Across Europe, North America, Australia, Asia, and in 19 cities across the U.S. and Canada, demonstrators stood up with Cambodian workers on September 17^th to demand a more livable wage.  Cambodian workers and demonstrators throughout the world wore orange t-shirts with the demonstration logo to show solidarity. In Cambodia, workers waged demonstrations at 139 factories, while tens of thousands of workers demonstrated in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. 

Twitter users around the world showed solidarity using the #WeNeed177 hashtag, referring to the workers’ demand of US$177per month. 

Two years ago on September 11, 2012, a third-degree fire broke out at Ali Enterprises, a garment factory in the industrial area Karachi, in which 259 workers perished alive. It was one of the most devastating fire tragedies of known industrial history. The tragedy sparked a debate, but unfortunately on too small a scale, on one of the most neglected but important issues: workplace safety and working conditions of the working class. But as usual, soon after the tragic inferno, the issue of workers was dumped, forgotten due to other thorny issues confronting our country.
 
The second anniversary of the “Baldia Factory Fire Tragedy” is the right time to revisit the conditions and situation under which Pakistan's workforce of 60 million is compelled to work.

When the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) entered into force in 2009, it was presented as a major step forward for protecting international labor rights.  Unlike prior trade agreements, most notably DR-CAFTA, the PTPA required both parties not only to enforce their existing labor laws, but also to adopt and maintain laws consistent with 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and not weaken labor laws in an effort to stimulate the economy or attract foreign direct investment. 

Before the Tazreen fire of November 2012 and the Rana Plaza building collapse of April 2013 made international headlines, safety incidents were a regular occurrence in Bangladesh. And they continue to be. According to the Solidarity Center, in the past year and a half – and not including Tazreen and Rana Plaza – at least 26 workers have been killed and 823 injured in 57 separate incidents in Bangladesh garment factories.