The Cost of Cheap Clothes: Twenty Dead in Bangladesh Factory Fire

Twenty-one Bangladeshi garment workers were killed February 26 when a sweater factory caught fire. Its goods are purchased by major chains, including H&M. Unions and labor federations are demanding that manufacturers and the government address workers’ safety concerns, but H&M is hiding behind the mirage of self-regulation.

As the fire spread, workers on the third and seventh floors were trapped, locked in for their own “security.” Eleven security guards, who had the keys, fled the scene. Poor ventilation, caused partly by storage of production materials on the roof, turned the sealed rooms into gas chambers.

A fire in the same factory six months ago claimed the life of a firefighter. The factory owners failed to implement any of the safety measures demanded afterwards by government agencies.

The garment industry employs more than 2 million Bangladeshis and constitutes a significant portion of the country’s exports. But local media report that only 40 percent of the 4,500 garment factories stock adequate firefighting equipment. Factory fires regularly claim lives: at least 143 people have died in fires reported since 2000.

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Unions and labor federations held protests following the fire, demanding that manufacturers and the government address workers’ safety concerns.

Corporations that order goods from the factory, including H&M and the Canadian retailer Mark’s Work Warehouse, enthusiastically tout their “social compliance audits” and adherence to International Labor Organization standards.

But multinational corporations take advantage of lax regulations to operate cheaply in Bangladesh. Their demands on factory owners to cut costs and increase production, coupled with the threat of taking lucrative contracts elsewhere, make workers’ safety the last consideration.

The International Labor Rights Forum is calling on local government officials to arrest the factory owner and calling on H&M to quit pretending its self-regulation is real. Join in.

A version of this article appeared in Labor Notes #373, April 2010. Don't miss an issue, subscribe today.