Even as 24 April 2021 marks the eighth year of the tragic Rana Plaza building collapse — Rana Plaza, an eight-storey building housing five garment factories in Savar, collapsed on 24 April 2013 killing as many as 1,135 people besides injuring more than 2,500 — the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has called for people to commemorate the tragedy by preventing a similar disaster from happening in the future even as labour unions and NGOs have urged a binding international safety agreement so as to guarantee the safety of factory workers to mark the eighth anniversary of the disaster.
In a statement issued, the CCC maintained that the Rana Plaza collapse is the worst industrial disaster the apparel industry has ever seen and it was preventable, adding, “Workers were forced to enter a building they knew was unsafe under threat of losing their wages.”
The CCC also underlined the need of new agreement — the Accord on Fire and Building Safety is set to come to an end on 31 May, says CCC adding that no brands or retailers have signed a new legally enforceable agreement to protect the health and safety of workers — as it felt much work remains to be done in the sector.
The CCC statement also highlighted other labour concerns, such as the lack of insurance for workplace injuries.
