Two top bosses of the Alliance including former US ambassador to Dhaka James F Moriarty will visit Bangladesh later this month to see the activities of the organisation, officials said.
The other member is Mara M Burr, the senior adviser of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. Ms Burr is working for Walmart and promoting Bangladesh’s exports to the USA, they said.
During the visit, they will meet government officials concerned including Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan and other stakeholders. They will see the ongoing activities of the Alliance aiming at improving the working environment in Bangladesh.
The Alliance is a body of a group of North American apparel companies and retailers and brands who have joined together to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking that will be transparent, results-oriented, measurable and verifiable with the intent of improving safety in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) factories.
Collectively, these Alliance members represent the overwhelming majority of North American imports of RMG from Bangladesh, produced at more than 580 factories.
The body was formed after the deadly Rana Plaza incident which occurred on the outskirts of the capital, killing 1,136 workers and injuring many.
The Alliance provides apparel companies and retailers with unprecedented opportunity to come together and put forward concrete solutions to issues that impact the global apparel and retail industries.
The body was formed to ensure that no garment worker would have to choose between safe working conditions and a pay-check.
“The efforts are undertaken by the Alliance and member companies to improve the safety of RMG factories, ensuring every garment factory is inspected, every employee is trained and empowered, and remediation is undertaken by every factory owner,” the chairman of board of directors of Alliance Ellen O Tauscher said in a statement in March this year, marking 18-month of the organisation.
As part of its efforts to help improve workplace safety in Bangladeshi factories, the Alliance in July signed an agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help finance factory repairs.
Under the agreement, the IFC will provide US$ 10 million each to five Bangladeshi banks – a total of $ 50 million- to provide affordable loans to factory owners who are making necessary safety repairs so that no incident like Rana Plaza building collapse happens in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman is scheduled to visit Dhaka next month to see the progresses made by Bangladesh following forwarded an action plan for ensuring workplace safety and labour rights.
The US has been continuing suspension on GSP (generalised system of preferences) facility for Bangladeshi products since July 2013 following Rana Plaza incident. On June 29, the US renewed the GSP scheme for 122 beneficiary countries, but Bangladesh remained out of the list since it did not withdraw suspension.
