7 July, 2016Compensation payments to the victims of the Tazreen Fashions fire in Bangladesh have finally been completed. More than a hundred people were killed and around 200 injured in the garment factory disaster in Ashulia on 24 November 2012.
The Tazreen Claims Administration Trust says a total of US$2.17 million has now been paid to the families of 112 dead and missing workers, and to 174 people injured in the fire.
In one of the worst disasters to hit the garment industry in modern times, workers burnt alive behind locked exits, while others leapt to their death from from factory windows. Many suffered life-changing injuries in the fire at the 1,600 worker factory.
IndustriALL Global Union, which represents garment workers around the world, has led the drive to secure for compensation for victims. The Tazreen Claims Administration Trust grew out of an initial agreement signed by fashion retailer C&A, the C&A Foundation, IndustriALL and the Clean Clothes Campaign in November 2014.
IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:
“Finally we have some form of justice for the victims of this dreadful tragedy. IndustriALL and UNI Global Union continue to work through the Accord for a safe and sustainable garment industry in Bangladesh and elsewhere, to make sure that disasters like Tazreen never happen again.”
The compensation process was based on the mechanism used to compensate thousands of victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, with loss of income for the injured, deceased and missing workers calculated on the basis of ILO Convention 121.
The Tazreen Claims Administration estimated that a total of US$2.5 million would be needed to pay compensation and provide long-term medical care to the injured. This was paid for by C&A Foundation (USD 1,000,000), Fung Foundation (USD 1,000,000), BRAC USA (USD 250,000), KiK (USD 150,000) and El Corte Ingles (USD 100,000).
C&A Foundation also covered the administrative and running costs of the Tazreen Claims Administration separately, so that 100 per cent of the money from donors went directly to victims and their families.