Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety wants “the government be involved, but not interfere” in the post-Accord and Alliance inspection strategy for garment factories. James F Moriarty, Alliance country director and former US ambassador to Bangladesh, said this at a meeting with the Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association (BGMEA). BGMEA demands involving a national body under the auspices of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) to look after inspection work after Accord and Alliance leave. The safety inspection by Accord and Alliance will end in June 2018, which started in mid-2014 to improve electrical, fire and structural safety in Bangladesh RMG sector. The stakeholders include Bangladesh government, BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), buyers, International Labor Organisation and Labour Federation. “Alliance wants the government’s involvement in the process, but not interference,” BGMEA Vice President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu told the Dhaka Tribune. He said: “We have assured the Alliance that there will have no interference neither from the government nor the BGMEA.” In October, BGMEA formed a committee to prepare guidelines for setting up a new platform to oversee post-Accord and Alliance safety assessment in the apparel industry. It will work on how the sector can work after the end of safety assessment by the global retailers platform and whom to include in the process. The committee already has organised two meetings and is going to sit today to devise the ways on the post inspection strategy. The body will place its final proposal to the BGMEA board by the end of December. Then, it will be discussed with the stakeholders, Babu said.
