How useful are grievance mechanisms for garment workers? Insights from Bangladesh’s Amader Kotha helpline

After the Rana Plaza building collapse on 24th April 2013 in Savar near Dhaka in Bangladesh, two initiatives emerged that were tasked with improving situations in the country’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector: the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (Accord) and the Bangladesh Alliance for Worker Safety (Alliance). The loss of more than 1,100 lives, many of them garment workers, and more than 2,500 injured workers, revealed on what shaky foundations many of Bangladesh’s RMG factories literally stood.