Press Releases
Anniversary of the Spectrum factory collapse
April 11 marks the sixth anniversary of the collapse of the Spectrum sweater factory in Bangladesh which killed 64 workers and left 80 injured.
Next week will also see the winding up of the Spectrum Relief Scheme, with a final lump-sum payment to families of the deceased and the injured. Originally agreed upon by Inditex and the ITGLWF, it was designed to provide the survivors and the families of the victims with compensation for pain and suffering as well as compensation for loss of income. This was in addition to earlier efforts to provide medical care and other types of emergency relief to the injured and the families of the deceased.
Immediately after winding up the Spectrum relief scheme, a series of talks will begin in Dhaka on compensation for the victims of the latest factory fire as well as on preventative measures to ensure worker safety.
On April 16 and 18 the ITGWLF is convening a meeting to examine demands for compensation for the victims of the fire at the Hameem factory, That’s Is Sportswear, in which 29 workers died. The meeting will bring together the employer, the BGMEA, the brands as well as unions and labour rights groups. The aim is to adopt ethical and sustainable compensation arrangements based on the learnings of the Spectrum case.
On April 17, ITGLWF affiliates BNC and the employers’ association BGMEA will jointly convene a multistakeholder meeting aimed at developing an action plan on fire safety in the sector.
