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Bangladesh's garments workers have served as both an emblem of that country's rapid social and economic progress, and of the precarities of labour in global value chains. Based on an understanding of how disaster politics have played out in Bangladesh's history, this article explores whether and how the Rana Plaza disaster has been a critical juncture in the politics of the sector, resulting in a shift in power relations that empowers workers to demand and secure their rights. Drawing on a framework developed by Mark Pelling and Kathleen Dill for the analysis of the politics of natural disasters, the article explores the aftermath of the 2013 factory collapse in which 1,134 factory workers were killed. The article examines changes in workers' own agency and resources, and in their relationships to the state and transnational actors. The article concludes that while the disaster was a turning point in key respects, it has not – unlike previous major disasters in Bangladesh – generated an elite consensus over the priority of workers' rights and in particular of trade unions. Workers are more empowered than in the past but have yet to fully reverse their historical associational and structural disempowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]