Bangladeshi garments workers desperately need safe working conditions to work in. In the history of retail factories being established in Bangladesh, there have been frequent tragic incidents in which the lives of workers have been compromised and lost. Factory fires, cramped and inhabitable working conditions have been happening for a long while which is sidetracked by positions of power that do not care for their wellbeing. One instance, the Rana Plaza factory fire has been claimed to be one of the worst incidents in human history in the garment industry “In recent years, the RMG industry has faced heightened international scrutiny due to allegations of sweatshop practices, unsafe working conditions, unlivable wages, unreasonable hours, lethal accidents, and both physical and mental abuses by supervisors in developing nations around the world. In April 2013, the death of 1,133 workers when the Rana Plaza RMG factory (“Rana Plaza”) in Bangladesh collapsed marked what has been called the worst tragedy in the industry’s history.” (Caleca, 2014) These garment workers are not being treated humanely in the conditions that they are working in, especially as they are in dire need to work, being women that are coming from poor and rural backgrounds. They are forced to accept to work in these atrocious conditions under such minimal pay just so that they can keep these jobs. The construction of these factories are designed so delicately to cause fires, as these warehouses are designed with the intent for maximized production, without any safety precautions regarded to these workers. Bangladeshi people have been protesting against losing any more lives to factory fires (and harsh working conditions ) “Protests over low wages had erupted at dozens of garment factories in Bangladesh, one of the top suppliers of clothing for global brands like H&M and Gap, (….)But its factories are efficient for some of the same reasons that they have been deadly: overcrowded buildings, limited oversight and a government that has historically repressed workers’ efforts to organize and fight for better conditions.” (Abrams and Sattar, 2017). It is clear that these working conditions have injured and also killed the lives of many workers, yet nothing is being done about it.
Next Section : 4. & 5. The Government and Retail Companies Need To Step In