"We need to support and encourage workers’ rights and workplace safety abroad just as we do here at home. In a recent Foreign Relations Committee hearing, the Administration reiterated its commitment to working with the private sector and urged it to leverage its market power to make change in Bangladesh.
I’m glad these steps have already been taken, and I hope the President will continue to do all he can to support labor markets that take workplace safety seriously.”
The senators also called on President Obama to continue his outreach to the business community so that it can use its global leverage to demand safer worker conditions in countries like Bangladesh. Following the factory collapse last month, eight U.S. senators wrote to major retailers urging them to reconsider signing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
Senator Tom Harkin