On April 24, 2012, the largest disaster in the history of the garment industry occurred in Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed, killing 1,134 Bangladeshi garment workers. Working conditions in the garment industry have reached a breaking point. In the last eight years alone, over 1,800 Bangladeshi garment workers have died in building collapses and factory fires while earning just $37 per month on the job. And the problem persists: engineers have found that 90% of all factories in the country are structurally unsound. At the root of these senseless tragedies is a cutthroat system of global subcontracting engineered by brands like VF Corporation (owner of JanSport), Nike, and Columbia Sportswear to reap the greatest possible profits while taking the least responsibility for the fates of garment workers. The stakes of our movement are higher than ever. Workers in Bangladesh are putting Mother Jones’ famous saying – “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” – into action. Over 250,000 workers took to the streets in Dhaka in September to demand a three-fold minimum wage increase. Thousands more have rallied for an end to deathtrap factories. This summer, a member of SCALE traveled halfway across the globe to Bangladesh to meet with Rana Plaza survivors, union leaders, and rank-and-file workers to express our solidarity and make plans to coordinate our efforts to hold multinational corporations accountable for the conditions of their workers. Now, back at USC, we are calling on our university to require brands producing Trojan apparel to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally-binding contract – a Contract to End Deathtraps – between unions and brands, promising greater protection for workers and a voice for unions in addressing deadly working conditions. So far, over 100 brands from 15 countries have signed the Accord. Meanwhile, brands and retailers like VF Corporation, Gap, and Walmart have unveiled a fake safety scheme called the “Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety,” another voluntary scheme in a long line of ineffective corporate auditing programs that these brazen companies have touted for years. That’s why we will continue to demand that USC end contracts with the brands on our campus who refuse to sign the Accord. Join us in supporting Bangladesh workers and make USC a global leader in human rights!