The Accord On Fire & Building Safety In Bangladesh

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The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh is a five-year legally binding agreement between international labor organizations, non-governmental organizations, and retailers engaged in the textile industry to maintain minimum safety standards in the Bangladesh textile industry. The undersigned parties are committed to the goal of a safe and sustainable Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment (‘RMG’) industry in which no worker needs to fear fires, building collapses, or other accidents that could be prevented with reasonable health and safety measures. The accord was signed in May 2013 (Source: Wikipedia 2013, np link).

The agreement will see independent safety inspections with public reports on all Bangladeshi suppliers used by the signatory companies, mandatory repairs and renovations, the obligation by brands to underwrite the costs of safety upgrades, and repercussions for suppliers that refuse to improve conditions including the termination of business (Source: Smith 2013, np link).

What they have signed up to…agrees to independent safety inspections with public reports on all Bangladeshi suppliers used by the signatory companies, mandatory repairs and renovations, the obligation by brands and retailers to underwrite the costs of safety upgrades – including ensuring they pay suppliers enough to maintain safe workplaces – and repercussions for suppliers that refuse to improve conditions including the termination of business. There will also be health and safety training for workers and management personnel, health and safety committees, and the right of workers to file complaints and to refuse unsafe work. And an active role is seen for both workers and trade unions. Signatory brands will contribute a maximum $500,000 per year to pay for the steering committee, safety inspector and training coordinator. Payments will depend on each company’s annual garment production in Bangladesh (Source: Marian 2013, np link).

A profound change is possible only with a strong coalition between trade unions, international brands and retailers, Bangladeshi authorities and employers, and with worker involvement in the workplace with guaranteed freedom of association (Source: Raina 2013, np link).

It took the worst garment factory accident in modern history to teach consumers the real price of an $8 T-shirt (Source: Talaga 2014, np link).

Wages are as low as $38 a month. Sweatshops proliferate. Labor conditions are so dangerous that an estimated 1,800 garment workers have lost their lives in factory fires and building collapses since 2005. The latest collapse claimed 1,127 lives, the world’s worst industrial accident since 1984. Welcome to Bangladesh. Is this where you want your clothes made (Source: MacDonald 2013, np link)?

On the morning of 24 April 2013, Bangladesh’s worst industrial accident occurred 30 kilometres outside the capital city, Dhaka. More than 1,100 garment workers, many of them young women, were killed when the eight-storey Rana Plaza building housing five clothing factories collapsed. According to the global union confederation, IndustriALL, the scale of the disaster was enough to finally shake international clothing brands and retailers from complacency about the appalling conditions in the sector (Source: Anon 2013a, np).

As co-workers sang or chanted on either side of the lot, Seattle striker Preston Johnson presented a security officer with a three-foot tall list of the retailers who’ve signed onto the labor-backed Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh; it included a dotted line at the bottom for Walmart CEO Mike Duke, who hasn’t. ‘1,239 folks have died because of factories that were unsafe’ said Johnson, ‘and we found out that Walmart is one of the companies that had workers making clothes there’ … Akter, the executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity believes Walmart is resisting the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh because it would bind the company to pay for the costs of factory improvements, and to cooperate with unions and workers’ groups to monitor conditions. ‘They don’t want to share their profits with anyone,’ charged Akter, and ‘they don’t want workers’ voice in the workplace’ (Source: Eidelson 2013, np link).

The accord is an important milestone, and shows just how seriously the international community takes this issue. The real test comes at implementation stage, and how all parties collaborate in order to raise workplace standards. In the spirit of the accord, Bangladesh’s garment workers must play an integral role, if we are to see long-lasting improvements in health and safety practices across the sector. These workers must have their right to a safe workplace protected, and upheld (Source: ETI Director Peter McAllister in Anon 2013b, np link).

‘Enough is enough’ – ‘The question people have to ask is how much is a life worth? Sadly, that seems like the answer has been much lower than the reality. I’m glad to see retailers recognising that lives should not be lost for us to get this seasons new jumper’ (Source: Ratcliffe 2013, np link).

These high street a**holes should be held accountable. How can they possibly say they didn’t know clothes or products of theirs were being made here. It is utter bulls**t. Where were they sending the measly payments for the products if they didn’t know where they were being made (Source: Rogue Trooper 2013, np link).

[It’s] Nothing to do with Primark or any other cheap clothes outlet … [It’s] simply poor building construction and lack of maintenance and inspection by the authorities and owners (Source: ADZ01982 2013, np link).

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said, ‘We made it! This accord is a turning point. We are putting in place rules that mark the end of the race to the bottom in the global supply chain.’ … ‘Commenting on the no-shows, Jennings said, ‘Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is out of step. By not signing up, the Walmart brand sinks to a new low. Equally Gap’s refusal to join is a mistake that shoppers will not forget. We will make progress without them’ (Source: IndustriALL Union 2013, np link).

Gap is part of an alliance of more than 15 companies – including Walmart, Kohl’s, Target and Macy’s – which has agreed to require factory inspections(and publicly release the results) in Bangladesh, develop common safety standards, provide loans to factory owners to improve safety, establish a worker hotline before the end of the year and establish ‘worker participation committees’ selected by their peers … but Gap’s approach has been controversial. The company and its partners have been criticized by labor rights groups for not including for a requirement to allow supplier workers – mostly women earning low wages – to organize unions. Meanwhile, more than 70 other companies have signed a different accord, which does endorse the right of workers to organize as part of an overall strategy to improve factory safety in Bangladesh. H&M, Zara, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein were among the companies to sign the accord, which requires independent factory inspections and public release of the results. Unlike Gap’s initiative, this accord is legally binding (Source: Wong 2013, np link).

Accord brand signatory membership increased dramatically from around 40 brands and retailers in May 2013 to 166 by the end of April 2014, covering more than 1600 factories employing approximately two million workers. And the Accord is still welcoming new signatories on a weekly basis. Whereas the first 6 months was dedicated to developing an implementation plan, recruitment of the Accord team and setting up offices in Dhaka and Amsterdam, in November 2013 ten pilot factories were the first to be inspected. Their inspection reports and Corrective Action Plans are now online.In February this year, the inspection program started in full swing, aiming to have 1500 factories inspected for fire, electrical and structural safety by October 2014. More than 300 factories have been inspected so far. The Accord has now approximately 110 externally contracted engineers and technical experts working in the field, inspecting approximately 45 factories per week (Source: Oldenziel 2014, np link).

More than 150 mostly European companies have signed the legally binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh , while 26 companies, most of them American, including Wal-Mart, Sears and Gap, have joined a separate alliance that commits them to invest in safety upgrades (and limits their liability when things go wrong). The factories they source from are gradually being upgraded, and monitoring is getting better. Meanwhile, foreign government pressure, including the suspension of U.S. trade privileges for Bangladesh, helped lead to new labor laws that, at face value, protect workers by making it easier for them to organize. Emboldened workers are now speaking out against bad conditions, walking out if necessary. And their collective efforts have secured a minimum-wage increase that will provide some financial security. But we’d be foolish to believe that the industry has thoroughly cleaned up its act or that it will continue to try to as Western concern flags. Reports from independent factory inspections conducted late last year painted a worrisome picture. Dangerously heavy storage loads sent cracks down walls and stressed sagging support beams. In some cases, basic fire equipment was missing, and exit routes didn’t lead outside. One of the best factories in the country – a client of Hugo Boss, Marks & Spencer and PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger – received multiple citations. And those are the front-line factories. The open secret in Bangladesh is that there’s a vast underworld of off-the-books operations that backstop the export industry. Sandwiched inside apartment buildings, in basements and on rooftops, underpaid and overworked employees finish orders from larger companies under fierce pressure to stay apace with fast fashion. Hidden from view, bosses are free to abuse workers and cut corners on safety. To date, none of Rana Plaza’s victims have received the full amount of promised compensation, while victims of other deadly accidents go largely ignored (Source: Geoghegan 2014, np link).