Assignment

Team I
HRM 450
Section: 02
Labor Management Relations
North South University
Words Count: 1308

A Case Study On

Rana Plaza Incident

Submitted To
Md. Al-Amin (Mli)
Senior Lecturer

Submitted By

Name ID
Farhad Uddin 1712297630
Anisur Rahman Yeasin 1722058030
Rumaly Ashraf 1721211630
Tasmia Tanjin 1721183030
Shadman Sakib 1711784630
1. What caused the incident at Rana Plaza? Analyze the core problems?

Answer:

First of all, the construction of Rana Plaza had some major problems. The building was
constructed very fast, that too with low-quality materials to minimize the cost. The safety
concern of the workers was purposely ignored by the owners while constructing the building.
Moreover, the owners constructed additional floors illegally and another floor was under
construction while the Rana Plaza incident took place. So, the codes of constructing buildings
was violated.

Negligence of the building inspectors: Prior to the day the incident happened, there was an
inspection on the building. Even the inspectors found the buildings to be unsafe for the workers.
And, instead of looking after to the matter with more significance. They settled for the final
verdict to be in favor of the owner. This suggest that, there was some sort of unethical activity
presence in the decision-making process.

No-Union Affiliation: No worker was to be included in any sort of union. Major reason to be,
the workers were unaware about their legal rights with zero communication skill. Also, there
were some problem within the industry that no one had the courage or little opportunity to
change the structure of the industry.

Lastly, labor and safety compliance were missing not only among the owners but also among the
consumer. Until the tragedy, no one raised the question that from where the products are coming
and what environment they are working on. To reduce the labor cost, they were neglecting all the
safety measure of the labors and workers, which led to this inhuman incident.

2. Design the solutions for each of the problems that you have ascertained in the

previous question.

 First of all, ensuring the proper safety measure while constructing any commercial
building where thousands of people will work under a roof is must. Authority should
implement proper law for the people who fail to ensure the necessary precautions and
following code of conducts during a construction of building could avoid this kind of
 tragedy. And strict punishments should be developed for the negligence of the owners of
the company to set an example among the others (Ishtiaue Mahud, 2019).
 Secondly, enlightening the workers about their legal rights and giving them the
opportunity to learn communication skill can give them the confidence to fight for their
own rights (Amy Yee, 2015). Also, making them understand the importance of unions
could play a vital role. Government should help them in every possible way for them to
come up with more and more labor unions.
 Corruption: It is not difficult to understand that, corruption played a huge role in this
tragedy. Government should implement more anti-corruption programs to make sure
these unethical activities are not going un-noticed.
 Finally, while dealing with a tragedy the authority should follow the proactive method
rather than lagging behind with reactive ones. And there should be some new systems
implemented for structural, electrical and fire assessment on the buildings on a periodic
basis (Ishtiaue Mahud, 2019).

Rather than working on the issues after a tragedy have taken place, ensuring the tragedy
never happens from beforehand not only reduce the amount of accidents occur on a daily
basis it will bring an overall growth to the nation and the economy.

3. Are the factories at Rana Plaza unionized? How does a union affect labor management
relations at work? Consider the incident at the Rana Plaza while designing your answer.

Answer:

No, none of the factories at Rana Plaza were unionized. A union could have played a role to
restrain such an incident. In this incident, 1,134 peoples lost their lives and more than 3,000
peoples were injured. (http://www.industriall-union.org/, 2018)

Trade Union impacts in Organization: Trade Union is for protecting and promoting workers’
interests. Where workers can’t negotiate or raise their voice for their interest Trade unions do
that on behalf of them. Trade unions represent, negotiate, the voice in a decision affecting
workers, educate labor about their rights, legal assistance, financial assistance provides for their
members. Trade Union builds the bridge between employee and employer. Trade Union ensures
that everyone wins and find a middle ground.

Rana Plaza and Trade Union: Though engineers suspected that Rana Plaza wasn’t safe anymore,
Rana Plaza management forced their employees to join in their work or they would lose their
job. Individual workers weren’t able to negotiate their rights or raise their voice against such
illegal notice. If they were a member of any trade union, that trade union would negotiate the
terms and make sure the safety of the workers. If that happened, we might not have to see such
an incident. Thousands of lives could have saved. In our law, 30% of the workers need to form a
trade union. But the process is too lengthy and owners forced government officials not to permit
trade unions. After the Rana Plaza incident forming trade union became easy for somedays and
now it’s again the same as before. (Fayner, 2020)

4. How does the Rana Plaza incident affect the RMG industry? Identify both financial

and non-financial impacts in the context of the local and international market.

Answer:

Non-financial changes (Local):

The alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was established on 9 th july 2013. This alliance forced
Bangladeshi authorities to ensure building safety with regular inspection. Better Work
Bangladesh initiative were taken. Rana Plaza incident also brought focus upon child labour and
need for employee’s right. National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) focused on fire safety and
structural integrity of garments factories. Need for strengthening of the applicable laws were
realized and a new law in the form of the Bangladesh Labour Act-2013 were established.

Non-financial changes (Internationally):

MNC’s decided to remain with Bangladesh. Washington, DC based labour advocacy group paid
$3billion over 5 years to ensure improved condition in all 5000 garments of Bangladesh. The
International Labour Organization is now very active in reforming Bangladesh’s RMG industry.
Better work Bangladesh is itself an initiative taken by ILO. An agreement named “Accord on
Fire and Building safety” was formed which was signed by 187 corporations from 20 countries.
The Alliance for “Bangladesh worker safety” were between Bangladesh and North American
brands.

Financial Changes (Local):

As most of the MNC’s are in the support of Bangladesh’s growth, Total RMG export do not
seem to be declining. In 2010-2011 total RMG export were equivalent to USD 17914.46M and
In January 2019, RMG exports grew by 8.68 per cent with earnings of US$ 3.13 billion,
compared to the same month of 2018. Monthly minimum wages were increased from BDT3000
to 5000 in November, 2013.

Financial Changes (International);

There was a direct impact on the foreign investment. Disney left Bangladesh but other MNCs
like H&M, Zara continued to import from Bangladesh and are still with Bangladesh due to the
low labour cost. Support from ILO and various donors helped Bangladesh to recover from the
disaster.

05. What would be the roles of the government to avoid such tragedies in the future in the
context of Bangladesh?

Answer: Government plays an essential role in the matter of labor management relations. To
avoid conflicts both employers and employees should obey the terms and regulations. Whereas
the factories’ workers were not unionized and the authority was not concerned about their
employee’s safety also the government did not bother to check if they were really maintaining
the laws. So, I think to avoid such tragedies in the future, the government should take some steps
such as,

Strong labor laws:

Governments should provide a proper framework or strong labor law to resolve the conflict for
both the employers and the employees. So that they can follow a guideline and act accordingly.

Implementation of the laws:

Government should ensure the right implementation after established the labor laws and keep
monitoring if they are maintaining the laws in a good manner or not.

Stability:

Determine the minimum standard wages for the employees and employee’s life insurance policy
to avoid certain incident also ensure political stability as well to provide a safe work environment
and avoid discrimination.

Neutral judge:

Government should act neutrally in terms of judging any party whether its employer or the
employee. The punishment should be equally provided and fair for both parties also reduce
avoidance.

Sufficient resources:

Government should have all the necessary resources by which they can inspect factories properly
and enforcing the building’s health if the buildings have that strength to carry the heavy
machinery.
References:

“Improving Working Conditions in the Ready Made Garments Industry: Progress and
Achievemens”. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---
ed_protect/---soc_sec/documents/publication/wcms_431795.pdf

P. James (2013). “Aftermath of the Rana Plaza Tragedy- Abandoning Bangladesh altogether
would be the worst possible solution”. The Diplomat. Retrieved from
https://publications.waset.org/10003780/economic-impact-of-rana-plaza-collapse

(2018, April 23). Retrieved from http://www.industriall-union.org/: http://www.industriall-

union.org/five-years-after-rana-plaza-the-need-for-the-bangladesh-accord-persists

Fayner, E. (2020, November 5). After Rana Plaza: trade union mobilisation quickly blocked.
Retrieved from https://www.etui.org/: https://www.etui.org/topics/health-safety-working-
conditions/hesamag/construction-workers-at-the-mercy-of-social-dumping/after-rana-
plaza-trade-union-mobilisation-quickly-blocked

Amy Yee. (2015). Labor Unions Gaining Ground in Bangladesh Garment Industry. Voa.

Ishtiaue Mahud. (2019). Improvements in factory safety measures post-Rana Plaza tragedy.
Dhaka Tribune.