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Bangladeshi Plaza workers still waiting for payouts

Survivors mark six months since collapse which killed 1,133

Unions stepped have up their campaign for justice for the Rana Plaza victims six months on from the world's worst-ever garment factory disaster.

The April 24 "industrial homicide" killed 1,133 workers.

Global union federations IndustriALL and UNI joined survivors and the families of the dead for a candlelit vigil at sundown yesterday in Dhaka.

The unions have been pushing for the global brands that used the factory to pay compensation to the victims and their families - so far only Primark has done so.

Charity ActionAid revealed yesterday that 94 per cent of survivors and families of the deceased had not received any legal benefits from their employers since April, including sick pay or compensation.

It found that 92 per cent of survivors had not gone back to work - two-thirds of them because of injuries suffered in the collapse.

ActionAid said many were scared to walk into buildings and enclosed rooms.

Naznin Akhter Nazma, a 21-year-old survivor who lost her husband in the tragedy, said: "The day before the factory collapsed we heard that a crack had developed on the second floor, but the supervisor announced that the building was safe and threatened to withhold a month's pay if we didn't attend work.

"I haven't had any compensation. My rent is five months overdue and soon shopkeepers will stop giving me credit for food."

So far only Primark has provided any compensation, paying approximately £115 each to 3,300 people.

The Bangladeshi government has given £1,800 each to 777 - a third of the victims and their family members - but has not agreed any long-term compensation.

Bangladeshi high court committees have proposed levels of compensation almost identical to the workers' demands - around £1,400 to each family of the deceased.

Unions called for more retailers to sign up to the landmark Accord for Fire and Building Safety.

UNI Global Union general secretary Philip Jennings said it was the "central engine" for safety changes, which could only be "monitored and verified with worker involvement."

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