Protests Erupt After Wal-Mart Factory Fire Kills 124 Workers

Protests Erupt After Wal-Mart Factory Fire Kills 124 Workers

http://jezebel.com/5963226/protests-erupt-after-garment-factory-fire-kills-124-workers

Workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets to demonstrate after yesterday's deadly garment factory fire. The death toll from the blaze at Tazreen Fashions Ltd., a supplier for Wal-Mart and the global sourcing and production giant Li & Fung, is not yet known, but current reports put it at up to 124 lives. Victims are still being identified, and more than 200 people were injured. The factory reportedly lacked emergency exits. It had already been written up by Wal-Mart as a "high-risk" facility. Garment workers demanding justice for the worst industrial fire to ever take place in Bangladesh blocked streets in the industrial zone outside Dhaka where Tazreen and other garment factories are located.

"We hope the tragic fire at Tazreen will serve as an urgent call to action for all major brands that rely on Bangladesh's low wages to make a profit," says Judy Gearhart, the executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum. The ILRF says Tazreen produced clothing for brands and companies including Faded Glory, C&A, Dickies, and Enyce.

(snip)

The deadly industrial incidents that have been all but eliminated in the West thanks to reforms enacted after disasters such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire are still common in the countries where most apparel production now takes place. Pressure from major retailers who serve a Western customer base that has come to think of unprecedented, historically low clothing prices as "normal" keeps suppliers like Tarzeen operating on razor-thin margins; in an environment with poor regulatory oversight for working conditions and safety — and where much oversight is in fact voluntary self-regulation by the industry — many factories cut corners in order to churn out fast fashion in the shortest time possible. In Bangladesh, more than 700 garment workers have died in factory fires since 2005. A factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, this September killed over 300 people. The world over, most garment workers are women and girls living in poverty.

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Voluntary self regulation....

We need global unions. This is tragic!