Global rights groups again called on international apparel brands including the signatories of Alliance to sign the 2018 Accord for a sustainable garment industry in Bangladesh. The global union signatories to the Accord, IndustriALL and UNI, and the four witness signatories, Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network and Worker Rights Consortium, Thursday called upon the garment companies that have not yet signed the 2018 Accord to do so “as soon as possible”. The Accord was formed in May 2013 immediately after the Rana Plaza building collapse and will expire after 100 days. So far, some 109 global retailers including H&M, C&A, Inditex and Primark have signed the 2018 Accord, covering more than two million workers, the CCC said in a statement. The 2018 Transition Accord will continue the work of inspecting factories in Bangladesh, identifying safety hazards, and ensuring that they are corrected. However, many garment companies still must reconfirm their commitment to the safety of Bangladeshi workers in their supply chain. Among the companies that are still dragging their feet are Marks and Spencer, Next, Sainsbury’s, Metro Group, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Dansk Supermarked. “Not signing the 2018 Accord means that one hundred days from now workers will be left in unmonitored factories. As a consequence, garment brands will fall short on their due diligence obligations to keep the workers in their supply chain safe,” said Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator of Clean Clothes Campaign. “There is still no credible alternative to the Accord to protect worker safety in Bangladesh. It is simply not an option for brands to go back to the company-led programmes that so clearly failed to prevent large-scale factory tragedies before,” Jenny Holdcroft, assistant general-secretary of IndustriALL, said. Signing the 2018 Accord is the only way for companies to meet their due diligence obligations to ensure that Bangladeshi garment workers can work in safe factories, she said. This is equally urgent for companies that have not fulfilled their obligations under the first Accord yet as well as for companies that have repaired all safety defects discovered in their factories under the first Accord, she added. “The need for safety committees and an inspection programme is ongoing because a factory can be safe one day, and then the fire doors are blocked the next. As long as the Bangladeshi government is not yet ready to assume this responsibility, the Accord will continue to provide the training, engineering expertise, and accountability structures necessary to make garment work safer,” Christy Hoffman, deputy general secretary of UNI global union, said. The one hundred-day warning is also aimed at encouraging garment companies that are not part of the current Accord, including those who have joined the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a corporate-led safety programme, to sign the 2018 Accord. “We urge the Alliance companies and those that signed the neither programme to join the 2018 Accord as soon as possible and thereby display their willingness to engage constructively with Bangladeshi and international trade unions and confirm their commitment to keeping factories in Bangladesh safe,” Judy Gearhart, executive director of International Labor Rights Forum, said.
