Primark to pay $10m to workers over Bangladesh factory collapse

British clothes retailer Primark will pay a further $10m (€7m) in compensation to victims of the collapse of a Bangladeshi factory last year that killed more than 1,100 people.

The disaster has galvanised most of the clothing industry’s big names to work together to improve safety standards but many brands have shunned a fund that is trying to raise $40m for the over 2,000 injured and the families of the dead.

Campaigners are demanding that 27 brands linked to factories in the Rana Plaza complex contribute to the fund run by the International Labour Organisation by the first anniversary of the April 24 collapse.

Primark, which trades as Penneys in Ireland, has already paid $2m in short-term financial support and food distribution. It said it would pay out the extra $10m in long- term compensation — $9m directly to the 580 workers of its supplier in Rana Plaza or their dependants, and another $1m to the fund.

It said cash payments to the workers of its supplier, New Wave Bottoms, would begin this week, with the amount to be paid based on estimates of lost earnings for the dependants of those killed and on the level of disability for those injured.

Rock-bottom wages and trade deals have made Bangladesh’s garments sector a $22bn industry that accounts for four-fifths of exports, with around 60%of garment exports going to Europe and 23% to the US.

The claims process is due to start on March 24. Campaigners said only a few brands have so far publicly pledged initial donations.

Reuters