Despite repeated refusals by the government, Accord once again sought extension of its tenure in Bangladesh until the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is fully ready for monitoring workplace safety in garment factories.Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and State Minister for LabourMujibul Haque Chunnu in several meetings over the last one year have been saying that the government has no plan to extend the tenure of the Accord beyond December 7.The government has already extended the tenure of the Accord once by six months to December.“We do not have any scope to extend the tenure of the Accord after December this year,” Chunnu told The Daily Star by phone yesterday. There is also an order from the court that the Accord’s tenure cannot be extended beyond December, he said, adding that 60 engineers have been recruited for the RCC.The government has re-posted 26 engineers to the RCC and the International LabourOrganisation has also committed to provide 47 engineers, Chunnusaid.“By December this body would be made more capable so that nobody can question its fitness,” he added.The government formed the RCC in May last year with representation from the ILO, the Accord, the Alliance, trade union leaders and other stakeholders to continue the progress of factory remediation.Although the Accord wants to extend its tenure, its North American counterpart, the Alliance, has already declared that it will not stay here beyond December.In the fourth meeting of the Accord steering committee held in Brussels on July 25, representatives from the EU, the US, Canada, ILO, and the Accord signatory brands and unions said the RCC is at its earliest stages of development.This means the Accord would need to continue its operations in Bangladesh until the RCC is deemed ready by the multi-stakeholder Transition Monitoring Committee (TMC), said a statement from the Accord.“Only when this assessment body deems the RCC ready to take over responsibilities for the safety of workers based on previously agreed objective criteria should the Accord wind down its activities.”The meeting attendants, who are also the Sustainability Compact partners, also discussed the progress made under the agreement and what remains to be done. This was the fourth time since the signing of the Compact in July 2013 that such an assessment took place.The Compact partners acknowledged that some progress has been made since the last high-level meeting in May 2017. Progress on safety compliance was particularly noted.MarciaBernicat, the US ambassador to Bangladesh, urged the government to “maintain a collaborative approach to the Accord as it continues to assess when — not if — it can transition to a Bangladesh-led programme”.It is critical to the safety of millions of workers and the productivity of factories that the assessment should be made fairly and objectively, and without artificial time deadlines.“Currently there is no alternative to the Accord and Alliance,” she added.The RCC only began one year ago and is not fully-staffed yet.“As we saw from the Alliance and the Accord, it takes years to develop a fully functional safety organisation. It is not surprising that the RCC is not quite ready to take on the work,” said Amy McGann, foreign affairs officer of the US Department of State.The Accord was formed in 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse by more than 200 EU-based retailers to fix the structural, fire and electrical loopholes in the garment factories.
