Report of Bangladeshgarment workers tour Europe to press demands

Nura Alam andJahangir Alam.

SPECTRUM/SHAHRIYAR UPDATE #10, March 3,2006

Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam, two workersfrom the Spectrum garment factory (Savar,Bangladesh), which collapsed on April 11,2005, recently completed a European tour(Feb 8- 20) to raise awareness of the outstandingdemands of the workers and their familiesin the wake of this terrible tragedy.
Although the proposed compensation fund,initiated by one of the companies that wasproducing at Spectrum, is gaining support,several key sourcing companies are stillreluctant to commit themselves

Both men, survivors of the building collapsethat killed 64 people, injured over 70 andleft hundreds jobless, met with Europeantrade unions, NGOs and representatives ofthe companies that were clients of the factory.

"It is fantastic to see how much theCCC does to pursue our case", NuraAlam and Jahangir Alam concluded when lookingback at the tour. "We will go backwith the hope that the committed companieswill keep their promises of contributionto the trust fund, although we are a bitdisappointed that the exact amount of paymentsisn't clear yet".

Companies that producedtheir goods at Spectrum and the adjoiningShahriyar factory include : KarstadtQuelle,Steilmann, New Yorker, and Kirsten Mode(all based in Germany); Inditex (Spain);CMT Winfield and Solo Invest (France), Carrefour,(France and Belgium); Cotton Group (Belgium),Scapino (the Netherlands); and others.

Just before the tour started, a proposalfor a compensation fund, initiated by Inditexwhose Zarabrand was produced at the factory, has beensent to all companies sourcing at Spectrum/Shahriyar.This trust fund seeks to properly compensatethe injured workers and families of thosewho perished at Spectrum, and was draftedin close collaboration with the InternationalTextile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation(ITGLWF). The proposal presents a clearoutline of the purpose and practice of thevoluntary fund, detailing the various expectedpayments based on an estimated calculationthat takes wages, family composition andinjury level into account. At this momentthe trade unions in Bangladesh, assistedby Incidin (a Bangladeshi NGO), are workingto finalize the data-collection needed tomake the final calculations for each ofthe families of the dead and for each ofthe injured at the Spectrum disaster. Thetrust fund will be overseen by a board oftrustees assisted by two committees, onemade up of the different contributors andthe other comprised of BGMEA and Bangladeshitrade union representatives, which willadvise the trustees on the disbursementof funds.

It is now up to the targeted companiesto make a public statement saying that inprinciple they are ready to participatein a trust fund to be set up along the linesof the Inditex-ITGLWF proposal and participateat a roundtable meeting to discuss furtherdetails of the fund once all research iscompleted.

In BELGIUM Jahangir Alam and Nura Alammet with CarrefourBelgium on February 9. Carrefour Belgium,having consulted their international directorRoland Vaxelaire, expressed their uneasinessabout a compensation fund as a means todivide money among victims of the collapse.Management stated that they did not havethe mandate to decide upon these mattersand referred to Carrefour International.

The Belgian Carrefour union delegates whovisited Bangladesh last December also metwith Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam and putthe Spectrum disaster on the agenda of theworkers' council that week. During a lunchsession Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam explainedtheir situation to the workers of OxfamSolidarity. That night one of the Carrefourworker delegates together with the CCC organizeda meeting which 50 persons attended, amongthem also the representative of the BelgianParliament who introduced the Belgian sociallabel, meant to verify good working conditionsin the complete production chain of varioussectors.

The next day a workshop took place with36 representatives of Belgian trade unions,coming mainly from the retailing sector.The aim of this meeting was to follow upon the involvement of the Carrefour workerdelegates with the Spectrum case and tosupport the outstanding Spectrum demandswithin the national and European workers'council.

CottonGroup was not willing to meet withthe Bangladeshi workers and so far havenot expressed their formal agreement inparticipating in the trust fund.

In FRANCE on February 14, the workershad a positive meeting with SOLO Invest , a brand sourcing atShahriyar in 2004. Although no longer contractingat this factory at the time of the collapse,they agreed to contribute to the trust fund.The workers drew attention to the importanceof reliable and independent verificationof labor standards in the workplace. SOLOInvest expressed their willingness to furtherdevelop their code of conduct implementationprocedures and will contact the French CCC(l'Ethique sur l'etiquette) about furthersteps.

The meeting with French NGOs and tradeunions resulted in a constructive exchangeof the workers' demands and possible strategiesto put pressure on Carrefour. On February20, a meeting with Carrefour Internationalmanagement took place, where Veronique Discours-Buhot,the sustainable development director, waswilling to consider the trust fund proposalbut also listed preconditions before Carrefourwould agree to participate, among whichthe need for other companies to join andthe formal recognition of their prior contributions.

In the NETHERLANDS the workers met with Scapino onFebruary 15. Scapino disappointingly keepsavoiding their responsibility, stressingthat they stopped sourcing 10 months beforethe collapse, although at that time laborrights violations and lack of safety measureswere a fact. Even with the workers present,they couldn't say whether they would jointhe trust fund or not. A day later, a publicmeeting was organized that was attendedby NGOs, students, company representatives,consumers and press in a textile museum,highlighting the similarities between laborconditions in the former textile industryin the Netherlands in the beginning of thelast century and labor conditions in thegarment industry in export zones in South-EastAsia today. A lively discussion took placeabout the actions needed to improve laborconditions in the garment industry, therespective responsibilities of governmentsand sourcing companies and the safety ofworkers organizing to defend their rights.

In GERMANY , KarlstadtQuelle and Steilmann both refused to meet withthe workers already before the kick-offof the tour. In the press, KarlstadtQuelle(KQ) keeps claiming that they are readyto give financial compensation, however,he does not take the process any furtherand does not demonstrate any willingnessto participate in the trust fund. The GermanCCC organized an action in front of a KQdepartment store in Berlin on February 20,where 15 CCC activists called attentionto the Spectrum victims. They lighted 64candles for each of the deceased and, supportedby Jahangir Alam and Nura Alam, they collectedmore than 100 consumers' signatures to demandthe KQ participation in the trust fund.The press was very interested in the workers'view upon the collapse and subsequent reactionsfrom the companies. Der Spiegel, Tageszeitung,Neues Deutschland and Frankfurter Rundschau,four major German newspapers, had articleson the Spectrum disaster.

CCC will address the other brands, thathaven't been included in the worker tourbut that sourced at Spectrum/Shahriyar,to likewise join the trust fund and jointhe roundtable meeting in March where furtherdetails of the fund will be discussed.

The CCC continues to call upon all companiesthat sourced at Spectrum-Shahriyar to supportthe trust fund proposal and to pledge sufficientfunds to ensure the total sum proposed.If companies are truly committed to providingthe support necessary to adequately compensatethose affected by this terrible tragedythey must work together and participatein the trust fund process.

Concluding, although some companies receivedthe workers and expressed concern aboutthe follow-up of the Spectrum-Shayriyarcollapse, there is still a gap between theirefforts and the fulfilment of the workers'demands. First of these demands is the formationof the above-mentioned Trust fund. Otheroutstanding demands in this case are theseverance payments. The workers who havelost their jobs due to the factory collapsehave a legal right to severance pay in theamount of four months wages (plus one monthfor each year worked) since the date ofdismissal. Since none of the workers havereceived an official letter from the companyterminating their employment, it appearsthat according to the law they are entitledto salaries since April 11 (and then severancefrom the date of dismissal). Some workersare also owed overtime payments. Finally,also in respect to recent disasters at factorymills in Bangladesh, we keep stressing thedemand to participate in a comprehensivesafety programme, including a structuralreview of multi-story buildings and theestablishment of preventative safety measuresin the garment sector, to ensure that atragedy like this never takes place again(see also http://www.cleanclothes.org).