Rana Plaza victims are suing for their recompense from the 2013 calamity that killed 1,129 workers and left 2,515 others injured. The victims, now plaintiffs, have filed suit against Bangladesh, J.C. Penney, The Children’s Place and Walmart and are seeking damages.
In a civil action filed Thursday with the United States District Court for the District of Colombia, both Bangladesh, the second-leading clothing exporter after China, and the named retailers, are being cited for negligence.
Two plaintiffs, Abdur Rahaman, representing the deceased Sharifa Belgum and Mahamudul Hasan Hridoy, who was injured in the collapse, are bringing the action on behalf of themselves and all workers and/or families of deceased workers who were injured and/or died as a result of the building collapse.
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The eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed on April 24, 2013, and according to the suit, employees were required to work despite warning signs that the building was uninhabitable and “at least one warning from an engineer the day before the collapse.”
On April 23, 2013, structural cracks were noticed in the building and it was evacuated. Sohel Rana, the building’s owner, told media however, that the building was safe and managers demanded workers be present at their posts the following day, according to the suit.
According to the claim, “The construction of the Rana Plaza building did not meet even basic building safety standards. Bangladesh breached its duty to its citizens by: failing to properly inspect the building; failing to ensure compliance with local construction standards; and, most significantly, failing to ensure the safety of factory workers.”
The claim further notes, “Similarly, Retailer Defendants breached their duty to workers in the Rana Plaza building by failing to implement standards and oversight mechanisms designed to ensure the health and safety of workers who manufactured clothing for their stores.”
Garment factories in the Rana Plaza building included New Wave Style, New Wave Bottoms, Ether Tex, Phantom Apparels, and Phantom Tax, which manufactured apparel for as many as 29 brands including the retail defendants.
Indirect sourcing, a rampant practice whereby factories subcontract work to often unregistered and unregulated bottom rung facilities as a way to increase profit margins and boost production capacity without compromising on low costs, was also noted as contributing to the plight of Rana Plaza.
“In the absence of effective government regulations and buyer oversight, the supply chain in Bangladesh is driven by the pursuit of the lowest nominal costs–undermining wages and working conditions,” the claim noted.
Western buyers, despite having strong language in their policies against non-transparent subcontracting “turn a blind eye to the subcontracting practice.”
One mid-sized factory owner reportedly said, “[Some] brands want to ignore subcontractors. They have their targets, too—98 percent on-time shipment—and they don’t care how they get the products.” Some factory owners have even reported that buyers will place orders for quantities beyond the factory’s known capacity with the understanding that the work will get done elsewhere in a practice dubbed “oversourcing.”
Verbiage in the claim asserts that, “Retailer Defendants knew, or should have known, that many of the garments manufactured in Bangladesh, including at Rana Plaza, were (and continue to be) made by workers who are subjected to substandard and illegal working conditions. Despite this knowledge, Retailer Defendants, in the United States, failed to take reasonable steps to implement policies, audits, or other oversight to ensure that workers were safe and healthy. As a result of Retailer Defendants’ negligence, Plaintiffs and members of the class suffered severe injury.”
The plaintiffs are requesting that the Court enter judgment in their favor and decree that the defendants are liable for negligence and wrongful death. They are also seeking compensatory damages, including legal costs and injunctive relief, including requiring defendants to implement labor practices consistent with international standards for worker health and safety protection.
