28 March, 2011
From: International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation. Note: On Friday, 25 March, ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert issued the following statement drawing parallel between New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist fire to the 14 December 2010 Hameem garment factory in the Ashulia industrial zone of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
To mark the hundredth anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, the global union representing workers in the garment industry is calling on employers, governments and brands sourcing in the global industry to take urgent action to improve worker safety.
Says Patrick Itschert, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation: “One hundred years ago today, at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in New York City, 146 workers died because greedy factory owners violated workers’ basic rights and ignored health and safety regulations, and the authorities turned a blind eye to these violations.
“When a fire broke out on the ninth floor it spread quickly across an overcrowded factory floor. Young women workers scrambled to escape and found only locked or inadequate exits. Fire fighters were powerless to help because their ladders couldn’t reach beyond the fifth floor.
“Nearly one hundred years later, in December 2010, the exact same scene was repeated at the Hameem factory in Dhaka, leaving 29 workers dead. Nor is Hameem an isolated incident in the Bangladesh garment industry. Over the past five years alone, some 150 workers have died in factory disasters in the garment industry in the country. Similar tragedies have occurred elsewhere throughout the global garment industry, notably in China and Thailand. All of these tragedies are eerily similar and all could have been prevented by safe working practices.
“The ITGLWF is calling on employers, governments and brands to protect worker safety and to ensure that where workers are injured or killed, adequate compensation is paid.”
Concludes Mr. Itschert: “The Triangle factory led to rapid growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union and the introduction of tougher new laws. In Bangladesh and elsewhere, workers continue to be denied the right to organise and bargain collectively and are thus being denied the right to play a role in promoting health and safety. We must learn from the legacy of the Triangle factory fire and ensure this changes.”