One year on and brands still failing victims of Rana Plaza disaster

According to the Clean Clothes Campaign, the voluntary Donor Trust Fund set up to take the donations as part of compensation programme remains woefully underfunded. A year after the collapse, brands and retailers have contributed or committed just US$15m to the Trust Fund, just one third of the US$40m needed.

 “Brands are failing workers a second time,” says Ineke Zeldenrust from Clean Clothes Campaign, “first they failed to ensure the factories they bought from were safe, and now they are failing the survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones, by not contributing significantly to the Donor Trust Fund. Agreement on the total amount needed to provide compensation according to ILO standards was reached between all the parties involved in the Rana Plaza Coordination Committee, including the brands. But now, failing to adequately contribute, brands are making the workers suffer again.”

Marking the first anniversary of the collapse, organisations including the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, Clean Clothes Campaign, Human Rights Watch, IndustriALL Global Union, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network, and UNI Global Union held vigils, rallies and events in over 20 cities worldwide.

“It is imperative that brands such as Mango, KIK, Inditex and C&A that made first instalments increase their contributions. But we urge all the brands that have been working in Bangladesh to contribute to the fund with a considerable sum. They share a collective responsibility for this unsustainable production model and its hazards, this model that we are now about to change,” says Jyrki Raina, of IndustriALL Global Union.