On Rana Plaza anniversary, college students take action

• Rana Plaza collapse killed over 1%2C100 people and wounded thousands more.
• Bangladesh is the second-largest exporter of clothing worldwide but many of its factories are structurally unsound.
• Over 1%2C800 people have died in preventable building collapses and factory fires since 2005.

Students at over 30 colleges across the county held teach-ins and vigils this week to mark the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh.

The collapse killed over 1,100 people and wounded thousands more, making it the deadliest garment factory disaster ever.

"As a student organizer at a university, I have an incredible amount of responsibility and opportunity to make changes," says Julia Wang, a senior at the University of Southern California.

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), which organized the actions, launched a new campaign this week to pressure clothing companies to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

The Accord — already signed by over 100 companies, including U.S.-based Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters — is a first-of-its-kind, legally binding, five-year agreement between labor unions and apparel companies.

Participating companies will have their factories inspected for structural damage and fire hazards, paying for any necessary renovations. They will also invest in safety training programs and give unions a seat at the table.

USAS is targeting companies that operate in Bangladesh and provide apparel to colleges and universities in the United States.

Student activists will ask their schools to issue an ultimatum to these companies: sign the Accord or we will contract with someone else.

"I think as students we have this amazing opportunity that we're never going to have again in our lives," says Wang, the international solidarity coordinator for USAS. "Our universities have multi-million dollar contracts with these large brands, so we need to use this strategic leverage right now in order to pressure these brands to sign."

Wang says that a trip she and some other USAS students took this August to Bangladesh set the campaign in motion.

The delegation met with Bangladeshi workers and union leaders who asked USAS to use their power as American college students to take on multi-national brands.

"After hearing the stories of what it was like living through fires, living through the factory collapse, it was impossible to say no because it is literally a matter of life and death for these workers," Wang says.

Bangladesh is the second-largest exporter of clothing worldwide but many of its factories are structurally unsound and its minimum wage —$38 a month — is tiny, even for a developing country.

Over 1,800 people have died in preventable building collapses and factory fires since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum.

The Rana Plaza collapse, for example, happened because additional floors were illegally built on top of the existing structure, says Timothy Ryan, Asia regional director for the Solidarity Center, an international NGO affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

The Accord campaign will closely resemble the successful battle USAS fought against Adidas in 2012, when the company refused to provide $1.8 million in severance pay to 2,700 Indonesian workers after one of its supplier factories, PT Kizone, closed down the year before.

Adidas said they shouldn't be held accountable for the actions of their sub-contractor, who fled the country after closing the factory.

Student activists convinced 17 colleges to terminate or pledge not to renew their contracts with the German-based clothing giant, Wang says, and Adidas eventually reached a settlement with the workers this spring.

Katherine Corbit, a University of Michigan senior and regional organizer for USAS, thinks the new campaign will be successful as long as activists educate their student bodies.

"I think with increased awareness on campus, President Coleman will see that these companies really are tarnishing our reputation and that a good fix would be to require these brands to sign onto the Accord," Corbit says.

She added, "The next industrial disaster in the garment industry could occur while they are producing Michigan apparel."

Nike spokesperson Greg Rossiter says Nike — one of the companies USAS is targeting — operates out of four, purpose-built factories in Bangladesh, all of which receive annual inspections and none of which produce collegiate apparel.

The colleges Nike contracts with already know about their operations in Bangladesh, Rossiter says — and Nike will not sign the Accord.

"There is important work to be done in Bangladesh and we'll remain part of those conversations and continue our engagement with all of the stakeholders that are involved," he says.

Jonathan Dame is a senior at Boston College.