Bangladesh Workers Short of Compensation

Hasina, one of the 2,438 Rana Plaza workers that came out alive, by the remains of the factory. Credit: Robert Stefanicki/IPS.By Robert StefanickiDHAKA, Oct 30 2013 (IPS) Six months after the worst man-made disaster in Bangladesh’s history, safety conditions in garment factories have a chance to improve. But not the lives of survivors or the victims’ next of kin. On Apr. 24, the collapse of Rana Plaza factory building took 1,133 lives of mostly female workers. The disaster was too big to ignore. The unprecedented scale of the tragedy shocked people the world over, many of them dressed in clothes made in Bangladesh on request of giants such as Tesco, Carrefour, Benetton or Walmart. Today, the site in the Dhaka suburb is enclosed by a barbed wire and metal fence covered with banners. ‘How long do we have to wait for compensation for the death of our parents ?’ asks one.“Foreign clients should not avoid responsibility, even if the workers’ imagination is too narrow to blame them." What was left of Rana Plaza can be seen from the top floor of a neighbouring building. Debris has been cleared, but the bodies of two cars stick out of a vast pool of mud water. “They were parked in an underground garage,” Hassan, one of the volunteer rescuers told IPS. His team, he said, took some 400 people out of the rubble. A survivor, Hasina, pulled her scarf up showing a deformed right arm with extensive scars. “That day I came to work at 8:30. I heard from my colleagues abo...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Aid Asia-Pacific Civil Society Development & Aid Featured Gender Headlines Health Human Rights Regional Categories TerraViva Europe Trade & Investment Women & Economy Women's Health Bangladesh compensation Source Type: news