BANGLADESH: Workers protest deaths

On May 27, hundreds of garment workers protested on the site of their collapsed workplace, demanding compensation for the injured, and families of workers killed or missing. The nine-storey Spectrum garments factory caved in the dead of night on April 11, killing at least 76 people, with another 36 missing, and injuring more than 200. More than 6000 workers, who were all owed back pay, lost their jobs in the factory closure. At the protest, former employees told stories of destitution: many had been evicted, and some were malnourished because they could not afford food. The worst off were the injured, who had no income to pay for bandages or medicine. The workers are demanding the immediate payment of wages for March and April, compensation for the killed and injured as is required under the Serious Accidents Act, and treatment for the injured workers.

From Green Left Weekly, June 8, 2005.

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From GLW issue 629