H&M pledges living wage for textile workers after Bangladesh disaster

Clothing brand H&M has pledged to pay a living wage to 850,000 textile workers after expressing frustration over a lack of action by governments to address working conditions in Asian factories in the wake of a factory disaster in Bangladesh.

The world's second-biggest clothing retailer said it would support factory owners at two factories in Bangladesh and one in Cambodia to adopt a fair living wage next year.

The Swedish company which has 12 stores in Hong Kong, will then expand the programme to cover the 750 factories that supply its clothes by 2018.

H&M said: "We believe that the wage development in production countries, which is often driven by governments, is taking too long. H&M wants to take further action and encourage the whole industry to follow."

Working conditions for textile staff in developing countries have risen up the international agenda after the Rana Plaza disaster this year when 1,129 were killed by the collapse of a garment factory in Dhaka in Bangladesh.

H&M did not have clothes made at the site and was the first company to sign a safety agreement for Bangladeshi factories after the disaster.