Launch of the Employment Injury Insurance Scheme pilot
Supreme Court of Canada denies Rana Plaza families access to justice
Public call for Employment Injury Insurance
Trust for Injured Workers’ Medical Care including Rana Plaza workers established
Letter of intent on Employment Injury Insurance
30 million USD collected to fill Rana Plaza trust fund
Tazreen Trust Fund established
Rana Plaza compensation struggle
Memorandum of Understanding on the Rana Plaza Arrangement reached
Rana Plaza collapse
On 23 April 2013 large structural cracks were discovered in the Rana Plaza building. The shops and the bank on the lower floors immediately closed. But warnings to avoid using the building after the cracks appeared were ignored by the garment factory owners of five factories on the upper floors.
Garment workers were ordered to return to work the following day. If there would have been unions in the five factories in the building who could have collectively voiced the right to refuse unsafe work. If workers would not have been earning poverty wages, they might not have chosen to enter the factory over the threat to lose one month of wages. Poverty wages, lack of freedom of association and on some cases actual violence meant workers felt forced to enter an unsafe building.
The building collapsed just an hour later, killing 1,138 people. The incident could have been entirely avoidable.
