Bangladesh Indicts 41 on Murder Charges for 2013 Factory Collapse
Source: Chicago Tribune/AP
A Bangladesh court on Monday indicted 41 people for murder in the deaths of more than 1,100 people in the collapse of a building that housed five garment factories and became known as the country's worst industrial disaster. Investigators initially said those accused of wrongdoing in the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building would be charged with culpable homicide, which carries a maximum punishment of seven years in jail. But they later changed the charges to murder due to the gravity of the disaster.
Masud Rana, who owned the building outside Dhaka, and 33 other people pleaded not guilty when the charges against them were read out in court. Another seven who absconded will be tried in absentia, said Mizanur Rahman, a public prosecutor.
District Judge S.M. Kuddus Zaman announced their trial will begin Sept. 18. Those found guilty of murder could face the death penalty as a police report submitted to the court called the deaths a "mass killing." About 2,500 people were injured in the April 2013 disaster. The defendants include Rana's parents and the owners of the five factories housed in the building. Investigators from Bangladesh's Criminal Investigation Department said the change from culpable homicide charges came after the investigation found that Rana, his staff and the management of the five factories had forced the workers to enter the building the day of the collapse despite their unwillingness to work after the building had developed major cracks in the building the day before.
The collapse highlighted the grim conditions in Bangladesh's garment industry. Low wages in the South Asian country have led global brands and retailers to prefer Bangladesh over China, the leading apparel exporter in the world. Bangladesh has the world's second-largest garment industry with nearly 4,000 factories employing about 4 million workers, mostly women. Con't.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-bangladesh-factory-collapse-20160718-story.html
Pub. July 18, 2016. *SEE Photos in Link.
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A wealthy Bostonian who had come to New York for a Columbia University graduate degree, Frances Perkins (April 10, 1882 - May 14, 1965) was having tea nearby on March 25 when she heard the fire engines. She arrived at the scene of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in time to see workers jumping from the windows above.
This scene motivated Perkins to work for reform in working conditions, especially for women and children. She served on the Committee on Safety of the City of New York as executive secretary, working to improve factory conditions. Frances Perkins met Franklin D. Roosevelt in this capacity, while he was New York governor, and in 1932, he appointed her as Secretary of Labor, the first woman to be appointed to a cabinet position.
*Frances Perkins called the day of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire "the day the New Deal began."
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Index of Articles
•Quick Overview of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
•Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire -- the fire itself
•1911 - Conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
•The 1909 "Uprising of the Twenty Thousand"
•1910 Cloakmakers' Strike - the Great Revolt
•After the Fire: identifying victims, news coverage, relief efforts, memorial and funeral march, investigations, trial
•Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Image Gallery
•Frances Perkins and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Related: •Josephine Goldmark, •ILGWU, •Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)
Related Articles: •Quick Overview of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, •Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Identifying the Victims, Newspaper Coverage, Relief Efforts, •Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: What Happened From Start to Finish, •Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, •The Deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, •International Women's Day - A History
Our Expert Recommends: •Women and Labor, •Women and Unions: Women's Trade Union League, •ILGWU, •Women and Unions - Early Efforts - Lowell Mill Girls Organizer, •Rose Schneiderman
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/triangle/a/perkins_fire.htm
