Bangladesh Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Bangladesh

  • Kalpona_akter

    Striking Workers, Bangladeshi Activist Challenge Wal-Mart on Labor Conditions at Stores & Factories

    As celebrities including Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman celebrated Wal-Mart at its annual meeting last week, workers and activists converged to demand sweeping changes at the company’s U.S. stores and global factories. Around 100 striking workers with the group OUR Walmart arrived in a caravan from across the country to protest what they allege to be retaliation against those seeking to change company practices on wages, safety and unions....
    Jun 11, 2013 | Story
  • Bangladesh-collapse-5

    As Bangladesh Toll Hits 400, Calls Grow to Grant Workers the Same Protections as Labels They Make

    Today’s global May Day actions include a march of thousands of workers in Bangladesh demanding workplace safety following last week’s factory collapse that left more than 400 dead and 150 missing. The collapse is now being described as the deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry and marked Bangladesh’s third industrial accident in five months. The building’s owner has been arrested, and a Bangladeshi court...
    May 01, 2013 | Story
  • Bangladesh_factory

    Over 200 Killed in Bangladesh Factory Collapse After Workers Forced to Ignore Building's Dangers

    The death toll in Bangladesh has topped 200 after an eight-story garment factory building collapsed with thousands of workers inside. More than 1,000 people were injured, and an unknown number of workers are still trapped in the wreckage. Cracks had been found in the building, but workers say the factory owners forced them to go to work anyway. Protests broke out in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka today as angry workers blocked key highways,...
    Apr 25, 2013 | Story
  • Bangladesh-survivor

    Survivor of Bangladesh's Tazreen Factory Fire Urges U.S. Retailers to Stop Blocking Worker Safety

    This week’s Bangladeshi factory disaster comes five months after a massive fire killed at least 112 garment workers at Bangladesh’s Tazreen factory, which made clothing sold by Wal-Mart, among other companies. Earlier this month, Wal-Mart refused to compensate victims and their families, even though it was apparently the factory’s largest buyer. We’re joined by Sumi Abedin, a worker who survived the Tazreen fire by jumping...
    Apr 25, 2013 | Story
  • Walmart-logo

    Exposé Reveals Wal-Mart Blocked Improvements Despite Vows to Improve Safety After Deadly Factory Fire

    Wal-Mart has vowed to improve safety problems among suppliers who make clothes for the company after at least 111 workers died in a deadly fire at a Bangladesh garment factory. But inspection reports found inside the facility underscore fundamental problems with how Wal-Mart’s supply chain allows it to avoid improving conditions. "One of the main monitoring companies, inspection companies for Wal-Mart, admitted that 'We don't...
    Jan 03, 2013 | Story
  • Kapona2

    Bangladeshi Labor Activist Finds Burned Clothes with Wal-Mart Labels at Site of Deadly Factory Fire

    The Bangladeshi government has declared a period of national mourning for more than 120 garment workers who died in a fire at a factory that supplied U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, among others. Joining us from Bangladesh is labor activist Kalpona Akter, who has visited the factory and took pictures of the charred clothing labels she found there — including the Wal-Mart brand, Faded Glory. She started work in garment factories when she was...
    Nov 27, 2012 | Story
  • Fire_bangladesh_factory

    Massive Fire Kills At Least 118 Factory Workers in Bangladesh at Wal-Mart Supplier

    A clothing factory in Bangladesh that has ties to Wal-Mart suffered a massive fire Saturday that left at least 118 factory workers dead and scores injured. Wal-Mart is the largest buyer of garments from Bangladesh, which has a notoriously poor fire-safety record and has long suppressed workers’ attempts to improve their conditions. The building was a factory operated by Tazreen Fashions, a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, which supplies Wal-Mart,...
    Nov 26, 2012 | Story
  • Button-mayday-world

    May Day Protests Span the Globe with Calls for Economic Justice, International Solidarity

    Hundreds of thousands of people across the world marked May Day on Tuesday by filling the streets and demanding better working conditions, greater job security and improved quality of life. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, resonated with protesters from Spain to Bangladesh to Iraq and throughout the United States. "This is brutal and dictatorial," says Mariano, a member of Spain’s General Union of Workers...
    May 02, 2012 | Story
  • Dipal-web

    Solar Power in Bangladesh Used to Empower People in Poor, Rural Areas

    In Bonn, Germany this week are representatives of the Bangladeshi organization Grameen Shakti, which makes loans and offers technical assistance to allow poor, rural people to install solar power in their homes, often granting access to electricity for the first time in their family’s history. They have helped install more than 110,000 systems, often with a woman hired to maintain the system, creating jobs, empowering women, and raising the...
    Sep 17, 2010 | Story