Case Study: The Rana Plaza Collapse

Corporate crime means crimes committed by a corporation such as business or by individuals. The Rana Plaza collapse is both committed by the corporation and individuals. As the government blaming the owners when they themselves did not do their job as well. Corporate Social Responsibility can apply here because the government had the responsibilities to do proper inspections more often and take actions when the cracks were brought out by the media.( Christopher, Tatham. Lecture 7 corporate crime). So the crime is both committed by the owner for putting the money in his pocket instead of using it for the safety of the workplace. The government for not doing their job and ignoring the situation which took lives of thousands of workers. Also,
the role of Western countries is to be put into consideration too because they are playing a major role in the crime. The European countries and US export more than 60 percent of the clothing appears from Bangladesh because of the low price.( An Ethical Analysis). The low-cost workers and no laws for the safety of the workers are the main reason for Western nations to do business in Bangladesh. They know these workers are working in factories that are harmful and still do nothing about it because then they will be paying more for the safety conditions. They are making profits even if that is the main cause that takes lives of hundreds of people every year. Western countries are involved in the crime even if they are not admitting. The prices of clothing are cheaper, which make the Western buyers enjoy the affordable prices of the latest fashions. They only think about their own advantages by selling the products for affordable prices to their customers, yet ignore the poor workers dying for them. The Western countries should have full background check before even thinking about starting a business in a corrupted country for the sake of humanity. And put more money to the poor working conditions. ( An Ethical Analysis). Moreover, the minimum wage for the garment workers is 38 dollars a month set by the Bangladeshi government, which is the lowest labor costs around the world. The workers can barely survive on the 38 dollars a month as they are the main sources of their households. They see that the working conditions are bad but do not have choices to leave as they need money to survive and help their family members. With the 38 dollars, they work even over time because the manufacturers often take larger orders than they can possibly manage. (Endless misery of nimble fingers). Besides, very little time is given to them, they are mentally stressed and have to work overtime on the same salary. ( An Ethical Analysis). On April 15, 2014, 40 people were charged in total for the collapsed and will face criminal prosecution for their roles in the tragedy of Rana Plaza including the owners of factories. (D.W. Globalization responsible for factory tragedy).