The absence of apparel makers’ representation in the Accord’s decision making process has widened communication gap between the two parties, industry leaders said.Both BGMEA and Accord’s steering committee have realised that confusion and misunderstanding have surfaced as there is no direct communication between us,” Abdus Salam Murshedy former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told the FE after a committee meeting.The meeting was held Tuesday between the leaders of the BGMEA and visiting members of the Steering Committee of Accord at the trade group’s headquarters in the city.BGMEA’s vice presidents Shahidullah Azim and Reaz -bin-Mahmood, its former president Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin and former vice president Siddiqur Rahman, Philip Chamberlain of C & A, Roger Hubert of H&M, Monika Kemperle of IndustriAll, Jenny Holdcroft from UNI Global Union, Scott Nova of Worker Rights Consortium, Accord’s Executive Director and Chief Safety Officer Rob Wayss and Brad Loewen, among others were present in the meeting.”If we were in the decision making panel, it would be easier to sort out the problems surfaced following the post inspection activities,” BGMEA President Md Atiqul Islam said.Giving example of field resource people, engaged by the platform to raise safety awareness among factory workers, he said they are outsiders and often allegedly incite agitation among workers, damaging labour-management relations.”This is not consistent with law of the land which provides for establishment of safety committee with representatives from factory workforce to raise awareness and enable workers to report safety concerns,” he added.Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh-a coalition comprising with about 200 apparel buyers and retailers and international trade unions-was formed after Rana Plaza building collapse to build a safe and healthy readymade garment industry in the country.The Advisory Committee of the Accord holds meeting with the BGMEA leaders time to time, but the latter did not have any representation in Steering Committee that comprised with members from apparel buyers, retailers and trade unions with an independent chair from the ILO.Quoting members of the Accord’s Steering Committee, the BGMEA president, however, said that they have assured all of complying with law of the land.Earlier, the BGMEA leaders had sought detailed information from the Accord’s Steering Committee about its spending on factory remediation programme.The meeting also raised some other issues including lack of sufficient number of experts to provide service to factories for conducting detailed engineering analysis, retrofits, fire designs, financial support, especially for small and medium-sized units, assurance of continuation and increase business and not to withdraw orders from factories located in shared buildings.Replying to a question, Ms Monica said they had discussed the ‘differences’ without going details on those.”…we have to take the next step and try to go forward,” she said adding they would look into the discussed issues in the next meetings
