Loblaw Cos. Ltd.: Rana Plaza

Rana Plaza: The death toll from Rana Plaza has climbed to more than 1,100 lives lost, in the failure of a building constructed shoddily and illegally by an owner with connections at city hall. He has been arrested but not charged. By contrast, the milestone Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York in 1911 to which can be traced many of todays social-welfare reforms claimed 147 lives, according to The Star. Days after Rana Plaza disaster, Galen G. Weston, executive chairman of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., vowed that Loblaw unit Joe Fresh, which was supplied by a sweatshop in Rana Plaza, will continue to source in Bangladesh. The apparel industry, Weston told a press conference, can help lift people out of poverty in countries like Bangladesh. Walt Disney Co., acutely concerned for its image, said in March it will abandon Bangladesh and Pakhi Begum is one of the lucky ones. She did not die in the collapse of the decrepit Rana Plaza building in Savar on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on April 24, one of the worst tragedies in industrial history. Rescuers heard Begums cries of help and pulled her from the rubble in the first few days after the collapse. But in extricating Begum, they had to amputate her legs. Six years ago, Begum and her husband, Jahangir Fakir, escaped the deprivation of rural Khulna district, each taking jobs in Dhakas booming apparel plants. Sweatshops they may have been: As related by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Ether Textiles, Begums employer and one of several apparel factories in Rana Plaza, was known for its 14-hour shifts; a single, unsafe stairwell; and overflowing toilets. But it was a big step up from the poverty of Khulna. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.