Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We were all shocked and appalled by the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh on 24 April, which has now claimed more than 900 lives. The figures remain sketchy because it is believed a number of the workers who died in the factory were undocumented. We will never know the true number of people killed. It is now the world’s deadliest industrial accident since India’s Bhopal disaster in 1984. The breaking news is that a fire has broken out at another clothing factory in Bangladesh and has killed eight clothing workers. The reports are that most of the workers at the facility in the industrial district of Dhaka had already gone home for the night when the fire broke out, so it could have been a lot worse. We have heard stories of the difficulties factory workers have in getting out of buildings in cases such as this, with bars on windows and security features.

While it is common knowledge that garment workers face extremely bad working conditions in Bangladesh, these disasters have tragically shown how important it is that the industry be radically reformed and the urgent need for strong workers’ rights. Several announcements have been made in the past couple of weeks by senior officials in the EU and US regarding the preferential trade agreement Bangladesh currently enjoys in an effort to promote urgency within the Bangladeshi Government to deal with the significant human rights violations that have developed within the garment sector in particular. Pressurising the Bangladeshi Government in such a way is not in itself enough, however, and in line with the guiding principles, private industry must play its part in improving conditions for the 3.5 million garment workers struggling to survive in Bangladesh.

My call is for the Government to immediately use all avenues to ensure brands and retailers active in Ireland and the Single European Market accede to the Bangladesh fire and building safety agreement. On 17 January 2013, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on recent casualties in textile factory fires, notably in Bangladesh. The resolution called on all textile brands sourcing from Bangladesh to join the efforts initiated by local and international NGOs and trade unions to implement a programme to improve fire and building safety. The collapse of Rana Plaza and last night’s fire demonstrate the acute precarious health and safety conditions in the Bangladesh garment industry and the widespread disregard of the lives of the workers in chasing huge profits. This is an urgent appeal because 15 May is the critical deadline for brands and retailers to accept the policies of the Bangladesh fire and building safety agreement. I appeal to the Minister to respond to the crisis.

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