Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Case Analysis 1
Labor Management Relations (HRM 450.01)
Faculty: Mr. Md. Al-Amin (Mli)
Semester: Fall 2020

Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy

Presented by TEAM-F
Name Student Id

Nazia Shabnam 161 0841 030

Nusrat Jerin Jyoti 162 0311 030

Farheen Hassan 163 1101 030

Sadia Islam Bushra 163 1946 630

Abdul Karim Bhuyan 163 2742 030

Due Date: 18th November, 2020.

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Table of Contents
Question - 1.................................................................................................................................................

Question - 2..................................................................................................................................................

Question - 3..................................................................................................................................................

Question - 4..................................................................................................................................................

Question - 5..................................................................................................................................................

Reference.....................................................................................................................................................

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Answer to the Question number 01:

The Rana plaza disaster was not an emerging change but rather it was a planned changed, as
there were enough indicators of the disaster. The lack of proper foundation, unauthorized
permission, improper structure, etc. all contributed to the disaster.

Faulty architecture: The place where Rana plaza stood was a pond before which was filled with
sand for the construction. The problem initiates from this point, as a pond is not a suitable place
for building. Secondly, to build a high-rise commercial building like Rana plaza, a sufficient
amount of footing is required which was not given. This was due to the unstable base of sand.
This is the starting point of the problem, which elevated to a different level at the end.

Insufficient prevailing measures: Cracks were observed by people in many places of the
building, the day before the incident took place. However, the authority was very reluctant about
it. A consulting engineer also claimed the building to be unsafe and advised to evacuate but the
authority was still not bothered with it. When the workers left the building from the sense of
insecurity, threats of losing jobs were also given to bring them back to work.

Questionable role of officials: An officer was bought to Rana plaza for inspection but the
officer declared the building safe but it was quite visible that the building was not at all same and
the officer was giving the wrong decision. This makes the eligibility of the officer very
questionable for the service he is holding and it is a very open secret to people that what might
happened bellow the table. Overall, somewhere the representatives of the governing body was
also responsible for the disaster.

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Answer to the Question number 02:

The solutions for each of the problems are given below:

Proper investigation: We are aware of the fact from the previous part that the building was
actually constructed on a water body which is not favorable and recommended for such buildings
like Rana plaza. So the solution will be – proper investigation about the soil and ensuring
sufficient amount of footing which can prevent faulty architecture. It is highly recommended to
investigate to know if the soil is good enough for constructing buildings. Proper investigation
needs to be done regarding soil condition, soil density and bearing capacity. They also need to
make sure the proper ratio of rod, cement, concrete and water have been used for a strong
infrastructure,

Forming strong union-cracks had been seen in many places and it was considered unsafe by a
consulting engineer. Still the authority was not bothered with the safety issue. When workers
were coming out of fear but they were threatened and forced to go back to work. The solution
will be having strong union which can protect workers right and safety. If they had a strong
union, then the authority would not have audacity to do such thing with workers.

Strict inspection of governing body and taking actions –even though it was stated before that the
building was unsafe but still an officer took unethical decision. According to his statement it was
safe. If the governing body would strictly inspect and provide exemplary punishment for any
unethical practice, then such situation would not arise. They should have also ensured safety. So
the solution will be strict inspection of government and taking appropriate action to any unethical
practice.

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Answer to the Question number 03:

No, the factories at Rana plaza are not unionized. In fact, there were no unions in the factories at
Rana Plaza. Neither employee was a member of a union in the garment factory at Rana Plaza.
Under the labor laws in Bangladesh, 30 percent of the working community had to appeal to
establish a union. This was difficult because the names of the requests by law were available for
factory owners to inspect. People had no hope of changing the manufacturing sector inside. By
enhancing contact between staff and management, the Unions can increase efficiency. Further
details can be given by unions on employee expectations, so that a better combination of working
circumstances, working regulations, and payment policies can be established. If there was a
proper union, the labor would have gotten their proper rights after the brutal Rana Plaza collapse.
A proper union of Rana Plaza could have provided proper training to the employee for their
safety. Unions and union-management relations are especially significant, as salaries, hours, and
conditions of employment for large numbers of workers are defined by collective bargaining and
the other formal and informal means of interaction (Union–management Relations, n.d.).
Collective bargaining includes more than 80% of the workforce. If we talk about the
circumstance of Rana Plaza, if the factories were unionized there would be of course all the
necessary things that a union need which would be really good for the sake of the relationship for
both the union and the management.

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Answer to the Question number 04:

Rana Plaza incident affected the RMG industry in a very vast way. This tragedy has changed the
atmosphere of the RMG sector of Bangladesh. After the tragedy, new steps, rules, regulations
and safety issues has been taken by the government and the RMG owners. For example, before
the tragedy, the employees were forced to have a very limited amount of wages, there were no
safe work environment and work related accidents and deaths used to occur every now and then.
The employees were not able to get medical allowances and financial support when they needed,
they had no opportunity to raise their voice about their needs. But after the Rana plaza tragedy,
the workers have a fair amount of wages, now they get a fair amount of wages, they get the
medical allowances and other financial support whenever they need under some terms and
conditions. Most importantly, now the workers work under a very safe work condition and so the
work related accidents and death rates have been decreased a lot and the workers have a right to
raise their voice about their needs through the labor union.

Financial and Non-Financial impacts in both local and international market:

Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest textile manufacturing countries but Rana plaza tragedy
has changed the scenario of both local and international spotlight. The tragedy bought
Bangladesh and the poor condition of its garment industry into international market. RMG sector
plays a major role to increase the GDP of Bangladesh. After the Rana plaza incident, the GDP
increased by almost 7.11 percent in 2016 and the country’s overall imports grew by 83 percent
according to IMF.

As per the local market, many workers and survivors could not forget the trauma and did not
work for at least 2 to 3 three years and even if they went back to work in a garment industry or
anywhere else, they had to face lots and lots of difficulties because of the tragedy. And it has
hampered their mental health, their daily life and also the economy of the country.

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Answer to the Question number 05:

On 24 April 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the most
exceedingly bad mechanical accidents on record, stirred the world to the destitute work
conditions confronted by specialists within the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. Within
the nonappearance of a well-functioning work assessment framework and of fitting requirement
components, better than average work and life in respect are still distant from reality for the
endless lion's share of laborers within the article of the clothing industry and their families.

There are some roles of the government to avoid such tragedies in the future in the context of
Bangladesh, the government needs to deliver a few relevant policies, legislations, mechanical
relation policies to preserve a great relationship among the representatives and employers to
secure wellbeing and safety. Government upheld ‘Accord policy’ must be properly inspected by
the assigned inspectors not by taking after the complaints as it were, this assessment ought to be
drained a normal basis focusing on wellbeing and security issues (Rana Plaza, 2020). Employers
or the administration association like BGMEA have to recognize employees’ needs of the ideal
level of being compassionate and socially capable. They need to make and support an
environment where representatives are permitted to work out their voice and they should
encourage exchange union and worker strengthening with a positive demeanor to keep their
workers persuaded by regarding their rights. They should treat their workers as resources not
fetched viewpoint and participate to make two-way communication channels and collective
bartering to arrange with exchange union pioneers to come with way better determination of
issue such as wellbeing and security issues of the representatives (Bangladesh Employer's
Federation, 2009).

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Case Analysis: Rana Plaza Tragedy Team-F

Reference

Q U E L C H, J. A., & R O D R I G U E Z, M. L. (2015). Rana Plaza: Workplace Safety in

(2020). SEVEN YEARS AFTER RANA PLAZA, SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES REMAIN.

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