USA: Wal-Mart-Brand Clothes Found at Site of the Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire

Survivors of the fire said the fire extinguishers didn't work and the exit door was locked.
Newsday reports:
....When the fire alarm went off, workers were told to go back to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no emergency exits.The Solidarity Center reports:Bangladesh is now the world's second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of total national exports. Yet the base pay for a garment worker in Bangladesh is the equivalent of $37 a month—the same monthly amount it costs to buy food for one person.There are no local unions at the Tazreen Fashion factory to represent workers and ensure safe worksites. In fact, Bangladeshi garment workers struggling to gain safe working conditions and decent pay face huge opposition. Earlier this year, union activist Aminul Islam, a leader of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), a Solidarity Center partner, wastortured and murdered.
Read the rest of Eidelson's article: "Photos Show Walmart Apparel at Site of Deadly Factory Fire in Bangladesh."
Image courtesy of the International Labor Rights Forum, via The Nation.

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