Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

BANGLADESH

France’s Auchan sued over Bangladesh disaster

Three organizations said on Thursday they had filed a judicial complaint against French supermarket giant Auchan in the first such case in Europe in the wake of the deadly Bangladesh factory disaster a year ago.

Published: 25 April 2014 08:28 CEST
France's Auchan sued over Bangladesh disaster
People wear funeral shrouds and lie on the ground as they take part in a protest marking the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza building disaster on April 24, 2014, in Paris. Photo: Lionel Bonaventur

Auchan says it had never placed any orders at the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka which collapsed on April 24 last year after a catastrophic structural failure, leaving 1,000 people dead.

But the three lobby groups, in a complaint filed with a public prosecutor in France, accused Auchun of misleading customers about working conditions overseas and claim that an investigation found labels from the chain's "In Extenso" range in the rubble.

Sherpa, a non profit organisation for the "victims of economic crimes", Peuples Solidaires (People's Solidarity), and the Ethique sur l'etiquette (Ethics on Labels) collective, claim a number of witnesses – including some in Bangladesh – are available to provide evidence, and have called for the prosecutor to carry out a preliminary investigation as soon as possible.

They accuse Auchan of "misleading French consumers on working conditions in the places where its products are manufactured".

The collapse of the eight-storey Rana Plaza killed 1,138 workers and left more than 2,000 injured.

The tragedy, one of the world's worst garment factory disasters, highlighted poor safety and appalling working conditions at the factory

Auchan, which operates in more than a dozen countries and had sales of over 48 billion euros ($66 billion) last year, said it did not wish to comment on a complaint that it had not yet seen.

But in a statement to AFP it said: "We never sent orders to Rana Plaza and there was no direct, or indirect, link between Auchan and the businesses on the site".

The company said it had made "a number of changes" in response to the disaster, including signing an agreement with 158 international companies which aims to improve the safety of textile factory workers in Bangladesh.

It has also launched an action plan against undeclared sub-contracting.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BANGLADESH

Talks fail on Bangladesh clothing worker claims

A two-day meeting in Geneva of high street clothing brands and pressure groups aimed at reaching a compensation deal for victims of two Bangladesh factory disasters ended Thursday in failure, organizers said.

Published: 13 September 2013 11:33 CEST

The talks came after a building housing garment factories collapsed in Bangladesh in April, killing more than 1,100 people.

They were aimed at agreeing compensation for the families of those victims and those of other factory disasters.
   
The disaster placed the international spotlight on the often appalling conditions and the lack of rights for workers at the country's 4,500 garment factories, and retailers responded with a pledge to improve safety.
   
But the campaign groups that organized the meeting said only around a third of the firms invited had even turned up, with key names including Walmart, Benetton and Mango staying away.
   
Primark was the only clothing retailer to make a concrete commitment at the meeting, vowing to provide a further three months salary to families affected by the Rana Plaza factory collapse.
   
The 11 brands that made an appearance were mainly European and also included Bon Marche, Camaieu and Store Twenty One.
   
"We are disappointed that they didn't commit to an amount," said Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator at the Clean Clothes Campaign.

"We had hoped to achieve much more."
   
Organizers, said $74.57 million would be needed to compensate the Rana Plaza victims for their suffering and lost income.
   
Another $6.44 million would be needed for the victims of a deadly fire that killed 112 workers at the Tazreen Fashions factories outside Dhaka in November, they said.
   
Bangladesh is the world's second biggest apparel exporter, with its garment factories accounting for 80 percent of its overseas shipments.
   
But the industry has been hit by a series of recent disasters highlighting appalling safety conditions at many factories.
   
In July Bangladesh approved a new labour law to strengthen employees' rights and improve workplace safety, in response to the Rana Plaza collapse.
   
"Consumers will be shocked that almost a half-year has passed since the Rana Plaza disaster with only one brand so far providing any compensation to the disaster's victims," IndustriALL assistant chief Monika Kemperle said in a statement.
   
New meetings would take place with retailers within the next two weeks, organizers said.

SHOW COMMENTS