Primark has pledged further short-term financial aid to the victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse as two-thirds of retailers shun compensation talks.
Only a third of the retailers who used the factories turned up for a two-day meeting on the issue in Geneva called by trade union IndustriALL and chaired by UN agency the International Labour Organization.
The aim of the meeting was to provide compensation to families of those who died in the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April, which killed more than 1,100 people.
However, only nine of the 28 brands that used the Rana Plaza factory were represented at the meeting and only Primark was reported as making a firm commitment on funding.
A Primark spokesman said: “The company remains concerned about the length of time it is taking to agree a framework for long-term compensation.”
Absentees included Walmart and Benetton, whose chief executive said many companies had stayed away because of a “lack of clarity” around the talks. Benetton will focus on “working directly with those affected by the Rana Plaza disaster”, it said in a statement.
IndustriALL is seeking to raise compensation funds of $74.6m (£47.2m) for the workers at the Rana Plaza factory and a further $6.4m for victims of the Tazreen fire, which killed more than 100 people last November.
Attendees at the talks agreed to meet again to discuss a co-ordinated compensation fund, IndustriALL said.
Primark pledged to provide another three months’ salary to families of Rana Plaza victims and C&A set out a “substantial compensation initiative” for the victims of the Tazreen factory fire.
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