Bangladesh Garment Accident Death Toll Passes 700

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

May 7, 3:12 AM EDT

BANGLADESH GARMENT ACCIDENT DEATH TOLL PASSES 700

BY JULHAS ALAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The death toll from last month's collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh has passed 700, police said Tuesday, as survivors of the country's worst-ever industrial disaster protested for compensation.

The police control room overseeing the recovery operation said the toll reached 705 dead Tuesday afternoon as workers pulled more bodies out of the wreckage of the illegally built eight-story building that housed five garment factories.

The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, surpassing the 1911 garment disaster in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory, which killed 146 workers, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that killed 112, also in 2012.

Also Tuesday, hundreds of garment workers who survived the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza blocked a major highway near the accident site in a Dhaka suburb to demand wages and other benefits.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_BANGLADESH_BUILDING_COLLAPSE

[idwiyo]

1. K&R for visibility.

[Skittles]

2. .

[fasttense]

3. Oh my, everyday the horror of this disaster gets worse.

Capitalism has a lot to answer for.

[theHandpuppet]

4. I think the AP headline is misleading

As far as I'm concerned, this was no accident. It was mass murder.

[heaven05]

5. and

some official there commented that the collapse was no big deal. Let me see? 705 dead, so far, plus the families affected, loss of breadwinner, loss of mother, father, sister, brother=LOT of people affected. Such cold hearts when it comes to the 99%.

[Arctic Dave]

7. That comment alone was telling of their entire mentality of their workers.

It was probably to him a very honest statement.

If they do not care about the conditions in which people live and work, do you think thay care if you die? They are probably more upset about the lost revenue and facility.

[delrem]

6. Can anyone honestly say "I'm shocked!"

We all know that "Free Trade" has from the beginning been about finding the worst/cheapest possible conditions, for the worst possible wages, for workers. To maximize profits, to maximize retirement investments. (but not SS, the notion of maximizing SS investments, so they accumulate over time in a way that naturally pays for themselves, is somehow "communist&quot

"Free Trade" isn't something new, something to be disambiguated and sold on to the first load of suckers.
"Free Trade" is a kind of commercial treaty that both Democratic and Republican parties cling to as if their lives depended on it. Neither party has a clue about any other kind. There isn't a regime in the world so ugly, so evil, that it can't be dealt with in the exact same terms of "Free Trade" as any other - the notion of 'regulation' being antithetical to 'free'.

"Free Trade" is to economics what the "War on Terror" is to foreign policy. Both ideas are promoted identically by both parties, with no debate about what they could mean, the agreement being so absolute, comprehensive, and implicit. Both parties promote "Free Trade" and the "War on Terror" in the identical absolute terms. No caveats for the American Voter! Cheers for choice created by the most enlightened democracy in the world!

I hate to say it but y'all bought into it over a decade ago and have put so little thought into it that anything said, from that point of view in a "first-world" context is less than so many farts.

[Marrah_G]

8. Horrifying

[madokie]

9. Not one stitch of clothing from Bangladesh can be found under our roof

We pay attention to where our clothes are made. We found out years ago that clothes that cost twice as much if made here in the good o usa are a bargain

[delrem]

13. "quality" does matter

I would say that in this case "quality" includes "union made".
It's "Union made in the USA" that truly rocks.
Of course I'd also like to read "Union made in Bangladesh".

Seems that the people of Bangladesh haven't a well developed culture of "unionism", but it also seems that the ground in Bangladesh is ripe for it. In contrast, the people of the USA haven't the courage to support a fast fading notion of "workers' union" and are losing the concept -- at the exact moment that unregulated capitalism twists back and begins eating itself.

The time is ripe for a cross state, cross national, concept of "fair trade" to be agreed upon, one that includes regulation of minimal environmental/social conditions under which workers may serve, regardless of a workers' right to unionize. The right to unionize instantiates a right to free association that ought to be recognized everywhere. Only in this way is "free trade" put in context of universal rights. But even given this bedrock, a set of minimal conditions should exist, before any deal.

[LeftInTX]

10. Kick

It is so sad. And I hope protesting workers can achieve better working conditions.

[PD Turk]

11. I hope the capitaistas

I hope the capitalistas are proud of themselves..... shame, shame, shame

[Blue_Tires]

12. At least they immediately arrested the owner and froze his assets

Meanwhile the cretins behind the disaster in West, Texas issue a press release apology and are probably shielding their money from litigation as we speak...