Bangladeshi Clothing Factories

 Since the appalling fire a few months back at the Rana Plaza complex that cost the lives of more than 1100 people, there has been intense interest and scrutiny of working and living conditions of thousands employed in Bangladeshi clothing factories.

 On Monday night the BBC programme Panorama broadcast an investigation into this and the findings were compelling and deeply disturbing.

 In "Dying for a Bargain" Panorama discovered there have been at least 50 fires in Bangladeshi clothing factories in the last 10 months. Clothing factory workers filmed by #BBCPanorama were released at 2:30 am, 19 hours after they started. They were due back at 7am. You can see a clip of this here. Events uncovered at the Ha Meem Sportswear factory will no doubt have left executives at Lidl scrambling to find out the truth about what is happening at one of their major clothing suppliers.

The Financial Times has also produced a short news video on attempts by clothing businesses in Bangladesh to improve conditions. Watch Bangladesh tries to clean up its rag trade below. Four million people work in the Bangladesh clothing industry and the industry accounts for 80% of exports. Bangladesh's clothing industry exported about $20bn (£12.5bn) worth of ready made garments last year. But workers argue that they have not benefitted from the phenomenal growth of the sector. Workers are campaigning for an increase in the minimum wage.

Another FT video considers the pivotal role played by women in the industry

Millions of Bangladeshi women work in its garment industry. Despite working for some of the lowest wages in the world, the country's women have are being empowered economically and are helping the country's development. The FT's Ben Marino reports from Dhaka