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In the Balance: Rana Plaza: a lesson forgotten?

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18/04/2015

Rana Plaza: a lesson forgotten?

BBC World Service - In the Balance, Rana Plaza: a lesson forgotten?

Are the lessons of Rana Plaza forgotten amid new pressures in the global textiles sector?

Are the lessons of Bangladesh's Rana Plaza disaster, in which 1129 workers died, forgotten amid new pressures in the global textiles sector and a world-wide race to the bottom?

Two years on from the Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh where a factory collapsed killing over 1100 workers, what has changed in the global rag trade? Are workers safer? Are wages fairer? Are we as consumers any more willing to pay a higher price for our clothes to ensure that the one in six of us who work in the global clothing sector have a decent life? Or is the throw-away culture, in which a $1 t-shirt is bought, worn and chucked away in no time, here to stay; and with it a business model that locks in a race to the bottom? We speak to a factory owner from Dhaka, a fashion deisgner and the man responsible for drawing up the new rules intended to make life better and safer for the people making our clothes.

Image: A relative of one of the victims of the disaster at a protest. Credit: Getty Images

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