Four global right groups, in a report launched Monday, alleged that the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has overplayed progress with rosy status reports while workers’ lives remain at risk. The report also revealed that more than half of 175 identified factories which were all first inspected over one and a half years ago, still do not have appropriate fire exits, lack an approved fire alarm system or have major structural problems. International Labour Rights Forum, Worker Rights Consortium, Clean Clothes Campaign and Maquila Solidarity Network identified the 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. The rights groups assessed the degree of safety progress at these factories, focusing on three critical building safety issues: whether the factory has viable fire exits, whether it has installed a properly functioning fire alarm system, and whether any significant structural deficiencies (such as over-stressed structural columns) have been fixed for fire exits, fire alarms, and structural integrity based on Accord data. The analysis revealed considerable delays in repairing safety defects in factories supplying apparels to member-companies of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. Even more concerning is the fact that the Alliance has overstated progress. Many of the factories listed as ‘on track’ on the Alliance website still face major safety hazards. This designation disregards the failure of factories to address major structural and fire hazards within the agreed timelines, thereby creating an exaggerated picture of progress. “This means that hundred thousands of workers stitching clothes for Walmart, Gap, VF Corporation, Target and Hudson’s Bay Company, and their European subsidiaries Asda (Walmart), Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno (both HBC), continue to work in hazardous conditions. These brands, despite knowing about these risks for a considerable time, have failed to make sure these factories are safe,” a Clean Clothes Campaign statement said. As such, unlike the Accord, the Alliance does not provide detailed information about the progress of repairs. Overstating the success of the Alliance and understating and under-reporting the still existing safety hazards, unjustifiably reassure companies, politicians and consumers that the situation in the Bangladeshi garment industry is nothing to worry about. The Alliance should correct its false claims of progress and start providing detailed and accurate information concerning the status of each safety renovation in its factories in order to be able to start working on a safer Bangladeshi garment industry, the rights groups said. Although the Alliance is comprised of mainly North American brands, its failure to publicly report progress should also be of concern to European consumers, they added. The rights groups last year published report on H&M that revealed that the Swedish multinational retail-clothing company is ‘dramatically behind’ schedule in correcting the dangers identified by the Accord’s inspectors, thereby putting tens of thousands of workers’ lives at risk.
