Bangladesh Fears Exodus Of Western Retailers
The Walt Disney Company's decision to end its apparel production in Bangladesh after more than 500 people died in the collapse of a garment factory complex has sparked fears of a mass exodus of Western retailers.
Mohammad Fazlul Azim, a member of the Bangladesh Parliament and an influential garment factory owner was quoted in The New York Times imploring brands not to leave Bangladesh, noting that unlike Rana Plaza, the building that crumbled last week, many factories are in compliance with safety standards.
"The whole nation should not be made to suffer," he said. "This industry is very important to us. Fourteen million families depend on this. It is a huge number of people who are dependent on this industry."
But Bangladesh's finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, says he doesn't think the collapse of Rana Plaza is "really serious" nor that foreign retailers will chose to pull out of the country.
"It's an accident, and the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it doesn't happen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will be appreciated by all," Muhith said, according to Al-Jazeera. "These are individual cases of ... accidents. It happens everywhere."
As the BBC reports:
"While some observers are calling this a wake-up call, others point to evidence that this is simply part of a pattern of tragic accidents after which little changes.
A very similar building collapse in the same town seven years ago killed 64 garments workers. There have also been fires, stampedes and other incidents at various garment factories in Bangladesh, causing hundreds of deaths.
Last year, more than 100 workers perished in a fire at Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia, a township near Dhaka."