The German discount textile store KiK revealed this weekend that, after four years of negotiations, it will pay out 5.1 million dollars to victims of a fire which took place at a textile factory owned by Ali Enterprises in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2012. The agreement was reached with a number of NGOs as well as the international trade union IndustriAll Global Union and the Pakistani National Trade Union Federation, the NTUF. However, KiK specified that the payment is not to cover damages, with the company maintaining that is does not take responsibility for the incident. This weekend’s announcement has no bearing on the case brought by three Pakistani claimants, against KiK, which will be heard in Dortmund.
An unprecedented agreement. The announcement that KiK had agreed to pay out an additional 5.1 million dollars — to the families of the 250 individuals who perished in the disaster, and to 50 employees which survived but were injured — was met positively by the NTUF’s deputy general secretary, Nasir Mansoor. He praised the agreement, which he described as “unprecedented in the context of Pakistan’s labour movement”.
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