Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union:

“As the death toll continues to rise in Bangladesh after the collapse of a building that housed garment factory workers, it’s clear that cheap apparel comes at too great a human cost.  UFCW members in the U.S. and Canada working in retail stores and many related industries stand with our sisters and brothers in Bangladesh who were told to report to work in a building that had severe structural cracks and lost their lives.

“Workers everywhere deserve a safe place to work, and those corporations that exploit workers for profit and put them in danger must be held accountable. Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here in the U.S. and around the world who are struggling to protect their basic rights – including safe jobs, workplace fairness and collective bargaining.”

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit http://www.ufcw.org/, or join our online community at http://www.facebook.com/ufcwinternational and https://twitter.com/UFCW.

Please find a link to LabourStart’s action alert here: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1813