Benetton targeted over non Rana payment

Labour rights campaigners in Europe and the US have again urged the Italian fashion house Benetton to contribute to the compensation fund for workers injured and the families of those killed in the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh.

They backed their campaign with street demonstrations in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the US on 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

Campaigners are now adding a call to Benetton store franchise holders throughout Europe to ask the company to pay immediately.

Benetton is the only international brand with confirmed links to the factories in the Rana Plaza building that has refused to contribute.

In 2013, the year of the disaster, Edizione, Benetton’s parent company, made profits of €139m ($172m, £110m). The International Labour Organisation, which established the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, has asked Benetton for $5m (£3.2m, ww4m).

Deborah Lucchetti, of the Clean Clothes Campaign’s Italian section, said: “Collectively the brands linked to Rana Plaza earn billions of dollars in profit from selling clothes. Only a tiny fraction of this is needed to ensure justice for the Rana Plaza victims.”

The amounts have been calculated by a co-ordination committee that brings together governments, fashion companies, factory owners and trade unions to oversee compensation in line with international standards.

The fund has so far collected just over $22m, considerably less than the figure needed for all the awards.
Rana Plaza collapsed in April 2013, killing 1,138 garment workers and injuring more than 2,500.