I do have blood on a lot of my clothes, yes...I work in mental health and people get stabbed...oh wait, didn't read the story...yea, Bangladesh should do more to protect their people.

Why is this any particular companies fault, or for that matter any other country other than Bangladesh?. After all it is the Bangladesh government that failed to ensure that the people building these structures are doing so correctly and then maintaining them correctly. Just because a company had quarters there doesn't mean they are responsible for inadequate building practices. Just sayin'

You do know that slavery is involuntary servitude right?

Someone voluntarily working somewhere in exchange for money is called getting a job.

Just goes to show you they allow the building of crap structures in 3rd world countries and don't give a damn about it. Then innocent people have to suffer because of it, and really sad is that their employer could give a damn.

Bonded labour - or debt bondage - is probably the least known form of slavery today, and yet it is the most widely used method of enslaving people.  A person becomes a bonded labourer when their labour is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan.The person is then tricked or trapped into working for very little or no pay, often for seven days a week. The value of their work is invariably greater than the original sum of money borrowed.

Poverty, and people prepared to exploit the desperation of others lie at the heart of bonded labour.  Often without land or education, the need for cash just for daily survival forces people to sell their labour in exchange for a lump sum of money or a loan.

Despite the fact that bonded labour is illegal in most countries where it is found, governments are rarely willing to enforce the law, or to ensure that those who profit from it are punished.

Today the International Labour Organisation estimates a minimum 11.7 million are in forced labour in the Asia-Pacific region, the majority of whom are in debt bondage.

http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/bonded_labour.aspx

"and people prepared to exploit the desperation of others lie at the heart of it". Let that line sink in a while.

Another good one at
http://idsn.org/caste-discrimination/key-issues/bonded-labour/india/ 

If they're working there voluntarily they're not slaves. I'm not sure why this is such a difficult thing to understand.

It gets really old seeing people complain about how evil companies are for outsourcing to other countries who have people willing to do the same job for a lot less while they themselves happily buy products made in those same third world countries.

People pat themselves on the back for supporting minimum wage laws in the US while being aghast that companies are forced to outsource labor because those same Americans think nothing about shopping at Walmart because it's cheaper.

You do realize that forced means

compelled by force or necessity : involuntary 

: violence, compulsion, or constraint exerted upon or against a person or thing

I didn't realize corporations had it so tough ...

My conscience dictates I do not consume these products. The purpose of the thread was to inform those who do consume such products, not argue the specific wording of my more than obvious bias.

EDIT: Still chuckling a bit that people are free to work there and corporations are forced to move there. Although a somewhat gallows laughter.

No one mentioned here that Bangladesh is a seismically active area (besides being a typhoon target). Maybe the builder didn't build adhering to code? Maybe the code is inadequate?

OR

Maybe the workers who saw cracks in the building had the responsibility of keeping themselves and their fellow workers out of the building NO MATTER WHAT and calling a government inspector to get there urgently? No wages (or lack of them or their relative worth) are worth anyone's life. They know that. They chose not to call an inspector urgently.

If Ghandi could organize a march to the sea to make salt and be beaten bloody for his trouble, they could stay out of work until a building inspector got there. Period.

Blood on my clothes? Same amount as everyone else on this mud ball...since forever.

Perhaps, but unless there are proper processes in place where the workers have rights and are able to complain (and the education), it's more likely they had no idea.

When I said it was not the company's fault, I meant the brand company. The manufacturer (managers) should get their arse kicked. But I bet there is little in the way of worker rights or the lack of enforcement.

+1

You can see this ongoing effect in China, the raise of the middle classes ... but it all takes time, it took western cultures hundreds of years.

Well said.

Here's the problem with Globalization.

When this was happening in the industrial revolution the workers were also consumers and this gave them the leverage to demand better employment conditions. Now these products are solely for a for a foreign market, the locals are almost entirely priced-out. This vastly diminishes their leverage for any possible renegotiation of their rights.

I don't know about you but I am quite unable to find any cloths that were made in Britain or Europe in my shops. I'd buy them if I could even at double the price but I still don't think it would solve anything. Bangladeshi clothing is also sold in China.