Summary: The Importance Of Safety At Wal-Mart

Another blatant example of companies working for Walmart trading efficiency and profit for safety was the Rana Plaza incident, the deadliest catastrophe in the history of the global garment industry. The Rana Plaza was a very large factory that housed five different clothing companies. It housed around 5,400 people; all who worked to produce clothing of many different brands select companies, including Walmart. On April 23, 2013, more than a year after the Tazreen Factory Incident, large fractures appeared in the walls of the factory. Although there was obvious damage, supervisors threatened to dock the worker 's wages if they did not show up the next day. The next morning, an announcement over the loud speaker told the workers that the damage …show more content…
However, from a labor relation 's standpoint, to do all of the previously mentioned things at the expense of the safety of your direct and/or non-direct employees is unacceptable. Safety must be a top priority for Wal-Mart, or they risk losing more than just employees. They can start working towards a safer work environment in several ways. First off, considering they have only given a million dollars to a trust fund for the Rana Plaza victims and not a single penny to the Tazreen Victims, Wal-Mart should look to start mending fences at these places. This can be done by paying more money to the families that have been orphaned, widowed, and overall financially disabled due to these workplace incidents. They should also look to get out of "The Alliance for Bangladesh Work Safety" considering it is a highly corporate controlled, non-binding agreement that has been heavily critiqued for its exclusion of worker representatives. Instead they should look to sign in to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally-binding agreement between ten Bangladeshi unions, two global unions, and 180 companies that pushes towards worker rights and privileges. Second, they should start working on fixing the safety problems they have recently been experiencing. Chances are that if so many safety violations were recently found, there are bound to be more that were overlooked. Lastly, a union could go a long ways to helping Wal-Mart achieve good workplace safety. With a union looking out for employee rights and safety, it would help both customers and employees mentality towards Wal-Mart and its safety protocol. Wal-Mart might not realize the importance of workplace safety just yet, but if their current behavior continues, their stock and livelihood will be at risk, and losing money is a language they do