World March of Women – Pilipinas
Statement on the 1st Anniversary of the Rana Plaza Tragedy in Bangladesh

TODAY (April 24) marks the first anniversary of the very tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza in Savar sub-district, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 – more than half were female garment laborers working in several factories in that eight-story building – and injured more than 2,500.

It was a tragedy that is more painful – and revolting – because it could have been avoided if not for the avarice of the global clothing brands and their sweatshops in Bangladesh as well as in other impoverished countries, where workers are paid miserably and where occupational safety and health are set aside to ensure cheaper “labor costs” and operational expenses vis-à-vis enormous corporate profits.

In fact, the Rana Plaza was designed only for offices and small shops, and its structures were incapable of bearing the weight and vibration of heavy factory machineries. Further weighing down the building were about 5,000 workers who work in shifts in a number of garment factories inaptly set up there. Likewise, the upper four floors, where many of the garment plants were located, were reportedly added or built without a permit. A day before the accident, cracks were discovered by inspectors and requested prompt evacuation and closure of the building, which was heeded by the shops and a bank on the lower floors. However, the factory bosses nonchalantly ordered the garment workers to continue working declaring Rana as “safe,” and one factory even threatened its workers that their one month’s salary would be withheld if they refuse to work. Rana crumbled the next day at about 9 a.m., when thousands of workers were there, along with a number of their children who were in the nurseries inside the building. What a waste! What a heartbreaking disaster!

Women activists as well as trade unionists and other civil society organizations throughout the world should press the Bangladeshi government to appropriately punish the managements of the involved garment factories and the Rana Plaza, as well as some incompetent government building inspectors, for their callousness and criminal negligence. These criminals should not be allowed to go scot-free for they should pay for their heinous crime. Bangladesh should also improve and enforce its occupational safety and health laws, while boosting the labor and trade union rights of the Bangladeshi workers.

All the global clothing brands that were dealing with the said Bangladeshi garment firms during the tragedy should provide enough assistance to the victims and their families, and should make certain that they do business only with local companies that truly respect the rights and welfare of workers.

Unfortunately, of the 29 international brands that sourced their products from the Rana Plaza factories – which includes the famous apparel manufacturers Benetton, Bonmarché, the Children’s Place, El Corte Inglés, Joe Fresh, Mango – only seven have so far contributed to the Rana Plaza Donor’s Trust Fund backed by the ILO. Several of them even refused to agree on the proposed compensation, including Walmart, Careefour, Mango, Auchan and Kik.

No more Rana Plaza!
No more Third World sweatshops!
Respect and uphold labor and trade union rights!
Women’s rights and workers’ rights are human rights!
Outsourcing Transnational Corporations – PAY UP!

World March of Women-Pilipinas:
Alliance of Progressive Labor-SENTRO, Bagong Kamalayan, BUKLOD, Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), KAISA KA, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), SARILAYA, WomanHealth Philippines, Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE)
24 April 2014

Contact Persons:  Ana Maria Nemenzo 0918 903 8687, Joanne Bernice Coronacion 0917 852 3381

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