More than 100 people have died in a fire at a nine-story garment factory outside Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Most of the workers who died were on the first and second floors and were killed, fire officials said, because none of the exits opened to the outside.

Sound familiar? About a century ago, 146 garment workers were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City. [This video includes images of a 2010 fire in a different Bangladesh garment factory. Be warned the video is graphic and may be disturbing]

The Bangladesh factory that burned yesterday employed about 1,500 workers, making T-shirts, polo shorts and fleece jackets. It had sales of $35 million a year.

Babul Akhter, president of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers’ Federation, said mid-level management of the garment factories are mostly concerned with how many clothes can be produced and forget the safety issues.

Bangladesh garment industry workers have been battling for union rights for years. The fight is becoming increasingly violent. Just eight months ago, the “tortured body” of an organizer for the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity was found near the police station of a city outside Dhaka.

Read how the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire transformed American worksites here.

Read more about efforts to improve working conditions in Bangladesh here.

And when you are shopping this holiday season, think about the true cost of what you’re buying. According to press reports and labor activists, the factory that burned yesterday makes clothing for Walmart, as well as other retailers.

Liz Iacobucci is the former Public Information Officer for the State Employees’ Association of New Hampshire, SEIU Local 1984. Over the past three decades, she has served in government at the federal, state and municipal levels; and she has worked for both Democratic and Republican politicians.

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