A Decade After the Rana Plaza Collapse, Garment Workers Are Still Exploited
Building safety has improved, but the economics of the clothing industry remain stacked against the people who make most of what the world wears.
Garment workers in Dhaka in 2013 protesting for higher pay and compensation for the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster.
Photographer: A.M. Ahad/AP Photo
When the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed in April 2013, killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring 2,500 others, fashion brands worldwide pledged to clean up the horrific conditions in sweatshops churning out their garments.
Survivors said local managers had pressured employees to report to work even though deep cracks had appeared in the building’s walls on the previous day, leading engineers to declare the eight-story structure unsafe. Once generators were switched on, the edifice crumbled.