Protest H&M

Josie Renforth

Soc  122

05/04/16

DN!   http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/4/headlines/labor_activists_target_h_m_over_safety_of_bangladesh_factories

 

Labor Activists Target H&M over Safety of Bangladesh Factories

Elizabeth Cline and others protested  in front of a H&M cloting store in New York City today. They held signs saying "Cheap Fashion Shouldn't Cost Lives.  Safe Jobs Now"   Cline and others are protesting due to the fire in the Bangladash textile factory that H&M operates and they do not have safety measures or appropriate fire escapes for the employees.   H&M has over 100,000 workers in Bangladash.

There was a fire in February 2016, that occurred before it's 6,000 workers arrived.

 

The framing is cheap fashion shouldn't cost lives. It is very good and no one can mistake it's meaning. Protesting in front of the storemoblization with others gives a message to consumers and to the corporportation.

New York Times related story to H&M protest

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/world/asia/bangladeshi-factory-owners-charged-in-fatal-fire.html?_r=0

Bangladeshi Factory Owners Charged in Fire That Killed 112

November 2012 a fire in the first floor where illegal fabric and other materials were being stored, which is were the fire started.  Fire alarms went off, some workers on higher floors were told to ignore them and to keep working. When smoke and flames began to spread to 3 and 4^th floors,  many workers were trapped. On the 8^th floor, the top floor, employees escaped by scrambling onto the roof of another building.  Others jumped from the floors they were on attempting escape.

 

The India government has avoided taken any action in the past against the textile company owners due to the  importance of the industry in Banglasdash.They have 4,500 factories and over 4 million employees.

History repeats itself: 

The Triangle Shirt Waist Fire 1911.  Women workers were told to keep working, when they tried to escape, the doors had been chained by the owners until the end of the work day to keep the women in and the labor union organizers out. The owners, who escaped by climbing onto a neighboring roof made no effort to free women. The fire escape under the weight of so many being on it, fell away from the side of the building.  Women jumped from the windows to escape the flames.