Benetton doubles its contribution to Rana Plaza Trust Fund
Benetton has announced that it has paid $1.1 million into the trust fund to compensate victims of the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster.
This is more than double the sum recommended in an independent assessment of its contribution by PwC and endorsed by WRAP, an NGO focused on social compliance through global supply chains.
The sum follows a previous payment of $500,000 made through BRAC, before the Rana Plaza Trust Fund was established.
The Italian fashion brand has also committed to raising working conditions and living standards for workers in the international garment industry via several “people first” sustainability initiatives rolling out across its global supply chain. Benetton will progressively apply the principles of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to its producers in other global markets.
Marco Airoldi, chief executive of Benetton Group, said: “We welcome the PwC report and WRAP’s contribution. We have decided to go further to demonstrate very clearly how deeply we care.
“Whilst there is no real redress for the tragic loss of life we hope that this robust and clear mechanism for calculating compensation could be used more widely. For this reason, we decided to make the PwC report publicly available to all stakeholders.
“Benetton has a proud history of social commitment. We believe that by working closely with the right suppliers we can help to improve factory conditions for workers in Bangladesh and in many other parts of the world.”
Benetton was one of 29 brands connected to companies operating in the Rana Plaza building. PwC based its report on an assessment from the International Labour Organisation that in total $30 million compensation should be paid into the Rana Plaza Trust Fund. PwC calculated that Benetton’s contribution to be $550,000 based on the level of its commercial association with the Rana Plaza.
Avedis Seferian, president and chief executive of WRAP, said: “With a tragedy of this scale, no financial compensation can ever really be enough, but we welcome Benetton’s decision to pay more than its calculated share of the fund based on the report published by PwC. If everyone took the same approach as Benetton, the overall fund could more than exceed its stated goals.”
