Western fashion brands and retailers have severed business relations with 11 more readymade garment factories which are located in Dhaka, Chittagong, Gazipur and Narayanganj due to the factories’ failure in making required progress in remediation work. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a North American buyers’ group, has cut business ties with five out of the 11 factories as the firm authorities failed to provide evidences of remediation work at their units and did not submit design documents to the platform. The factories are: Anzir Apparels Ltd at Savar in Dhaka, Beautiful Jackets Ltd in Manikganj, Fashion Store Ltd and ZSB Garments Ltd in Gazipur and Ambia Apparels Ltd in Chittagong. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a platform of EU brands and buyers, has terminated World Victory Garments Ltd, Ags Apparels Ltd, SN Sweater Co Limited, Safwan Fashions Ltd and Wintex Fashion Wear Ltd in Dhaka and Fabin Apparels Ltd in Narayanganj from its suppliers’ list due to the factories’ failure in implementing workplace safety measures. With the 11, the total number of RMG factories with which global buyers cut business relations in different times on workplace safety ground reached to 137. Of them, the Alliance has cut business ties with 88 factories while the Accord with 49 units. In a recent statement, the Accord said that they provided corrective action plans to the factories to eliminate safety hazards which were identified during the initial inspections but the factory authorities failed to make adequate CAP implementation progress. The Alliance said that the factories had been suspended from its compliant factory list because of their lack of progress in one or more programmes, thereby failing to make progress in ensuring a safe working environment. If suspended factories want to re-establish participation in the Alliance process, they will need to undergo new inspections at their own cost, the platform said. After the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, North American retailers, including top brands Walmart and Gap, formed the Alliance and European retailers formed the Accord undertaking a five-year plan which set timelines and accountability for inspections and training and workers’ empowerment programmes. The Alliance has so far inspected 870 factories while the Accord more than 1,600 factories. During the inspection both the Alliance and the Accord found serious structural faults in 106 factories and sent the list of the units to a government-set review committee suggesting immediate evacuation. Out of 106 factories, 35 were closed as per the recommendations made by experts of the review panel which consists of representatives from the government, the Accord, the Alliance, the Bangladesh University of Engendering and Technology and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
