Death toll in Bangladesh collapse passes 300

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Death toll in Bangladesh collapse passes 300

AP foreign, Friday April 26 2013

JULHAS ALAM

Associated Press= SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — With time running out to save workers still trapped in a collapsed garment factory building, rescuers dug through mangled metal and concrete Friday and found more survivors — but also more corpses that pushed the death toll past 300.

Wailing, angry relatives fought with police who held them back from the wrecked, eight-story Rana Plaza building, as search-and-rescue operations went on more than two days after the structure crumbled.

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More than 40 survivors were found late Friday evening on some floors of the Rana Plaza, said fire service inspector Shafiqul Islam, who searched the building. Through holes in the structure, he gave them water and juice packs to combat dehydration in the stifling heat and humidity.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10766296

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. 300 dead - if they were westerners this story would be all over DU

[MisterP]

2. give it some time (and I don't mean "wait for more DU response")

[Luminous Animal]

3. Hundreds of thousands protest dangerous "sweatshop" conditions as police fire tear gas, rubber bulle

As the death toll soared past 300 in the aftermath of Wednesday's garment factory disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and over 1,000 remained unaccounted for on Friday, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of thousands of mourning protesters fed up with an international garment industry that continues to place profit over workers' lives.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports Friday that in 2011 several major western retailers rejected a proposal made by a group of Bangladeshi and international unions that outlined a way to clean up Bangladesh's garment factories. The plan would have established an independent inspectorate to oversee all factories in Bangladesh "with powers to shut down unsafe facilities as part of a legally binding contract signed by suppliers, customers and unions."

"The proposal was presented at a 2011 meeting in Dhaka attended by more than a dozen of the world's largest clothing brands and retailers — including Wal-Mart, Gap and Swedish clothing giant H&M — but was rejected by the companies because it would be legally binding and costly," AP reports.

At the time, Wal-Mart's representative told the meeting it was "not financially feasible ... to make such investments," according to minutes of the meeting obtained by AP.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/26-4#.UXrfva_ptLh.twitter

[malaise]

4. It will continue rising

Word is that the building is owned by a politician from the ruling party. The report said the close alliance with the garment industry, real estate peeps and corporations facilitated the neglect of workers.

I want the goons who forced those workers into that cracked building.
I would have lost my job -not me.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

5. Corporations getting away with murder

Corporations getting away with murder, says union on Bangladesh building collapse

OTTAWA, April 26, 2013 /CNW/ - "The photos of the factory building collapse in Bangladesh tell the story of corporate greed run amuck, says Dave Coles, president of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. "This criminal disaster is the direct result of unregulated, free-market capitalism."

Coles says even the most basic of International Labour Organization standards have been violated and the retailers responsible should be condemned in the harshest terms and brought to swift justice."

"Multinationals have been allowed to get away with murder by hiding behind empty claims about building codes, auditing and monitoring systems," he adds.

CEP, which is the largest union in several key sectors of the Canadian economy, is calling on the ILO and all international global union federations, including IndustriAll which represents garment workers, to step up its fight to strengthen workers' health and safety rights in developing countries.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1153743/corporations-getting-away-with-murder-says-union-on-bangladesh-building-collapse

*************
Just when and how will the retailers be held accountable, when discussions as to why we buy their cheap products is verboten on the MSM.