Three years after Tazreen factory fire CCC stands with affected workers

The Clean Clothes Campaign is today marking the third anniversary of a devastating fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory in Ashulia, Bangladesh. Our thoughts are with all those families and individuals whose lives were changed as a result of the events of that night and we continue to stand with these families as they fight for justice for the loss and injury of their loved ones.

The fire, which ripped through the factory on the evening of the 24th November 2012, took the lives of over 112 workers and injured many more. All were working an overtime shift in order to meet urgent order deadlines. When the smoke alarms rang out these workers were not allowed to leave their machines; instead they were locked inside the factory by supervisors, keen to ensure production continued. Those who survived were forced to jump out of fifth floor windows to escape the fire.

The Clean Clothes Campaign has been working alongside our Bangladeshi partners to call for justice for the workers who were so needlessly killed and injured that night and to demand changes to the industry to ensure that workers lives are never again sacrificed for profit.

In recent months the CCC has worked with a multi-stakeholder groups to establish the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust. The Trust aims to ensure all families receive a payment to cover the financial and medical losses suffered as a result of the fire. The Clean Clothes Campaign is calling on all brands that were sourcing from the Tazreen factory, including Walmart, Disney, Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Karl Rieker, to immediately contribute to the Trust.

We also stand with victims of Tazreen, who are demanding that those directly responsible for the deaths are held to account and urge the Bangladesh authorities to ensure that legal proceedings against the owner of Tazreen, Delwar Hossain progress quickly and transparently through the Bangladesh courts. We also demand that further compensation for the pain and suffering inflicted on the victims is paid.

Finally we continue to call on brands and retailers to do more to push for those factories already inspected by the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety to be made safe, particularly in regard to the installation of adequate fire exits.