The apparel buyer’s platform Alliance considers going tough on 12 apparel factories for their failure to carry out required remedial work in line with the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) within stipulated time, sources said. The Alliance, grouping 26 North American apparel companies, retailers and brands, has already informed the BGMEA of their stance after the factories had failed to respond to remediation work despite repeated reminders. “Since the flaws of those units are ‘serious’, they must go for remediation for safety of their workers. But they are paying no heed to our repeated reminders regarding the concerns,” Alliance Managing Director M Rabin said. “If we don’t see any immediate response from the factories to the required safety measures, we would have no other option but to cut business with them,” he told the FE. The Alliance on October 28 handed over a list of 23 factories, located in Chittagong where remediation was very poor and 12 out of the 23 factories were in a vulnerable situation, to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). After initial inspection, the group which is conducting follow-up assessment of their respective listed factories has identified those units where remedial work was very poor and issued non-compliance letters, the sources said. Even after issuing letters, there was no visible progress, Alliance alleged. The cables of those units are overloaded and overheated which are commonly found responsible for causing fire incidents. Mr Rabin said, adding that after CAP approval, they got seven to thirteen months which was enough to fix the problems as all the safety items required to fix such problems are available in the country. The units located in the port city don’t need to import safety equipment, he said, adding that they are dilly-dallying in fixing electrical problems showing a ‘damn-care’ attitude. The image of the whole industry might be tarnished severely for such some factories which is unexpected, he said. The rest of 11 factories are located in rented buildings, and the building and factory owners failed to come to a consensus on carrying out required retrofitting, sources said. But they are also dilly-dallying with fixing other electrical problems, they added. During a meeting, the Alliance again sought the BGMEA’s intervention about the 121 ready-made garment (RMG) factories where remedial work was going on very slowly. Earlier in March and September, the Alliance requested the BGMEA to do remediation work in the 121 factories, saying that they were not carrying out remediation work. Even now they are allegedly not allowing the Alliance’s experts to enter the units for follow-up inspection. Sources said the signatories of the Alliance are no more sourcing apparel products from the majority of 121 units which led to uncertainty among the makers about the future of their investment in remediation. When asked, BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu confirmed the Alliance’s concerns. “We are planning to seek more time from the Alliance for those 12 units,” he added.
