A Year After Rana Plaza

Initial reports spoke of “maybe two hundred dead”. It would be weeks until an accurate total was reached, once all the bodies had been dragged out from under the rubble and names ticked off.

1138 dead. 2515 wounded.

Last year, on 24^th April 2013, the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed. The building contained a bank, apartments, shops and several clothing factories serving 28 brands, including Benetton, Mango, Primark and Walmart. It was a tall building of six floors, yet no permit had been obtained to build the upper four floors. The structure was not strong enough to bear the weight and vibration of heavy machinery, and government safety inspectors had not visited for years.

It was on the day before the fatal accident that employees discovered worryingly deep cracks in the walls. They called for evacuation and an inspection of the building. The shops and the bank on the lower floors immediately closed for business, but garment workers were forced to return to work, threatened with having an entire month’s pay docked if they refused.

An entire month’s wage may seem like pocket money to us. It’s the cost of a cardigan from H&M, or a bag from Topshop. After all, it’s only €28. But these workers need that money to survive, in spite of €28 equating to just 12% of what is estimated to be a living wage. For them it’s the difference between having dinner tonight - or going to bed hungry. Many Rana Plaza survivors reported that they did not want to go back to the factories, that they knew they were risking their lives in an unsafe building, but they were desperate. They had no choice.

Photograph by Pieter van den Boogert

However, Rana Plaza is no anomaly. Bangladesh has the second most garment factories in the world, which is largely owing to the low national minimum wage as well as the government’s blind-eye policy concerning worker’s rights. In recent years there has been a rapid rise in structures that are not suitable for factories. Often the most basic safety equipment, such as fire extinguishers and emergency exits, are simply not provided and there are almost daily short circuits that can cause factory fires. It was only a matter of time until one of these factories collapsed, killing and maiming thousands.

To add insult to injury, it’s nearly a whole year later and the Rana Plaza victims have still not received any compensation from the rich multinational companies who sanctioned the unsafe building in the first place. Only in the past few days has Primark signed an agreement to pay out £6 million (€7.2 million) to the victims. Now this is great news, of course, but all the 28 other brands whose clothes were being made in Rana Plaza at the time are still lagging behind. Together they have donated only €5 million, which is less than a quarter of the target.

Hopefully Primark’s recent actions will increase the pressure on those brands who have not yet contributed to the fund. You can increase it further still by signing this petition to get the families of the Rana Plaza victims the compensation they deserve. This tragic event cannot be undone, but it can be dealt with honourably and prevented from ever happening again.

Click here to sign the petition!