Which Brands Accept Blood on Their Labels?

Nichols/Greider The Nation
It's difficult for exploited workers to organize and build popular support. Companies can pack up and move to the next low-wage country where people and governments are desperate for jobs and income, however pitiful. This cycle of exploitation is destined to continue until the world runs out of poor countries to exploit, or until citizens in rich countries, like the U.S. get over their ignorant indifference and face up to their complicity for evil done in their name.

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8 Killed in Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire, Protests Grow

S. Quadir, R. Paul, J. Zarroli, K. Bhasin, M. Mosk, B. Ross
Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh on Wednesday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900. Meanwhile, multinational corporations are coming under growing scrutiny and facing mounting protests over their involvement in the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. One U.S. union is targeting Gap, Inc.

Tidbits - May 2, 2013

Portside
May Day - Bangladesh, Hong Kong & Baghdad; LGBTQ Leaders Support Bradley Manning as SF Pride Grand Marshal; Reader's Comments - Good Jobs; Korea; Kissinger; Israel, Syria; Tamerlan Tsarnaev; Labor History; Leo Branton; AOL problems & Portside; Annoucements - Workers Unite Film Festival, NYC - May 10-17; Harlem Housing Forum - May 30; Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Rosenbergs' Executions - New York - June 16 Today in History - The Birmingham Children's Crusade

May Day: Reflecting on Bangladesh Factory Disaster and Corporate Terror

by Paula Chakravartty and Stephanie Luce Aljazeera
This May Day, we might want to return to the similarities between the acts of violence outside of Dhaka and in Boston, both events resulted in senseless bloodshed of innocent victims. While we might debate how to prevent tragedies like the Boston marathon bombings, it is abundantly clear that enforcement of safety standards and basic regulations would help prevent the sheer scale of terror and violence from being unleashed yet again in Bangladesh.

labor

The Terror of Capitalism

Vijay Prashad Counterpunch
The list of “accidents” in Bangladesh factories is long and painful. These factories are a part of the landscape of globalization that is mimicked in the factories around the world in other places that opened their doors to the garment industry’s savvy use of the new manufacturing and trade order of the 1990s. Those who died in Bangladesh are victims not only of the malfeasance of the sub-contractors, but also of 21st century globalisation.

U.S. Policies Allow Sweatshop Fires

Tom Hayden The Peace & Justice Resource Center
The latest sweatshop disaster in Bangladesh, which claimed the lives of over 200 young women, calls into question the foundations of US globalization policies since the Clinton era. It is not enough to blame the corruption of Bangladesh factory owners, nor sufficient to suggest better training and factory codes from Walmart or the Gap. It is time to ban the US sale of garments made in Bangladesh until enforceable labor codes are imposed on that country.
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