In recent months, global apparel brands have insisted upon a new framework for the future which discards the key elements that have led to the Accordâs success in making garment factories in Bangladesh safe for workers
UNI Global Union and IndustriAll Global Union, the labour signatories of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, have given notice to withdraw from the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) on 1 June.
The national RSC was set up last year to take over the technical responsibilities of the Accord, whose remit finishes at the end of the month.
While there have been discussions to renegotiate the Accord, nothing has yet been agreed or signed. Unions and industry organisations have been calling on brands to sign a global agreement that will take the work of the Accord into the future and remove any risk of a return to self-monitoring.
What if mandatory human rights due diligence had existed before Rana Plaza?
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The eighth anniversary of the tragic Rana Plaza factory collapse was a stark reminder of what can happen if workersâ rights are a matter of voluntary corporate commitments. Whereas many people remember at least 1,134 people died in the rubble of the Rana Plaza building, many other preventable tragedies in the garment industry â such as recent fatal safety incidents in Egypt and Morocco â do not
The report shows that a lot of progress has been made to make factories safer
The witness signatories to the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety say remaining safety hazards in Bangladeshi factories show that apparel brands must not abandon a binding safety programme.
In a new report, Unfinished Business: Outstanding safety hazards at garment factories show that the Accord must be extended and expanded , the signatories demonstrate that the Accord s work must continue, and call for brands and retailers to sign a new, legally binding agreement that will allow the Accord s work to be extended and its model to be expanded to other countries.
In the wake of the eighth anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, just-style continues to look at issues around the tragedy. Two initiatives were set up in the aftermath of the incident to oversee the country s clothing factories for fire, electrical and structural issues – the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. The Accord’s tenure comes to an end next month, and there are serious concerns for garment workers if another agreement is not signed soon.
The Rana Plaza disaster was a wake-up call to Bangladesh and the entire garment industry that building and worker safety should be a priority. Eight years on and the country has one of the safest and most transparent apparel industries thanks to the remediation work that ensued. But while much has been achieved, there remains no room for complacency.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) says the RMG Sustainability Council (RSC), which was set up to continue the achievements of the Accord on workplace safety, and the Bangladesh Government, is more than capable of ensuring the highest standards of monitoring and inspections. related to Apparel, Manufacturing, Social & environmental responsibility,