Factory workers in Bangladesh toil for low wages and under precarious conditions to make clothing worn worldwide

… We visited Savar last year to see what had changed and what hadn’t in the years since the Rana Plaza disaster. We learned that the house of (survivor) Muhammad Moinuddin and his wife, Rakeya, was flooded with toxic water.

Bangladesh, which is the largest exporter of clothing after China, is able to save on manufacturers’ costs by paying one of the lowest minimum wagesin the world and by often turning a blind eye to the laws, agreements and standards that would protect workers and the environment but raise prices.

A complex set of laws and regulations, often flouted, allows different types of factories to operate according to different standards.

The problems are exacerbated by Bangladesh’s poverty, which drives millions of children away from school and into the labor force. They often lie to get around the legal employment age…