Thousands Protest Garment Fire Linked to Walmart

Bangladeshi workers demonstrate outside of Dhaka
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 26, 2012 2:45 PM CST
Thousands Protest Garment Fire Linked to Wal-Mart
A Bangladeshi man, right, reacts as he looks for his son's body outside a garment factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012.   (AP Photo)

Thousands of protesters marched in Bangladesh today after a garment factory fire linked to Walmart killed more than 100 workers this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reports. Angry workers blocked traffic, damaged cars, and threw rocks at factories as some 500 plants declared a "holiday," reports AFP. "Most workers are in shock," a garment union leader said. "They want to see safety improvements to these deathtrap factories." Fires at Bangladeshi garment factories have claimed more than 600 lives over the past six years.

The plant that burned Saturday made clothes for Li & Fung, a global trading group that buys for retailers like Target and Walmart. Documents posted online include a letter, apparently from Walmart, declaring the plant to be "high risk" and warning that two more such ratings over two years would force Walmart to stop orders from the factory. Walmart said it wasn't sure whether the company still bought clothes from there, but the Nation has photos showing piles of an exclusive Walmart brand at the factory. (More factory stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X