Anniversary of Rana Plaza

Protesters from the Rana Plaza Solidarity Collective gathered outside clothing stores in central London to remember victims of the fatal factory collapse and denounce slow progress on garment workers’ rights a decade on from the disaster.

On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killng more than 1,130 workers.

More than 2,500 were injured, many of them women, in one of the worst industrial accidents on record.

The collective called on brands to put an end to “death-trap” workplaces by signing the International Accord on Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry. It says brands including Asda, IKEA and Levi’s have not yet signed this binding agreement to improve workers’ safety in their supply chains.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said that in Bangladesh: “Thousands of workers die each year because of dangerous conditions at work. And trade unions are brutally suppressed — with many workers barred from joining trade unions.” He added that fundamental rights must be respected and workers must be able to join a union without fear of attack.

And he called for mandatory human rights due diligence to clamp down on labour abuses in supply chains and hold companies accountable.