Benetton Occupation: Corporation Still Hasn't Paid for Rana Plaza Collapse

Ferd
Mon, 01 Jun 2015 19:00:00 +0000
Policing, Solidarity Times, Workplace safety, Repression, Workplace, Dublin, Newsroom, Analysis, Alex Amargi

'Today 5 activists occupied United Colors of Benetton, St. Stephen's Green [Dublin] asking Benetton to honour their pledge of 5 million dollars to the victims of the Rana Plaza Collapse [deadliest garment factory incident in history] which claimed the lives of 1134 people and left over 2500 casualties.

Within 16 minutes of entering the shop 4 Gardaí arrived and asked the manager to tell us to leave.

The Gardaí then removed us one by one using unnecessary force. The result was the security saying we were now barred from the shopping centre.

Boycott Benetton!' - statement from one of those occupying the Benetton shop today.

This is yet another event which highlights the inhumane nature of our political system. A factory collapsed in Bangladesh due to appalling safety standards and carelessness, where there is huge pressure on unionised workers. Even after cracks appeared in the building and the building was deemed unsafe and evacuated, workers were ordered back the next day due to the drive to meet fast order deadlines and make profits.