In a dramatic demonstration of how deadly the global supply chain really is, Scott Nova, director of the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), opened a panel on workers' rights in Bangladesh during the recent AFL-CIO Convention with this observation:

Of the four deadliest factory disasters in history, three of those four happened in the last 12 months.

A safe job is a fundamental workers' right. It doesn't matter whether you work in a coal mine, a classroom, a construction site, a hospital or a garment factory in Bangladesh or China, every worker should be able to go to their job and return home safely at the end of the day. 

On July 15, the Bangladesh Parliament passed legislation amending the Bangladesh Labor Law of 2006. In doing so, the Parliament changed 87 sections of the existing law. Many of those changes were not substantive and fail to address the concerns raised by workers' rights advocates. In our view, the changes made by the Bangladesh government did not bring the country’s labor law into compliance with ILO fundamental rights, conventions and standards. Indeed, unions and workers' rights advocates worked to fix the portions of the proposed law that actually weaken, rather than strengthen, protections for workers.

Labor and student activists protested outside the Bipartisan Policy Center in downtown Washington, D.C., to highlight the hypocrisy of a corporate public relations spectacle led by the Gap and Walmart. The retail giants announced today yet another toothless voluntary private regulation scheme for the garment industry in Bangladesh. More than 1,800 workers have died in preventable factory fires and collapses since 2005. In response, workers and their allies recently negotiated an innovative and enforceable agreement to improve safety and rights for these workers. Since May 15, 80 companies have signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. 

This Saturday, June 29, Students Against Sweatshops will lead a coalition of groups and individuals in an international day of action to pressure Walmart and Gap to stop the use of unsafe factories that have killed more than 1,800 workers in Bangladesh since 2005. To date, the two corporate giants have refused to sign on to an Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh that would go a long way toward making workers in Bangladesh safer. The accord would require independent inspections by trained fire safety experts, mandatory repairs and a central role for workers and unions.

The Obama administration announced Thursday it is suspending trade privileges for Bangladesh because of that country's poor record of safety and protection of workers' rights in the garment industry. After a recent building collapse killed more than 1,100 workers and a fire in a separate factory led to another 112 deaths, the administration was under pressure to take action. The suspension means Bangladesh no longer will be able to avoid paying duties on more than 5,000 products the country exports to the United States.

Walmart workers, with assistance from the OUR Walmart campaign, launched the first prolonged strike in the company's history, capping it with a rally on Friday outside the company's shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Ark. Workers began the strike more than a week ago and went on a freedom ride-inspired trek, called the “Ride for Respect,” to Walmart headquarters in Bentonville. The strike is planned to extend until after the shareholder meeting.

Celeste Drake, trade policy specialist for the AFL-CIO, is testifying on labor rights abuses in Bangladesh this morning, during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing presided over by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). 

Watch the hearing live here. 

Following the tragic building collapse that killed more than 1,300 Bangladeshi garment workers and recent fires that have claimed the lives of more than 400 Bangladeshi clothing workers, more than 40 clothing retailers have signed on to the Accord on Building and Fire Safety. But two of the major retailers that count on low-wage Bangladeshi workers to make the clothes they sell have refused.

Today. Walmart and Gap announced they would develop their own nonbinding safety code and turned their backs on the accord developed by international and Bangladeshi unions, retailers and other groups—groups with firsthand knowledge of what’s needed for worker safety and of the deadly consequences of inaction.

CBS News secretly filmed inside a Bangladesh apparel factory recently. There they found emergency fire doors blocked and just two fire extinguishers for a 100,000-square-foot area—another 11 shown on an evacuation plan were nowhere to be seen. Recent fires have claimed the lives of more than 400 Bangladeshi clothing workers.