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Bangladesh: Spectrum Workers Receive First Payments from Compensation Fund: Carrefour still Refusing to Participate

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12, Days before the second anniversary of the Spectrum garment factory collapse, which killed 64 and injured 80 (54 seriously), 22 workers received the first distribution of a US$ 60,000 advance from the fund. Zarina's husband was one of the 64 workers killed when the Spectrum garment factory collapsed in 2005. Since that time Zarina, has had to take out loans to provide the most basic necessities for her family.
At an April 1st meeting in Dhaka, Inditex (Zara), initiator of the fund, distributed about US$ 3,000 to the workers and has pledged that the rest of the ,000 advance will reach the remaining families shortly.
The launch of the fund, originally scheduled for September 2006, has been eagerly awaited. The fund is intended to provide compensation for loss of income and follows previous efforts to provide medical care and other types of emergency relief. Many survivors were unable to provide for their families due to the injuries they sustained in the April 2005 building collapse; those who lost family members in the collapse were often left without their main source of income. Many of the Spectrum families have plunged further into poverty and debt as they struggled to keep their families afloat.
Though they produced their garments at the factory, French retail giant Carrefour has refused to pay into the fund to compensate the Spectrum families.
"Every month I have to take out a loan to maintain my family," said 40-year-old Zarina, whose husband Solaiman was killed in the factory collapse. She and her three children only have her daughter's meager income from another garment factory job, which does not cover their basic needs. "I cannot repay the loans, the amount is increasing day by day … I feel sick while thinking about all this."
Several companies producing at Spectrum and the adjoining Shahriyar Fabric -Inditex (Spain), KarstadtQuelle (Germany), New Wave Group (Sweden), Scapino (Netherlands), and Solo Invest (France) have agreed to participate in the fund, which will provide a monthly income to survivors and families of those who died at the factory that produced their garments, built on a swamp and not up to standard.

Those who have not committed to the compensation trust fund include: Carrefour (France), Cotton Group (Belgium), New Yorker, Steilmann, Kirsten Mode, and Bluhmod (Germany).
The CCC is extremely pleased that the fund will now become a reality for the workers and wishes to thank all those who have contributed to making this happen. The CCC will continue to monitor the progress of the fund and will continue to call upon Carrefour and the other companies who have so far refused to participate in the initiative to contribute to the fund.