BANGLADESH: A year after the Bangladesh's factory collapse that killed over 1,100, garment factory workers, relatives of those killed demand more compensation from owners

Record ID: 216554

  • Title: BANGLADESH: A year after the Bangladesh's factory collapse that killed over 1,100, garment factory workers, relatives of those killed demand more compensation from owners
  • Date: 24th April 2014
  • Summary: SAVAR, BANGLADESH (APRIL 24, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED WOMAN HOLDING UP FRAMED PHOTO OF VICTIM WOMEN SHOUTING PEOPLE WALKING PAST HOLDING BANNERS AND FLOWERS PEOPLE LAYING WREATH ON ALTAR MADE FOR THE VICTIMS VARIOUS OF FAMILY MEMBERS OF VICTIMS CRYING PEOPLE HOLDING PLACARDS WOMAN CRYING HOLDING BOY WOMAN CRYING WHILE LOOKING AT PHOTO OF VICTIM (SOU
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA6I8E9DZ9OJ3YWPLI43E9JP4AL
  • Story Text: Garment factory workers and relatives of those killed in Bangladesh's factory collapse that killed over 1,100 gathered in Savar a year after, on Thursday (April 24), to call for more compensation from owners.
    On April 24, 2013, the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside Dhaka, housing garment factories and shops collapsed.
    One mother of a victim, Khodeza Bibi on Thursday mourned her son's death a year after the collapse.

    "Fifteen days after the disaster, I found the body of my son and the government gave me 20,000 taka ($250) for the burial of the body and later I got some 200,000 taka ($2,500), this much I got as compensation," she said.
    The disaster has galvanized most of the clothing industry's big names to work together to improve safety standards but many brands have shunned a fund that is trying to raise $40 million for the over 2,000 people injured and the families of the dead.
    Campaigners are demanding that 27 brands linked to factories in the Rana Plaza complex, including H&M and Primark, should contribute to the fund run by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) by the first anniversary of the April 24 collapse.

    "The ILO (International Labour Organization) and the international community should put pressure on our garment owners to compensate the workers, dead and missing workers, and I know that the famous brands, 29 famous brands of Europe and America, they worked with Bangladeshi garment workers, I think these brands should compensate for the missing and dead workers and we will be happy to see that these international brands really compensate for the dead and the missing workers," President of Garment Workers Unity Forum Moshrefa Mishu said.
    Some of the brands supplied from Rana Plaza have said they will not contribute as their production was outsourced to the factory without their knowledge, or ended some time ago, while others said they prefer to pursue their own compensation plans.
    Bangladesh's booming garments industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards.
    Rock-bottom wages and trade deals have made Bangladesh's garments sector a $22 billion industry that accounts for four-fifths of exports, with around 60 percent of garment exports going to Europe and 23 percent to the United States.
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