12 Years After Factory Collapse, Bangladeshi Workers Fight for a Better Future

Twelve years have now passed since the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh, one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history. On April 24, 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza building in Savar collapsed, claiming the lives of 1,134 people and injuring over 2,500 others. The collapse was a product of denied labor rights for heavily exploited garment workers and corporate disregard for unambiguously unsafe building conditions.

The trauma and wounds inflicted by the Rana Plaza disaster remain fresh, 12 years later, for the survivors and families, who suffered immeasurable loss. Among them is Yanur Akhter, a former helper at the Ether Tex Ltd. garment factory on the sixth floor at Rana Plaza. She lost her mother, who used to work on the seventh floor, in the accident. Akhter herself narrowly escaped death: A large concrete beam fell on Akhter and she was trapped under the debris for 18 hours.

“When I was trapped under a concrete beam, there were four bodies on my left leg. I was not sure if they were alive or not. I was suffering a lot out of thirst. I was screaming for water. I was feeling suffocated and I still suffer from asthma. It was so dark that I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. All I could hear were people crying and screaming for help,” Akhter told Truthout.

Following the collapse, Yanur Akhter spent two-and-a-half months in the hospital, undergoing treatment for her injuries. Doctors informed her that full recovery would not be possible, and she would need to continue taking medication. Her lower body had suffered nerve damage, and her spinal cord was severely affected, with several parts being surgically removed from her ankle to her waist for treatment.

“After the accident, I am unable to go to any work due to my injuries. I can’t do many of the house chores. I don’t have any choice other than sitting at home with these injured legs,” she said. She now lives with her husband, who is a day laborer, and 5-year-old son in Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Another survivor, Jasmin Akhter, used to work as a sewing operator at Phantom Tec Ltd. on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza. On the day of the collapse, she was rescued from under the rubble nearly five hours later.

That day, she sustained serious injuries to her waist, spine and legs. Since then, Jasmin Akhter has undergone treatment multiple times, but the traumatic memories of that day still haunt her.

Her husband, Mohammad Rahat, also worked on the same floor, and fortunately, both of them survived. About a year after the accident, their child was born. However, Jasmin believes that due to her growing health complications following the collapse, her husband saw her as a burden and left her shortly after their child was born.

Currently, she lives with her child in a one-room rented space in a house on the outskirts of Dhaka, in Savar, and works as a domestic helper to make ends meet.

“In these difficult times, I can neither live a healthy life myself nor give my child the life they deserve,” Jasmin Akhter told Truthout.

Survivors Struggling 12 Years Later Demand More

Most of the survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse are living in poverty, grappling with the lasting impact of severe physical injuries that make finding employment challenging. A 2023 survey by ActionAid Bangladesh revealed that around 54.5 percent of Rana Plaza survivors are currently unemployed, with 89 percent of them being jobless for the past five to eight years.

Thousands of foreign companies and brands — including H&M, Inditex, Primark, Bestseller, Marks & Spencer, C&A, Uniqlo, LPP, Next, Pepco and Walmart — source ready-made garments from Bangladesh. The country’s ready-made garment (RMG) industry contributes more than 81 percent of its total annual exports, underscoring its vital role in the national economy.

Since the Rana Plaza collapse, Bangladesh’s RMG industry has made significant progress in areas such as factory safety, infrastructure risk mitigation, worker health and empowerment, and healthy working environments. The Accord on Building and Fire Safety in Bangladesh (referred to as Accord) and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (referred to as Alliance), both foreign buyer initiatives, have played a pivotal role in driving these improvements.

Alliance ended its tenure in December 2018 and handed over its charge to Nirapon, a nonprofit organization, and on June 1, 2020, the RMG Sustainability Council took over the Accord operations and started functioning as a safety monitoring body in the RMG sector in Bangladesh.

Joly Talukder, vice president of the Garment Workers Trade Union Centre, told Truthout that while working conditions have improved somewhat, workers permanently injured at Rana Plaza are still struggling to survive and win sufficient compensation:

The lives of the injured workers have truly become unbearable. Those who lost limbs received a one-time payment. But many others suffered injuries no less severe than losing a limb. For instance, those with spinal injuries — many of them have never been able to return to normal life. Forget heavy labor, they can’t even do regular work. They need medication year-round.

A significant number of the workers injured in the Rana Plaza collapse have spent, or are still spending, their lives in unemployment. Out of sheer necessity, some may have taken jobs, but they can’t continue in them for long.

We had demanded compensation for them in accordance with the International Labour Organization convention, equivalent to a lifetime of lost income. At that time, 127 crore BDT [the equivalent of almost US$10.5 million] was deposited into the then-Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. We saw that a portion of it was given to the workers. We have long been demanding rehabilitation for the permanently disabled and those unable to work. Now that a new government is in power, we are making the same demands to them as well.

The injured workers are simply not in a condition to do heavy labor. The situation regarding compensation has become dire. We had proposed that the vacant land where Rana Plaza once stood be used for the rehabilitation of the deceased and permanently disabled workers. But that hasn’t been done either. We’re asking that something be done for them so they can live out the rest of their lives with dignity and not in prolonged suffering.

Garment Workers’ Uprising Wins Key Demands

Following a mass uprising in August 2024 that led to the fall of the previous government, Bangladesh is currently under the stewardship of an interim administration. Amid efforts to restore order and economic stability particularly in the RMG sector, a landmark agreement has been reached between garment factory owners, worker representatives and the interim government.

The agreement follows weeks of worker-led demonstrations, particularly in key industrial zones such as Ashulia, which severely disrupted the country’s top export industry. Many factories were shuttered under the “no work, no pay” rule or closed indefinitely amid rising tensions. Worker dissatisfaction had been intensifying due to low wages, unsafe working conditions and job insecurity.

On September 23, 2024, it was officially announced that 18 demands raised by garment workers had been accepted by the authorities.

Among the most significant demands fulfilled are:

• An increase in the attendance bonus by Tk225 (USD 1.85).
• A Tk10 (USD 0.082) raise in both lunch (tiffin) and night shift allowances.
• Full implementation of the government-fixed minimum wage of Tk12,500 (USD 102.86) across all factories by October 10, 2024.
• Extension of paid maternity leave to 120 days.
• An immediate halt to unjust worker terminations and the misuse of biometric blacklisting systems.
• Access to subsidized essential goods through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
• Compensation for the families of workers who died during the recent protests.
• Improved daycare and child care facilities within factory premises.

This agreement is being seen as a pivotal moment for labor rights in Bangladesh and a step forward in addressing long-standing grievances in the RMG sector, which employs millions and drives a major portion of the national economy.

Bangladesh’s export earnings surged by 10.53 percent during the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2024-25, reaching US$32.94 billion, according to data released by the Export Promotion Bureau. This growth is largely attributed to the continued strong performance of the RMG sector.

In comparison, the country earned US$29.80 billion during the same period in the previous fiscal year. The single-month export earnings for February 2025 also showed a modest 2.77 percent year-on-year rise, fetching US$3.97 billion.

The RMG sector once again remained the backbone of Bangladesh’s export economy, registering a 10.64 percent growth year-on-year and earning US$26.79 billion in the eight-month period, up from US$24.21 billion last year. Knitwear exports contributed US$14.34 billion with an 11.01 percent rise, while woven garments brought in US$12.45 billion, reflecting a 10.22 percent growth.

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a steep 37 percent tariff on Bangladeshi exports under his “Reciprocal Tariffs” policy, citing Bangladesh’s 74 percent effective tariff on U.S. goods. In response, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus urged a three-month delay to soften the blow and pledged to increase U.S. imports — especially agricultural goods — while initiating reforms to reduce trade imbalances and protect Bangladesh’s key garment sector.

Whether safety compliance has indeed dramatically increased will become clearer with time. In the meantime, however, the survivors of the catastrophic collapse continue to contend with its aftermath. Another survivor of the disaster, 33-year-old Parul, used to work at Phantom Tec Ltd. on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza. When the building collapsed, she was trapped along with many others. After eight hours, rescuers pulled her out from under the rubble. A rod struck the left side of her body, and her right kidney was also damaged in the accident. Since she can no longer sit or stand for long periods, she hasn’t been able to take any jobs since the incident.

“Sometimes the pain is so intense that I can’t even breathe,” Parul said. “The mental agony keeps me awake at night. I don’t want to endure this suffering anymore.”