Twelve years after the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh — one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history — rights groups are urging governments and fashion brands to move beyond voluntary commitments and adopt legally binding measures to protect workers in global supply chains.
The tragedy, which killed at least 1,138 garment workers and injured thousands more on 24 April 2013, laid bare the human cost of fast fashion.
Marking the anniversary, the Clean Clothes Campaign, a global alliance advocating for workers’ rights, has accused major brands of failing to deliver on promises made in the aftermath, highlighting ongoing concerns over poverty wages and restrictions on freedom of association in the garment industry.
The alliance has renewed its call for fashion brands to abandon vague promises and instead commit to enforceable obligations that uphold worker protections.
‘Rana Plaza was not a freak incident, but a cumulation of deeply ingrained systemic issues plaguing the apparel industry,’ the campaign said in a statement.
Despite visible cracks in the building and an evacuation the previous day, factory owners compelled workers to return to their posts under threat of withheld wages. The sector’s notoriously low pay, combined with a lack of freedom of association, left workers with little choice and no collective power to resist, it said.
In the immediate aftermath, brands rushed to pledge reform. H&M, one of the industry’s giants, promised to implement living wages across its supply chain within five years. However, such commitments have rarely been realised without the backing of legally binding agreements, CCC observed.
It took pressure from over one million petitioners for global brands to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh—a landmark agreement that has since made factories structurally safer.
Yet, a decade later, campaigners stress that serious challenges remain. Poverty wages persist, and workers still face significant barriers to unionising and defending their rights.
‘Twelve years on, progress on worker safety demonstrates what can be achieved through binding mechanisms,’ said the Clean Clothes Campaign. ‘It is time for all labour rights—including fair wages and freedom of association—to be protected not just by promises, but by enforceable agreements and national legislation.’
Progress in safety, but gaps remain
Factory safety has seen the most improvement since Rana Plaza, with the Accord playing a pivotal role in improving working conditions in Bangladesh. However, some brands, including Kontoor Brands (Wrangler, Lee), Decathlon, Amazon, IKEA and Walmart, continue to rely on voluntary self-checks, bypassing the Accord’s safety measures. CCC has raised concerns over the influence of employers in the governance of the Bangladesh-based RMG Sustainability Council (RSC), which has weakened the effectiveness of the Accord.
Salahuddin Shapon, President of the Bangladesh Revolutionary Garment Workers Federation, warned that the 2022 amendment to the country’s labour act had weakened factory-level safety committees by granting more power to factory owners.
Wage struggles and worker repression
Despite years of promises, wages in Bangladesh’s garment sector remain at poverty levels. Previous minimum wage revisions failed to meet workers’ basic needs, and brands have refused to support wage increases that would lift workers above the poverty line.
Protests for better wages have often been met with violent repression, and tens of thousands of workers have faced baseless legal charges. Clean Clothes Campaign has successfully annulled nine mass cases and secured the release of over 10,000 workers from pending charges.
Babul Akhter, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation, said that brands have not increased or even decreased the prices they pay factories since the Rana Plaza disaster.
He argued that only binding commitments from brands can ensure that workers receive a fair, dignified wage.
Furthermore, workers’ rights to organise remain under threat, with union-busting practices continuing to suppress workers’ efforts to demand better pay and conditions.
In 2021, a union leader was beaten to death after leaving a garment factory, yet most buyers have failed to compensate his family or take action to prevent similar tragedies.
The need for legal accountability
The lack of meaningful change in the industry highlights the need for legal protections to ensure lasting reform.
In 2024, the European Parliament approved the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which requires brands to take responsibility for human rights and labour conditions in their supply chains.
The CSDDD, set to be fully adopted in June 2024, represents a significant step towards holding brands legally accountable. However, the European Commission is now proposing changes that would weaken the directive, undermining its potential impact.
Kalpona Akter, founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, emphasised that the Rana Plaza disaster occurred because brands ignored unsafe workplaces, poverty wages, and union-busting within their supply chains.
She said, ‘The twelve years since the collapse have shown that real change can only happen if brands’ behaviours and practices are regulated by robust legal obligations.’ Kalpona urged that the CSDDD must not be weakened.
With the ousting of the employer-dominated former government, unions and labour rights groups in Bangladesh viewed the transition as a chance to advance long-overdue reforms.
Several organisations within the CCC network had played key roles in advisory committees that recently submitted their recommendations.
The CCC urged the interim government to take seriously the advice of the labour reform and women’s rights committees—whose proposals were expected later that month—to ensure national laws began putting workers’ interests first.
