----- Original Message -----
From: secr(MG!) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 10:29 PM
Subject: [mobilize-globally] Dec 6th March on Niketown, Disney, and Kohls
Subject:
[MLNews!*] Dec 6th March on Niketown, Disney, and Kohls
Date:
Tue, 05 Dec 2000 05:07:30 -1200
From:
"Claudia K White" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization:
Angelfire (http://email.angelfire.mailcity.lycos.com:80)
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--------- Forwarded Message ---------
DATE: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 11:11:20
From: Peter Romer-Friedman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Student Org for Labor Econ and Equality <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
**************************************************************************
*********** VIGIL FOR 46 WORKERS BURNED IN FACTORY FIRE IN BANGLADESH*****
**************************************************************************
Michigan Union Steps 7:00pm
Wednesday Dec. 6th
**************************************************************************
Raise awareness about the tragedy that occurred November 27th at
the Chowdhury Factory in Shibpur, Bangladesh.
Stand in opposition to the human rights violations existing in
sweatshops worldwide.
Hear from religious leaders, local labor leaders, and student
activists about why we should address these issues of economic
and social oppression and what is being done here on campus
to end these abuses.
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT SOLE(a)UMICH.EDU
This action is in coordination with the Holiday Season of Conscience
Campaign in New York City. 3,000 demonstrators will march on Niketown,
Disney, and Kohls to shed light on sweatshop abuses.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Read below for the full article on the fire:
>From the ICFTU www.icftu.org
Scores of women and children killed in factory fire in Bangladesh
27/11/2000
Yet more workers paid the price of employer negligence on Saturday
November 25: 46 employees, including at least eight children, died in a
fire at their textile
factory. The doors were locked.
Dhaka, November 27 2000 (ICFTU OnLine): 46 workers Died and hundreds of
others were injured on Saturday in a fire that swept through the
"Chowdhury Knitwear and Garments Ltd." Factory in Shibpur, in the
Narsingdi district (Bangladesh).
Several of the injured are still hovering between life and death. The fire
was started at about 7.00 pm by electrical wiring on the top floor of the
factory where the clothing is ironed.
Flames rapidly spread throughout the building, where 800 people were
working overtime. As panic set in, they all surged towards the 4-storey
building's only staircase, but the doors were locked. "I was working on
the second floor" says 22-year-old Aziza from her hospital bed. "When I
heard the others shouting 'fire' I ran to the stairwell, but everyone was
pushing each other, I tripped on the stairs and the people behind me just
walked over me. I don't remember anything after that. I woke up in
hospital, with my right arm paralysed. The metal gates at the entrance of
each floor of the factory are usually closed during working hours. On
Saturday evening, only the second floor gate was open.
The others were padlocked but the factory security guard couldn't find the
keys during the fire. We had to break the locks." Aziza, like many other
textile workers in Bangladesh, earns only 500 takas (US$ 9) a onth,
working from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm. Sometimes she has to work overtime until
10.00pm, such as on Saturday.
Of the 46 victims, four were burnt to death, others Were electrocuted or
asphyxiated by the smoke. Many were trodden on or crushed to death as the
workers rushed towards the exit. The stairwell was so tightly packed that
some workers tried to break the windows and throw themselves out to escape
the
flames. According to witnesses, some were impaled on the pointed tops of
the iron railings surrounding the factory. Most of those who died were
young women under 25 years old (85% of textile workers in Bangladesh are
women), and at least eight were children. The list of victims posted at
the entrance of a hospital close to the factory gives the names of five
workers aged between 10 and 12 and three aged 14.
The "Chowdhury Knitwear and Garments Ltd" factory is in the BSCIC
industrial zone, about one and a half hours drive from Dhaka, the capital.
Saturday's tragedy is by no means the first of its kind in Bangladesh,
whose development is based largely on the textile sector where health and
safety conditions are often appalling. The leaders of the Bangladesh
National Coordinating Council of trade unions, (BNCC, which represents the
Bangladeshi affiliates of the international textile workers' federation,
the ITGLWF) have demanded the arrest and trial of the factory's owner.
They are also demanding a payment of 200,000 takas (US$ 3,700) for the
family of each worker who died and 100,000 takas for the families of each
worker injured.
"The employer, Ali Akbar Chowdhury, broke the law on at least three
counts" says Z.M. Kamrul Anam, the President of the Bangladesh Textile
Workers' League. Badruddoza Nizam, General Secretary of the Garment
Tailors Workers' League adds "he employed children under 14, he paid wages
below the legal minimum of 930 takas and he locked his factory's doors".
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Mrs. Sheikh Hasina, expressed her
condolences for the victims of the tragedy and urged the owners of the
factory to protect their workers' lives and compensate the victims. Will
the government and employers of Bangladesh learn their lesson this time?
By Samuel GRUMIAU in Dhaka
Daniel Calamuci
American Center for International Labor Solidarity
(Solidarity Center). AFL-CIO
Europe
1925 K St. NW Suite 300
Washington DC, 20006
(202) 778-6385
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