire inspectors would conduct further checks, he said. It had two stairwells in the front and an emergency exit in the back, he said. Those inside probably panicked when they saw smoke and ran into one of the front stairwells, he said. Had they used the emergency stairwell, they would have survived, he said.
‘‘Apparently they tried to flee the building through the stairwell in fear that the fire had engulfed the whole building,’’ he said.
They also probably would have survived the slow-spreading fire had they stayed on the upper floors, he said.
‘‘We found the roof open, but we did not find there anybody after the fire broke out. We recovered all of them on the stairwell on the ninth floor,’’ he said.
The blaze comes just two weeks after the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza building, home to five garment factories, killed at least 950 people and became the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment manufacturing industry. The disaster has raised alarm about the often deadly working conditions in Bangladesh’s $20 billion garment industry, which provides clothing for major retailers around the globe.
Alarms are going off all over the place, and for years, and yet NOTHING HAS CHANGED!
That means my NEWSPAPER is a FAILURE!
The identities of the victims of Wednesday’s fire showed the entanglement of the industry and top Bangladeshi officials. The dead included the factory’s managing director, Mahbubur Rahman, who was also on the board of directors of the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Along with him was senior police official Z.A. Morshed and Sohel Mostafa Swapan, head of a local branch of the ruling party’s youth league.
Independent TV, a local station, reported that Rahman had plans to contest next year’s elections as a candidate for the ruling party and had been meeting friends to discuss his future when the fire broke out.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which began soon after the factory workers went home for the day and took three hours to bring under control. Mahmud speculated that it might have originated in the factory’s ironing section.
Officials originally said the building also housed several floors of apartments, but later said it was just a factory.
The Facebook page of the Tung Hai Group said it was a sprawling enterprise with a 7,000 employees at its two factories and the capacity to produce well over 6 million sweaters, shirts, pants, and pajamas every month.
The group said it did business with major retailers in Europe and North America.
The country’s powerful garment industry has been plagued by a series of disasters in recent months, including a November fire at the Tazreen factory that killed 112 and the building collapse.
I object to the term disaster, as if these things were natural occurrences that couldn't be prevented. The better term might be tragedies.
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And how do you put out fires?
"Tornado kills 20, wounds 200 in Bangladesh
DHAKA — A tornado that ripped through 20 villages in eastern Bangladesh killed 20 people and injured 200, a government official said Saturday. The storm lashed the distant villages in Brahmanbaria District on Friday. The local Prothom Alo newspaper reported that the 15-minute storm destroyed many homes and shops and also toppled a large number of trees and electricity poles."
