A GLOBAL trade union body on Monday welcomed the widening of a safety agreement won after a deadly factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, 11 years ago.

IndustriALL Global Union, which represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the manufacturing sectors, said that the commemoration of the deaths in a fire of 250 workers on September 11 2012, at Ali Enterprises in Karachi helped them to win an agreement with Pakistani employers for greater safety measures in the country’s garment industry.

After years of campaigning by IndustriALL, the Pakistan National Trade Union Federation, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, and the Clean Clothes Campaign, compensation was agreed in 2016 with German retailer KiK, Ali Enterprises’ only known buyer.

KiK agreed to pay $5.2 million (£4.1m) as compensation to the victims of the fire, including the 50 injured survivors.

But IndustriALL said that it has been able to expand a legally binding international safety agreement to Pakistan meaning that garment workers in the country will face be safer in their workplaces.

IndustriALL global union general secretary Atle Hoie said that with the introduction of the agreement in Pakistan, “preventable deaths will rapidly decrease, workers will receive training on occupational health and safety and hopefully they will see the benefit of joining a trade union.”