Govt to pressure British firms on human rights overseas
In the next few months, the government will introduce a policy requiring British companies to do more to respect human rights overseas.
British firms face ethical dilemmas in Bangladesh
During Dhaka’s morning rush hour we saw thousands of workers on the way to their factories.The buildings line a city of 10 million people.
Primark's compensation pledge is a significant move
The company will provide immediate financial assistance to all victims of the Rana Plaza disaster, and a long term compensation package.
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Dhaka factory collapse: One month on
It has been a month since a huge building collapsed in Dhaka killing garment workers. A Bangladeshi government inquiry has found that poor quality construction materials and building code violations were among the "series of irregularities" that caused the collapse.
More than 1,100 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured after the eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building near Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed on April 24.
Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg has been in Dhaka to see the site of the collapse and examine the garment industry in Bangladesh.
Watch her reports here:
Garment factory workers' families wait for compensation
Govt to pressure British firms on human rights overseas
In the next few months, the government will introduce a policy requiring British companies to do more to respect human rights overseas.
Read the full storyAdvertisement
Committee recommends life sentence for building owners
The committee investigating the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh have recommended that building owner Sohel Rana and the owners of the garment factories be sentenced to life in jail if they are found guilty of violating building codes.
Rana, three engineers and four factory owners have been arrested.
The building was shut down briefly after workers spotted cracks in its walls and pillars a day before the April 24 collapse. But the garment factory workers were called back to work, many of them forcefully.
Bangladesh probe blames construction for building collapse
A government investigation has found that poor quality construction materials and building code violations were among the "series of irregularities" that caused the collapse of a building housing garment factories last month in Bangladesh.
"The owner used extremely poor quality of iron rods and cement," committee head Khandker Mainuddin Ahmed told The Associated Press a day after submitting its report to the government. "There were a series of irregularities."
Read more: British firms face ethical dilemmas in Bangladesh
British firms face ethical dilemmas in Bangladesh
During Dhaka’s morning rush hour we saw thousands of workers on the way to their factories.The buildings line a city of 10 million people.
Read the full storyPrimark's compensation pledge is a significant move
The company will provide immediate financial assistance to all victims of the Rana Plaza disaster, and a long term compensation package.
Read the full storyAdvertisement
Primark to offer short term aid to all Dhaka victims
High street retailer Primark has announced it will provide short term financial assistance to victims of the Dhaka garment factory collapse. In a statement it announced the following measures:
- Short-term financial aid will be made available to all workers/ or their families and dependents in the building, for a period of six weeks. They hope to start making the payments within seven days
- A long-term financial compensation package for employees working in their supplier factory is being worked "as fast as possible"
- The food aid programme currently supporting 1,000 families a week will continue
A company spokesman said:
The company was the first brand to acknowledge that its suppliers were housed in the Rana Plaza complex. The company was the first brand to commit to paying compensation to workers and their dependents. And the company was the first UK brand to sign up to the Accord on building and fire safety.
The company is now extending help to workers who made clothing for its competitors. And the company is working as fast as possible to devise a scheme to provide long-term, secure assistance to workers in its supplier factory.
Pictures: Queues for aid parcels in Dhaka after factory tragedy
Behind the walls of Bangladesh's garment factories
ITV News visited the garment factories that supply many high street retailers and found appalling conditions endured for pittance pay.
Read the full storyMany retailers 'not compensating Dhaka families'
Human rights NGO, War on Want, have condemned a number of high street retailers whose clothes were made in the collapsed Rana Plaza complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh but have so far not offered compensation to victims or their families. Murray Worthy said:
While Primark seem to be dragging their heels in ensuring that the thousands of people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this disaster get the compensation they so urgently need, many of the major UK high street brands that sourced from the factories that collapsed have so far completely failed to offer any compensation to the victims.
It is horrifying that despite the deaths of over 1,000 people these companies are denying their responsibilities to the people who make their clothes, leaving them facing a bleak future of even deeper poverty.
Read: Rescuers end search for Dhaka survivors as death toll reaches 1,127
Dhaka families wait for promised compensation
Families of those killed in last month's clothing factory complex in Bangladesh have been promised compensation from some of the British factories they supplied.
ITV News has discovered that none of the money promised has reached Dhaka so far, as Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg reports.
Read:Garment factory workers' families wait for compensation
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