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Rana Plaza Tragedy

Tk 310 crore fund created

Families of 1,130 dead to get Tk 20 lakh each

Staff Correspondent
Four prominent retailers and a number of labour groups have joined hands to create a $40 million (Tk 310 crore) compensation fund to aid the victims' families of Rana Plaza building collapse.
Retailers Bon Marche, El Corte Ingles, Loblaw and Primark have pledged to contribute to the fund, which is intended to compensate the families of those who died in April 24 in what was the deadliest industrial disaster in Bangladesh.
The fund will aim to aid the families of more than 1,130 workers killed and also hundred of others who were seriously injured or maimed.
The new fund is considered a landmark in compensating families of garment industry victims, in terms of both the amount to be paid and the sophistication of the arrangements.
The families of the dead would receive, on average, more than $25,000 (Tk 20 lakh) each, while hundreds of workers who were injured or maimed would also receive compensation, according to the New York Times.
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The fund's members said they hoped to begin making payments in February, although they have yet to decide how much each firm will contribute, which depends in part on whether governments donate.
The money is to be paid in instalments to ensure that the families have a steady source of income for years to come.
"We think the agreement is a really good result," said Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator of the Glean Clothes Campaign, a European anti-sweatshop group that has pressed retailers to do far more to help the families of the disaster's victims.
"The agreement will deliver to all the victims and the families of the Rana Plaza disaster full
and fair compensation in a credible manner. What we need now is for other companies to agree to pay into the fund."
Families of the victims have already received several months of short-term emergency aid from the Bangladesh government as well as from Primark, an Anglo-Irish retailer. But these families have been pressing for long-term compensation.
Talks to establish the fund, coordinated by the International Labour Organisation, began in September but stalled over such issues as how to collect information on claims, how to determine which claims were legitimate and who should administer the fund.
The amount to be paid will be based on the anticipated wage loss of each worker killed, tied
to the number of children, or, if the beneficiary is a parent, to the life expectancy of an adult.
Dan Rees, programme director for the Better Work Programme, an affiliate of the ILO, said: "If you look at the history of compensation efforts in the Bangladesh garment industry, it's not a good one. But this is a potential breakthrough."
Among the groups that signed the agreement to create the compensation were the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), IndustriAll Global Union, the Bangladesh Employers Federation and the main Bangladesh coalition of labour unions.
Officials involved in the compensation fund say they have not yet worked out how much
money each participant should contribute. That will depend, in part, on how many retailers ultimately agree to participate and whether various governments agree to give money.
Bangladesh, however, will not contribute to the fund, as the government has already started paying to the victims' families.
Mikail Shipar, labour secretary of Bangladesh, said: "We have already paidTk 18 crore to over 700 victims or their families. We have also received DNA test results of another 157 more victims. A process has started to identify their beneficiaries."
He added that the government was paying between Tk 2 lakh and Tk 15 lakh to the victims and their families from the prime minister's fund.
Some retailers and labour rights groups have expressed dismay that no United States retailers have agreed to join the compensation effort.
"Following the collapse, we came very quickly to the conclusion that compensation was not only a necessity for the survivors and their families, but a responsibility for the many retailers sourcing from Rana Plaza," said Robert Ghant, senior vice president for corporate affairs at Loblaw, a Canadian company.
"We are still hopeful that other retailers will join us in meeting the obligation, but we've already made public our disappointment in the failure of others to step forward," Chant said.