Confirmed- 124 dead in Wal-Mart supplier factory fire
Source: Addictinginfo.org
Workers Die In Bangladesh Factory While Making Clothes For Walmart And Others
2012/11/25
By Lorraine Devon Wilke
Dhaka factory in flames @ IndiaToday.in
In an stunning cultural juxtaposition, Black Friday merchants counted their profits and victory-pumped shoppers celebrated their scores in malls throughout the U.S., while factory workers on the other side of the world who made many of the clothing items shoppers bought this weekend jumped from windows of a seven-story factory in the effort to save their lives in a late Saturday inferno. Many of them were not successful; as of the most recent count, 124 of those workers have died, with many more injured.
In the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, a large garment run by Tazreen Fashions, one of the many factories in the area that provide product for American companies including Wal-mart, JC Penneys, the Gap, Levi Strauss, Kohls, Zara, H & M, and others, burst into flames Saturday night in a fire (of currently unknown origin) that started on the bottom floor of the building and quickly rushed up the other floors, trapping workers with no way to descend from the building. As India Today reports:
By Sunday morning, firefighters had recovered 115 bodies, fire department Operations Director Maj. Mohammad Mahbub said. He said another 9 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died at hospitals.
Mahbub said firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor of the factory alone. He said most of the victims had been trapped inside the factory, located just outside of Dhaka, with no emergency exits leading outside the building.
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/25/workers-die-in-bangladesh-factory-while-making-clothes-for-walmart-and-others/
Imagine 124 workers dying in a major fire, in a factory that supplies the largest corporation in the world.
No, this isn't the New York Triangle Shirtwaiste factory fire of 1911.
It's the Wal-Mart supplier Tazreen Fashions, who's factory burned last night in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Tarzreen Fashions supplied Wal-Mart, JC Penneys, the Gap, Levi Strauss, Kohls, Zara, H & M, and others.
Where your clothes are made...matters.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)had his dead-peasant insurance premiums up to date.
lalalu
(1,663 posts)In India they have a habit of attacking owners and executives and sometimes killing them.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/04/india.manager.burned/index.html
Executives enter and leave these buildings with armed guards. Private security in India is one of their fastest growing industries. In an ironic twist you must be a citizen of India to own, operate, or work in the field.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Security-Watch/Articles/Detail/?ots591=4888caa0-b3db-1461-98b9-e20e7b9c13d4&lng=en&id=109996
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)boston bean
(36,220 posts)that using other countries resources and not being good stewards to the people and their land, was immoral.
I never liked NAFTA, which started all these trade agreements, even way back then. The guy was right about it all.
He was talking about Mexico, he could have been talking about any other country.
zbdent
(35,392 posts)Republicans put it into warp 73 ...
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)It showed who he really cared about, when asked to choose between the people and the ceo's.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)At the time it was thought to be a good political move, not a good economic move.
Krugman still thinks it was worth it.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Did he think it was good politics for Clinton to kick labor and the poor in the teeth?
(btw, don't assume that I ever thought Krugman was infallible-or anybody else in politics).
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)Krugman does admit that the effects were worse than he expected, I think.
Krugman actually believed NAFTA's effect was "trivial" on the scheme of things and the foreign policy aspects were worth it.
That trivial economic impact didn't happen, but the converse did, so the effects were far worse than anyone could've imagined.
Note: I don't always agree with Krugman, either. I'm saying Clinton had a liberal backing him. Foolhardy, yeah, but back then it wasn't seen as an economic thing, it was purely internationalist. A lot of left leaning people make really bad internationalist mistakes (see, for example, Cuba's "internationalism" in Angola).
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)lalalu
(1,663 posts)Whenever I do I get a ton of emails from Clinton supporters. No one wants to admit that there are democrats who sold out labor. The Clintons should not take the entire blame because there some on the left also pushing this.
Some of them were saying labor in America would not suffer, that American workers had it great compared to other countries and should stop complaining, and ignored all arguments that the global economy would have a devastating affect on hard fought labor rights. Sometimes I wonder if they truly believed it or were paid to believe it.
Also, this is not completely the work of America. Leaders in these countries openly boasted they were willing to ignore regulations to not "hamper" corporations. The fabricated image of the "spoiled" American worker was the selling point. Along with desperately poor people in their countries who believed the lie about lazy Americans. They sold their people as cheap and abundant labor and many of their workers originally went along.
The only good thing is these multinational corporations are now being globally exposed as ruthless entities.
ancianita
(36,017 posts)because there was a larger context. Americans were still asleep about what was happening in the financial and corporate worlds. The economy was still job-oriented. Technology hadn't swept huge job numbers away yet. We thought only some kinds of manufacturing would disappear, not all of it. The Big Domestic distraction was getting put in place by the Moral Majority and the Drug War was full on, with all kinds of fearmongering that we'd been unaccustomed to. We still believed that journalism was our best means of obtaining the truth about the world situation. All this was before the speed and broad information access afforded by the internet and, I think, Glass-Steagall, which was never properly explained to the rest of the country, anyway.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)both parties were equally zealous. I will never forget Tom Foley and Newt standing before cameras each with their hand on the others genitals, proclaiming the absolute necessity to "fast track" NAFTA through. No, this was almost unanimously supported by Washington Dems, even as 80% of US people opposed NAFTA. This was the death of the 'labor party'. I expected this shit from the rethugs, I didn't expect Democratic leadership to abandon labor..They are wrong about these trade agreements, they know they are wrong, they agree with them for money..it's that simple. If Washington pols were actually doing the will of their constituents, the NAFTA would never made it out of committee.
ancianita
(36,017 posts)high. I was furious about the political abandonment of labor, but preferred to blame it just on Reagan, especially after he wiped out PATCO. The Dems definitely sold out to the Republicans' pro-corporate bullshit as much as to corporate lobbyists.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(9,110 posts)mrf901
(49 posts)if that is what Obama wanted
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,110 posts)He said so. OWS tried. But now anyone who worked to help re-elect him, needs to come together for an agenda with public support.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)chollybocker
(3,687 posts)Factory fires involving deaths (but not involving "anarchists" are common, regular occurances in Bangladesh. Look it up.
(Not mentioned above, but other U.S. brands implicated: Sears, P-Diddy.)
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)as I don't believe in coincidences on a political world wide level.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)Sure there is a conspiracy--to find the most exploitable workers in the cheapest and least well regulated areas of the world, and sell the products of their labor to the richest and most cluelessly entitled people in the world; until, of course, today's consumer becomes tomorrow's working peasant once again.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Get a grip.
JI7
(89,244 posts)to stop greedy pieces of shits from exploiting workers.
patrice
(47,992 posts)Dr. Emmett Brown
(4 posts)Once again, I am likely showing how naive I am, but what do you mean that they're sad and troubled by global climate change? How are they being affected more than anyone else? And are you referring to global warming or cooling? So many people saying it's one way and then they say it's another way. Very confusing. I thought it was all about global warming. Now I keep hearing people say that global warming was just some kind of trend and it's actually global cooling we need to be concerned about.
As for the article, why are they mentioning Walmart so much if the place actually supplied all of those other corporations, too? Is Walmart the one they supply the most to? Because I'm thinking that JC Penny is almost exclusively clothing. So I would think that they and the other corporations that sell mainly clothes would be the ones who would be mentioned more.
I can't believe that they had no fire escapes! I mean that's just scary! Those kinds of safety measures should be standard in places that supply so many big corporations. After all, they can certainly afford it! I don't care what country it's in!
LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)You might begin with OP, sentence #1, which includes the words "and Others", not just Wal Mart.
Re Wal Mart's responsibility, you're probably the kind of person who considers pornography just "free speech", who cares about what happens to the female actors. Producers and consumers have no responsibility to do anything but graze and Wal Mart's responsibilities are entirely defined by spreadsheets, not humanity, so no need for them to set any standards about whom they deal with.
Re Bangladesh, as I said, do your own reading:
https://www.google.com/search?source=ig&rlz=1G1SNNT_ENUS412&q=bangladesh+and+climate+change&oq=Bangladesh+and+&gs_l=igoogle.1.2.0l10.1847433.1851669.0.1857382.15.11.0.4.4.0.178.1193.5j6.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.sTMaxULzuKw
Not that you couldn't have gone and got that link yourself if you actually cared, which, apparently you don't since you just demonstrated that trying to argue with me is more important than getting some info yourself and deciding on your own.
Dr. Emmett Brown
(4 posts)I wasn't trying to be funny or argue. I don't know where you got the pornography thing out of my post and I have no idea what free speech has to do with what I was asking or what any of this has to do with female actors. You made a comment and I asked about it. Honestly, I'm rather offended that you simply assumed what kind of person I am because I asked you about your comment. I thank you for the link but I think you need to calm down. I'm sorry if I offended you in some way by asking for clarification. It was not my intent. I thought we were all on the same side here. And if you'd read my post, then you would have seen that I was appalled at the lack of fire escapes.
I just found it interesting that Walmart was mentioned more prominently than any of the other major corporations (which were almost added as an afterthought, it seemed). I think they ALL should share in the responsibility of what happened! I mean why single out Walmart when they ALL had a hand in this? I am not saying that Walmart is not to blame which is apparently what you got from my post somehow. I am simply stating that Walmart wasn't in this alone and those other stores should share in the responsibility. It just seems like the article was trying to blame it all on one when in actuality it was all of them. Any one of them could have prevented this!
As for the Bangladesh situation, I was not trying to cause a problem. I was honestly confused. There are so many different theories as to what is happening with our climate that it's very hard to know who to believe. They ALL seem to carry some weight, depending on who is doing the research. Bangladesh is obviously having problems. It's a place that was already getting flooded regularly and now it appears that the floods are increasing and lasting longer. Climate change appears to be the reason for this. I was asking what climate change theory appears to be the cause, because I honestly don't know which one to believe anymore.
ancianita
(36,017 posts)those who help them make it. Period. Standards are demanded and created by workers' unions. I've been bitching about how ours need to globalized themselves and organize these people.
There's no "sad country" about it. This is just out and out exploitation and wage slavery.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)bluemarkers
(536 posts)Owner was afraid they would steal chickens so he locked the doors from the outside!!! Wait until you find out how many years he served.
Unions aren't a bad thing. Killing people to make a buck is a terrible thing.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)The fire was awful and the state's response was terrible
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)to die supplying cheap rags to WalMart, no one.
America will not give a shit. The Right will ignore the story and count their WalMart shares once more.
get the red out
(13,461 posts)I don't know what it would take to get people's attention.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)JB126
(165 posts)regulations are needed.
glinda
(14,807 posts)pinto
(106,886 posts)Just to add a bigger picture to the coverage of the tragedy.
Evasporque
(2,133 posts)the lowest of low end retailors for both NA and EU....
lalalu
(1,663 posts)Americans lazy , stupid, and too concerned with labor laws and the environment. This is how they sold themselves to get outsourced jobs. Come to our countries they said and we won't bother you with trivial matters.
Unfortunately they are learning the hard way that what American labor and environmentalists fought corporations over were not trivial matters. It is also why there is growing social unrest in many of these countries. They are finding out just how brutal corporations can be.
loyalkydem
(1,678 posts)this story goes viral. I'm going to pass this along to the Producers of the Ed show to see if I can get them to spotlight this.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)joshcryer
(62,269 posts)Yeah it would put these poor people out of a job but we are parasites, and if we can reduce our parasitic nature we'll be benefiting everyone.
ancianita
(36,017 posts)Beacool
(30,247 posts)but it's a reminder how little things have changed in some parts of the world.
Poor people!!!
Warpy
(111,237 posts)and needs to end.
This is so much like the Triangle fire that it's eerie.
The price of cheap clothing is far too high: not only did it beggar US workers when the jobs went away, it also has proven lethal for too many overseas workers.
donnasgirl
(656 posts)In another thread,(It's time to start) backing the unions,we have how many democrats in this country where are they dam it start backing all the unions public and private.
James48
(4,433 posts)and listed the factory as "Orange", one step away from banning purchases, due to worker conditions at the factory.
They KNEW.
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=236966&cid=4
"Dhaka, Nov 25 (bdnews24.com) Importers were not satisfied with Tazreen Fashions Limited, the readymade garment factory in Ashulia, where a fire killed at least 110 of its workers, and ranked its working condition as 'highly risky'
A document posted on the factory's website shows the main importer of the factory, Wal-Mart, listed it, a sister concern of Tuba Group, in the 'Orange' category, just below 'Red,' which prohibits signing of any deal with it.
It surfaced in the coverage of the influential US newspaper The New York Times on the worst ever factory fire in Bangladesh.
According to The New York Times, an "ethical sourcing" official for the Wal-Mart flagged "violations and/or conditions which were deemed to be high risk" at the Ashulia factory on May 16, 2011.
The Wal-Mart evaluation, however, did not specify the nature of the infractions.
The Wal-Mart categories to evaluate a factory's compliance are 'Green', 'Yellow', 'Orange' and 'Red'.
A factory remaining in the 'Orange' category in three assessments for two consecutive years is automatically placed in the 'Red' category, leading to the cancellation of business deal with it for a year. "
More:
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=236966&cid=4
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)...to justify continuing to operate with those people, I bet. All part of the corporate newspeak.
lib2DaBone
(8,124 posts)Clinton signed and promoted NAFTA.
Obama signed the NDAA on New Years Eve.. when no one was watching.
The point is.. our elected leaders could care less what is RIGHT for America.
They only care what is right for their bank acccount.
northoftheborder
(7,572 posts)Will there be reforms pushed through regarding the safety of those people working in those death traps? I doubt it. Walmart and the other retail companies buying from there, could, possibly, but will they?
Hekate
(90,633 posts)This is just heinous, and done in our names....
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts).
Response to James48 (Original post)
Post removed
ancianita
(36,017 posts)Some are meant to raise awareness, some are meant to point the way, others are meant to trod the path. Cuz this is a bigass country. Your holier-than-thou remarks say alot more about your insecurities than anyone else's remarks say about them -- except their caring. This is supposed to be an enspiriting community. You don't really know what people here do all day. You don't know any of these people -- whether they're "bougie" or laborers like you or any other walk of life -- so no. You don't "hate to be a dick." You ARE a dick. Unions are full of tough talkers like you. Big fucking deal. Go. "...lead the countey out of the woods."
lbrtbell
(2,389 posts)Are diabetic socks from the Dollar Tree.
It used to be just China. But now, clothes are being imported from so many countries, it's easy to lose count.
I can't even sew quality clothes anymore, as the crap fabric is from China.
reteachinwi
(579 posts)Many companies try to import clothes made with some level of respect for the workers who make them. I think there are labor and environmental standards written into NAFTA but they are rarely enforced. There is a dearth of information on PPT.
Javaman
(62,510 posts)I seriously doubt it.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)How effectively are they enforced?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I believe in free trade but I would have no problem making it conditional on reasonable and well-enforced health and safety standards for the workers.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)the playing field is not level therefore defeating the whole purpose of free trade.