The Obama administration has rationalized its threat to punish Syria for using chemical weapons on “humanitarian” grounds (see page 2). Yet the “humanitarian” U.S. bosses — Walmart, Sears, J.C. Penney, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, among others — have reaped billions in profits from the super-exploitation and killing of garment workers in Bangladesh. The latest atrocity is the sexist, racist murder of over 800 mainly-women workers (and counting) in Dhaka in a building collapse in which threatening cracks had been discovered the day before — follows two fires which killed hundreds more when the bosses blocked exits. And it’s one and the same with the attack on workers that killed ten residents of West, Texas, where a hazard-prone fertilizer factory fire virtually destroyed the entire town.
Thousands of garment workers took to the streets in Dhaka, smashing vehicles with bamboo poles, and setting fire to at least two factories. The protests ricocheted among the city’s industrial sections as workers vented their fury, damaging more than 150 vehicles, demanding the death penalty for the owner of the Rana Plaza building, Sohel Rana, who is involved in the country’s ruling party, the Awami League.
Before the building collapsed, workers had “notified the police, government officials and a powerful garment industry group about cracks in the walls” (New York Times, 4/26) but the building was not padlocked. Supervisors beat workers back into the factory, with threats of firing. A local journalist at the scene said “local police…did not appear concerned and instead warned him not to run a story….A police supervisor…said an engineer had inspected the cracks and had found no problems.”
In a nearby industrial district protesters smashed five garment factories and clashed with the cops, as well as blocked traffic on a major highway.
Bangladesh has the lowest wages in the world. The 3.2 million garment workers earn as little as $37 a month, mostly women slaving away in 5,000 factories. For making a Nike shirt retailing for $28, workers are paid 0.08 cents. Even if wages were tripled, workers would still get less than one cent per shirt produced.
Over 3,000 workers were in the building when it collapsed. The lower floors were evacuated (including a bank branch) but those on the upper floors — which it turned out were illegally constructed — were ordered to keep working.
A workplace monitor from the University of California at Berkeley told the Times (4/26) that the prices Western companies pay “are so low that they are at the root of why these factories are cutting corners on fire safety and building safety.”
“I wouldn’t call it an accident,” said one minister. “I would say it’s murder.”
These murders will continue as long as capitalism exists, based on its constant need to expand globally to rake in maximum profits among the lowest-wage workers it can exploit. The killings in Syria and Bangladesh are the product of this bosses’ international fight. Join us Wednesday, May 15 at 5 PM as we rally in front of the Bangladeshi Consulate in New york City near Grand Central.