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Article

4 May 2005

Author:
Robert Senser, Human Rights for Workers

Tragedy Strikes Bangladesh's Garment Workers Again - Greed Kills, and Greed Pays

...nobody knew for sure how many garment workers -- women, men, and children -- died when the whole structure [Spectrum Sweater factory] suddenly collapsed...Demands grew for the arrest of the building and factory owners. Angry garment worker activists confronted the head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)...Neil Kearney, who leads the global union of garment workers, says that "the real villains are the European retailers who have sourced from that factory for years." [refers to Carrefour, Cotton Group, KarstadtQuelle, Zara (part of Inditex)]...Kearney was describing more than the bad practices of the garment industry...He was describing the free competition that afflicts today's global economy -- that is, competition freed of normal human values.

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