The Alliance has rejected the report of four global rights groups saying in several areas, it misrepresented and oversimplified the complexities of the western retailers’ platforms including efforts of the Accord to improve worker safety in Bangladesh. “The Alliance stands by its progress, which is validated by an accomplished team of on-the-ground engineers and professional staff, and we remain committed to our mission of creating a safer environment for millions of workers that make a living in Bangladeshi factories,” Ellen O’Kane Tauscher, Independent Chair of Alliance, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “The Accord has never raised any of the issues contained in this report. While some may seek to set up a false sense of competition between our two organisations, we continue to work closely together on the ground to advance factory safety on behalf of millions of garment workers in Bangladesh,” she said. “Discriminating between initiatives to create misleading narratives will only serve to undermine our collective effort to improve worker safety,” she felt. The statement was issued one day after four global rights groups’ allegation that the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has overplayed progress with rosy status reports while workers’ lives remain at risk. The rights groups, namely, International Labour Rights Forum, Worker Rights Consortium, Clean Clothes Campaign and Maquila Solidarity Network prepared the report based on 175 factories which supply apparels to one or more of these five Alliance member-corporations-Walmart, Gap, Target, Hudson Bay and VF Corporation and for which the Accord publishes detailed progress reports . “Our analysis of factory remediation progress reflects the conclusions of qualified and trained engineers who are working diligently with factories to ensure they have proper fire safety equipment, conduct inspections and verify progress,” the Alliance Chair said. These inspections are rigorous, and to date, we have suspended 101 factories from the Alliance list for failing to make sufficient progress on remediation-a considerably higher number than factories suspended by either the National Action Plan or the Accord, Ms Tauscher explained. “There is no doubt that the Alliance has had a transformative impact in strengthening the structural integrity of Bangladeshi factories where millions of women and men make a living each day, Ms Tauscher said adding, “We have proven this strong commitment to improving workplace safety in Bangladesh’s garment industry through concrete actions and results.” Regarding progress, Ms Tauscher said, “We are proud that nearly 1.3 million workers in Alliance-compliant factories are safer than prior to the creation of the Alliance, and we remain laser-focused on intensifying this progress.” The Alliance and its member-companies share the same ultimate goal as that of the Accord: creating a safer future for garment workers of Bangladesh, she said reiterating that they remain committed to working collaboratively with the Accord, the National Action Plan and other key stakeholders to achieve this goal over the next 18 months.
