The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety are to end their tenure next June and hand over their responsibilities to a new government-led initiative, if remediation is properly completed.
The consensus on how the Bangladesh garment sector should be policed going forward was agreed at a meeting at the weekend between IndustriAll, Uni Global Union, brand representatives and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) with the Bangladesh Ministers of Commerce and Labour Tofail Ahmed.
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Consequently, a ‘Remediation Coordination Cell’ will be formed to oversee workplace safety in the RMG sector that will include government representatives, NGO’s, industry associations, trade unions and international retailers and brands. A steering committee will be formed to run the cell.
The agreement comes just four months after the formation of a new and improved 2018 Accord, which over 20 brands, including Primark, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Inditex, have signed up to.
Bangladesh ‘2018 Accord’ promises new worker protections
While the Alliance says it will transition its work to locally-based partners by the end of the year who will continue its factory safety monitoring and worker empowerment initiatives, it has been agreed that the Accord will be granted an extension to operate beyond this date, if at that point the national regulatory body is not yet ready to take over its work, as is widely anticipated.
Bangladesh Alliance will not extend beyond 2018
The extension will likely be for a further six months with the group then to be known as the ‘Transition Accord’. A joint committee will be formed comprising brands, global unions, the BGMEA, the ILO and the government continuing to monitor the readiness of the government programme to take over from the Accord. Further reviews will continue on a six-monthly basis.
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By GlobalDataOnce the conditions for handover are met, there will be a further handover period to the national regulatory body of six months.
“The Accord has remedied thousands of safety issues for workers in Bangladesh’ garment industry and is instrumental in protecting workers,” says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Jenny Holdcroft. “It has also created a model that can be adopted by a national regulatory body to ensure compliance with safety standards into the future.
“Building capacity to meet the conditions for a handover of Accord functions is vital. We will continue to work with the Accord to support the Bangladesh government in this task and ensure the requirements are met for a safe and sustainable garment industry.”
Christy Hoffman, deputy general secretary of Uni Global Union adds: “A goal of the Accord has always been to transition to a credible regulatory regime by the Bangladeshi government.
“The talks with the government show that it recognises the importance of a safe ready-made garment industry, and we will continue to work with regulators to help enhance their capacity. We have an agreement that the 2018 Accord will operate until the Bangladeshi government is prepared to take over the responsibilities, as measured by agreed criteria. We will review progress every six months.”
Last week, Bangladesh’s High Court had halted the implementation of a second term of the Accord due to its tenure being extended without the Government’s approval.
Bangladesh Accord in limbo on high court ruling
In its latest update, the Alliance said it is “on pace” to complete remediation across its 780 affiliated factories in 2018 – even though just one-quarter of the factories supplying its members have completed their Corrective Action Plans (CAPs).
Bangladesh Alliance “on pace” to complete remediation
The Accord, meanwhile, says 78% of identified safety issues have been reported or verified as fixed, 74 factories have completed remediation from initial inspections, and 494 factories have completed more than 90% of their remediation. This is out of 1,600 factories under the 200 member brands.
