HRW: survivors of Bangladesh factory fire have not received adequate compensation

(New York) – The survivors of a Bangladesh factory fire, which killed at least 112 garment workers last year, are still suffering from their injuries and loss of income and have not received adequate compensation, Human Rights Watch said today.

The brands that were sourcing garments from Tazreen Fashions should immediately join an International Labour Organization effort to fund full and fair compensation to all the injured and the families of the dead.

In recent interviews with workers and relatives of two missing workers, many told Human Rights Watch that a year after the November 24, 2012 fire, they had received no compensation. Survivors said that they have been forced to sell off their possessions to pay for treatment. One said her husband was now begging for money. Others said they could not afford medical care, could no longer work, and were continually in pain.

“One year after the Tazreen fire, victims are still suffering and waiting for adequate compensation,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “Many retailers with production at the factory have not yet helped a group of very poor workers and their families.”

In the months leading up to the fire, Tazreen’s workers made clothes for prominent international retailers including Walmart, Sears, Karl Reiker, and Teddy Smith. Each company later said that garments were produced at Tazreen without their knowledge. Human Rights Watch wrote letters to these and 16 other companies seeking clarification of their connection with Tazreen, but none have responded.

Workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that on the day of the fire, Tazreen Fashions was on deadline to fulfill a big order. Managers, they alleged, initially ordered people to stay at work even after fire alarms sounded. They also claimed that some factory personnel locked the exits on several floors of the building, while exit routes were blocked by stock prepared for delivery.

According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies have a responsibility “to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations” and also take remedial action should abuses occur.

Meaningful compensation has so far only been provided by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh government, the European retailer C&A, and Li & Fung of Hong Kong. But injured workers who received 100,000 Taka (US$1,267) each told Human Rights Watch that the money was insufficient and ran out after the first few months.

Some survivors who were badly injured as they jumped out of the burning factory said that they had not received anything because they were not healthy enough to claim the compensation package provided by the BGMEA. Others said that the officials handling compensation claims did not believe them despite their injuries.

The Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes campaign has calculated that the amount of long-term compensation for the injured and deceased should be at least US$5.7 million, and could be shared between the factory owner, retailers, the BGMEA, and the government. This is based on a formula previously used by Bangladeshi trade unions and foreign retailers, including Gap, to set the amount of compensation following a factory fire in 2010, in which 29 people died.

Bangladeshi activists who entered Tazreen Fashions after the fire found labels, clothing, and documentation connected to C&A (Germany/Belgium), Delta Apparel (US), Dickies (US), Edinburgh Woollen Mill (UK), El Corte Ingles (Spain), Sean Combs/Enyce (US), Karl Rieker (Germany), KiK (Germany), Li & Fung (Hong Kong), Piazza Italia (Italy), Sears (US), Teddy Smith (France), Walmart (US), and Disney (US). Many other foreign companies acted as suppliers, placing orders with Tazreen on behalf of the brands.

According to the Clean Clothes campaign, Karl Reiker claims it has given donations though its agents, while Piazza Italia and Edinburgh Woollen Mills have offered small voluntary donations. KiK, El Corte Ingles, and Enyce said they will also make voluntary donations, but have not said how much or when. Only C&A and Karl Reiker attended a meeting chaired by the International Labour Organization in September to discuss the setting up of a full and fair compensation scheme.

Dickies, Sears, Disney, Teddy Smith, and Walmart have not offered any compensation. Human Rights Watch has written to each of these companies asking each to reconsider.

Dickies released a statement stating it had cut ties with the factory some time before. The CEO of Delta Apparels told ABC News on December 4, 2012, that Tazreen had not been authorized to produce its clothes. Sears was quoted in the Wall Street Journal of November 29, 2012, saying that merchandise was being made at the factory without its approval. Teddy Smith told France 24 on December 4, 2012, that a supplier had placed an order with the factory without its knowledge. On December 21, 2012, Disney said that several boxes of its sweatshirts were found at Tazreen, but they had not been manufactured there, and had been stored there without its authorization.

Bangladeshi activists found documents in the factory after the fire which appear to show that Walmart was, indirectly, one of Tazreen’s largest customers, even though it had officially cut ties with the factory after its inspectors uncovered many safety violations a year before. The documents suggest that intermediaries placed at least six orders with Tazreen on behalf of Walmart in the 12 months leading up to the fire. At the time of the fire, it appears Tazreen was working on at least two orders for Walmart, documents and garments found at the factory suggest. Two days after the accident, the company released a statement saying that Tazreen “was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for Walmart” and that a “supplier subcontracted work to this factory without authorization and in direct violation of our policies.”

A serious question also arises as to whether Walmart knew that Tazreen was a fire risk well before the disaster occurred. A factory inspection, conducted in December 2011 on behalf of NTD Apparel Inc., a Canadian company that supplied Walmart, revealed that Tazreen was in breach of Walmart’s safety standards. Inspectors stated that the factory, which employed more than 1,600 workers and reported an annual turnover of US$36 million, had “inaccessible/insufficient firefighting equipment,” an “inadequate evacuation plan,” and “partially blocked exit, routes, stairwells.”

In a November 19 letter, Human Rights Watch asked Walmart to explain why its other suppliers appear to have placed orders with Tazreen if it was no longer an authorized factory; whether it had informed them of this decision; whether Walmart had worked with Tazreen to try to improve its safety measures; and whether the company would agree to help provide the victims of the fire with full and fair compensation. Walmart has not replied.

When asked in August by al-Jazeera about compensation, the company wrote that Walmart is “focused on investing our resources in proactive programs that will address worker safety in the garment and textile industry in Bangladesh and prevent tragedies before they happen.”

Human Rights Watch has also written to Walmart’s suppliers, including Amerella of Canada Ltd., International Direct Group, International Intimates, IT Apparels Hong Kong Limited, NTD Apparel Inc, and Topson Downs, asking them to explain their relationship with Tazreen and whether they would contribute to the compensation fund.

“Given the scale of the orders, if Walmart had undertaken due diligence about where its clothes were being manufactured it should have known that Tazreen was continuing to supply them,” Adams said.

In the wake of the Tazreen fire and the subsequent collapse of the Rana Plaza building in which more than 1100 workers died, Walmart and other foreign retailers have pledged to improve the fire and building safety of Bangladeshi factories. They recently announced a joint program for inspecting factories, and for the first time published some details of the factories that supply them. The companies have not, however, pledged to help other factories in the supply chain, such as subcontractors or textile mills – for instance Aswad Mills, which caught fire in October, killing seven employees.

Walmart, Sears, and other retailers have also not agreed to a compensation package for the Rana Plaza victims.

“Walmart and the other companies need to provide adequate and timely compensation for victims and their families,” Adams said. “Victims and their families are suffering needlessly while these companies bury their heads in the sand.”

After the fire, government investigators found that the factory was in breach of Bangladeshi fire safety standards. Its owner insists that the nine-story building was safe – but it had no fire escape, and he was only authorized to have a three-story building. The factory did not have adequate equipment and procedures to prevent or fight fires. One worker told Human Rights Watch that routine fire drills were “ludicrous” as they took place during the lunch break when people were already outside. Another said that staff were told beforehand when inspections were going to take place and to make sure things looked in order.

The government investigators said that the owner, Delwar Hossein, and nine mid-level managers should be prosecuted for negligence. In November 2013 the police said that this had not happened yet as they had not completed their own enquiry. In April activists filed a case at the Dhaka High Court criticizing the authorities for their “inaction” and calling for Hossein’s arrest. On November 24, 2013, the High Court ordered the government to increase the compensation, and extend it to the families of those missing workers whose DNA had recently been traced.

“With proper oversight and inspections, this tragedy could have been avoided,” Adams said. “Western companies can no longer avoid the fact that people were killed and injured because they were providing cheap labor in unsafe conditions.”