The toll has risen to more than 800 in Bangladesh. I suppose that must be a threshold of human death and suffering that even Wal-Mart can’t ignore. So, the Beast of Bentonville and some of its sidekicks are getting together to set, uh, labor standards.

From this article, I noted something very specific:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which includes big names like Nike, Walmart, Gap, J. C. Penney and Target, has been testing an index called the Higg Index. It started last year with environmental goals, but the new version due this fall will include social and labor measurements.

You gotta love the spin doctor who made sure the word “sustainable” was in the name. But, here’s the point worth remembering: there has already been self-policing in this industry and monitoring, all done either by the companies themselves and/or “independent” bodies. And that is a smidgen of a good step forward.

But, nothing will change really unless those standards include a specific right to unionize and protections against an retaliation for unionizing, with heavy sanctions for any union-busting.

Right.

Want to bet whether labor standards that Wal-Mart has any hand in drafting will include the real, enforceable right to a union?