Bangladesh: global company town.

• Author: Fletcher, Bill, Jr.
• Position: To the Point - Column

Natural disasters continuously batter Bangladesh: cyclones, famines, and floods. Then there are the unnatural disasters of economic injustice, something largely ignored in the United States except when, on occasion, it screams for attention. The Tazreen factory fire last November, in which 112 workers were killed, and the April Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 garment workers, are two such examples.

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The Rana Plaza disaster was the worst in the history of the international garment industry. The scale of this infamy dwarfs the historic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire from 1911 in New York City. There, 146 workers, mainly women, were killed, many throwing themselves out windows in order to avoid being incinerated in the flames.

In the April Bangladesh tragedy, the building showed signs of imminent collapse. Yet the owners ordered the workers to their stations or they would be fired. In the November Tazreen fire, much like the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, exits were blocked, areas were filled with flammable material (illegally), and some managers, according to The New York Times, ordered workers to ignore a fire alarm.

Despite these repeated tragedies, Bangladesh has done little to correct the situation. Instead, the country functions as if it were the national equivalent of a "company town." With garments representing 80 percent of manufacturing exports for the country, the owners have significant influence over the government and the legal system. Some are even members of parliament. So it's not surprising but still outrageous that, for instance, Delowar Hossein, the owner of Tazreen Fashions, has not been prosecuted in connection with the 2012 fire, despite the testimony of survivors and the families of the victims.

The extent of the anti-worker criminality does not start or stop with these disasters. Much like "company towns" that have existed in the United States, the apparatus of government in Bangladesh suppresses workers.

The 360,000 workers in Bangladesh's export processing zones have no right to join or form labor unions.

A demand to raise the minimum wage above its current rate of $38 a month has also been frustrated.

Unionists in Bangladesh face repression. Some are jailed, others assassinated, according to a recent report from the International Trade Union Confederation. Labor activist Aminul Islam was tortured and killed after he helped ABC News arrange interviews with survivors of...