Rana Plaza Factory

On April 24th, 2013 a garment factory collapsed killing over 1,100 textile workers and injured over 2000.

The Rana Plaza factory produced clothing from U.S, Canadian, European and Australian brands and retailers. 80% of the workers were younger women aged between 18-20 and each worker earned 12-22 cents an hour depending on age. The workers were working in unsafe conditions, before the disaster happened an engineer inspected the place thoroughly and declared the building unsafe and life-threatening.

On the day of the incident, 3639 workers refused to work in the eight story building because of the large cracks in the walls, but the owner, Sohel Rana forced them to work, he threatened them by hiring gang members to beat the workers with sticks until they would work.

More than 150 global brands have signed the Accord on Fire and building safety in Bangladesh, signing this agreement allows staff to stop working if there safety is under threat. But Australian brands such as Just Jeans, Best and Less, Jay Jays, Peter Alexander and Smiggle have not signed the international agreement. Just over a third of the $40 million needed to compensate survivors of the families of the dead for reasons of lost income and medical expenses have been paid. Half the brands that are associated with the buildings collapse have still not put any money towards the compensation.

Image from: http://acrath.org.au/4701/rana-plaza-collapse-one-year-on/