On April 11, 2005, the building that houses the Spectrum
Sweater factory in Bangladesh collapsed during the night
shift. At least 74 workers were killed, many others injured,
and an unknown number were left missing, buried under the
debris.
The facility, located in Savar, an industrial town northwest
of Dhaka, housed Spectrum Sweater Ltd. and Shahriar Fabrics
Ltd. and produced for several well-known European brands
like Zara, Carrefour and Karstadt Quelle. The CCC, in cooperation
with Bangladeshi trade unions and labour groups, has been
insisting on action by the buyers and authorities.
In the weeks that followed there were many public protests
organ-ised by local union federations and supporters. One
took the form of a human chain in which 52 Spectrum workers
and the families of victims took part. Another was a symbolic
one-hour hunger strike. In another, 2000 garment workers
in Dhaka listen-ed to an appeal for justice by the mother
of two workers who died at the factory.
The factory owner, Shahriar Saeed, and one of the directors,
Altaf Fakir, were arrested. At a hearing on May 8th, lawyers
successfully contested their bail application and the court
ordered both men to be imprisoned pending a further bail
hearing four days later. The court decision was unprecedented
and was re-ferred to as "one step forward" by
Amirul Haque Amin of the National Garment Workers' Federation
(NGWF), who had 39 members working at the Spectrum factory.
The NGWF was one of the organisations hiring a lawyer to
contest the bail applica-tion. Despite a long string of
deadly "incidents" in Bangladeshi garment factories,
mainly due to fires, as yet no factory owner has ever been
found guilty.
Protests and legal initiatives continue in order to bring
to justice the persons responsible and ensure that victims'
families re-ceive substantially more than the legal minimum
compensation. Survivors also must receive compensation for
their injuries, and where necessary, retraining so they
can find new jobs. It is estimated that almost 6,000 people
are now unemployed due to the collapse of the factory building,
and the CCC has called upon the brands to act immediately
to provide urgently needed financial support for these workers.
Other important demands that re-quire follow-up are in relation
to the investigation into this tragedy, as well as preventative
measures to be taken to ensure that such a needless loss
of life never happens again.
Some of Spectrum's clients are members of the Business
Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). After some delay the
BSCI sent a mission to Bangladesh in June to follow-up on
the Spectrum case, however, their willingness to do so only
came after further urging by CCC. At that time nearly two
months after the factory collapsed many of the victims'
families and survivors reported to the CCC that they have
been left hungry and homeless because without any source
of income they can no longer pay their rent or pay for food.
The outcomes of the BSCI trip were not yet available at
press time.
Together with our Bangladeshi partners, the CCC is continuing
to collect information directly from the workers so as to
document the case and keep up pressure on the brands and
Bangladeshi authorities to act responsibly.
For more information on this case, or to send a message
of protest to the companies sourcing at Spectrum, or the
BSCI, please visit the CCC website: www.cleanclothes.org/news/05-06-01.htm
