Aklima Khanam’s story is a familiar one in Bangladesh. She is among the country’s 4 million workers who stitch together clothes for the world’s multibillion-dollar garment industry. She was also one of the more than 3,000 workers who were in the Rana Plaza factory when it collapsed a year ago.
She didn’t want to enter the building that day. There was a crack. It looked unstable. But a quota of 24,000 pieces needed to be filled. And so, facing verbal and physical abuse from the factory’s bosses, and threats to withhold wages, she and her coworkers hesitatingly went in.
A few hours later, the roof collapsed onto the building, and Khanam was trapped under a machine for 12 hours.
“When I was crushed, I was terrified,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to live anymore.”
(...)
This lack of action is why Khanam, with the help of the United Students Against Sweatshops, made the over 8,000 mile trek from Dhaka to the United States to share her story.
“If I don’t tell people, then you won’t be able to know what actually happened,” Khanam told America Tonight. “You won’t be able to know what the situation of the Bangladeshi worker is.”
Along her journey, she visited stores like Walmart and Children’s Place, and was struck by the costs. “They make a lot of money and we make so little. I saw a T-shirt that was selling for $55. We don’t even get half of that.” Full story...
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She didn’t want to enter the building that day. There was a crack. It looked unstable. But a quota of 24,000 pieces needed to be filled. And so, facing verbal and physical abuse from the factory’s bosses, and threats to withhold wages, she and her coworkers hesitatingly went in.
A few hours later, the roof collapsed onto the building, and Khanam was trapped under a machine for 12 hours.
“When I was crushed, I was terrified,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to live anymore.”
(...)
This lack of action is why Khanam, with the help of the United Students Against Sweatshops, made the over 8,000 mile trek from Dhaka to the United States to share her story.
“If I don’t tell people, then you won’t be able to know what actually happened,” Khanam told America Tonight. “You won’t be able to know what the situation of the Bangladeshi worker is.”
Along her journey, she visited stores like Walmart and Children’s Place, and was struck by the costs. “They make a lot of money and we make so little. I saw a T-shirt that was selling for $55. We don’t even get half of that.” Full story...
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