The death toll from the collapsed Bangladesh factory building has passed 500

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/03/bangladesh-engineer-arrested-factory-building-collapse
<snip>
The death toll from the collapse of a Bangladesh factory building has passed 500, officials said, as police investigating the disaster arrested an engineer who warned the day before the tragedy that the eight-storey complex was unsafe.

The detention of Abdur Razzak brought to nine the number of people held over the disaster, which has put the spotlight on the many western clothing retailers using the country as a source of cheap goods.

Razzak had been called to Rana Plaza in Savar, 20 miles north of the capital, by its owner when cracks appeared in concrete pillars the day before the accident.

Despite his warning that the building was unsafe – quoted in local media hours before it came crashing to the ground – thousands of mostly female workers were sent back into its upper-storey factories when the morning shift began the next day.

Duty-free access offered by western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19bn (£12bn) a year industry, with 60% of clothes transported to Europe.

[Starry Messenger]

1. k&r

[cali]

2. a very sad kick. thank you for the update

[tblue]

3. It was '430 confirmed'this afternoon.

My gosh. How awful. We have to put pressure on the retailers to contract with only mftrs that provide safe working conditions for their employees and the right to unionize. We have to do it. We are the consumers who generate the demand. We have to speak for the dead and injured. Because they can't, and because they have zero clout.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Remember the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

Maybe this is what will motivate India into action.
& R

[malaise]

5. Bangladesh, India, China and wherever else

If they could get away with it, they would do the same in New York or anywhere else in the US.