RST: Bangladesh clothing factory collapse prompts action

Radio Smart Talk for Thursday, June 27:

Americans are used to buying relatively inexpensive casual clothing at well-known and popular chain stores. Usually, it’s the style that attracts the buyer, but a low or what the customer considers a reasonable price, cements the deal.

Most consumers didn’t think about where the clothing was manufactured or who made it.

Many still don’t but the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh last April that killed more than eleven hundred people caused others to take notice.

Workers were ordered back into the building even after cracks were noticed in a ceiling before the Rana Plaza tragedy.

Thursday’s Radio Smart Talk features Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who is one of nine senators who called on President Obama to pressure Bangladesh to support safer working conditions. Also appearing will be Douglas Dirks, Public Relations manager of Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade advocate and Gordon Zook, the country representative for Mennonite Central Committee in Bangladesh.

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