Negotiations between representatives of global textile retailers from Bangladesh and the global trade union signatories to the former Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh recently resulted in an agreement that continues legally-binding commitments to workplace safety in the Asian nation and promises to expand the programme to other countries.
The new agreement, called the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, takes effect from September 1, according to an Accord press release.
Like the earlier agreement, this is a legally binding one between companies and trade unions to make readymade garment (RMG) and textile factories safe.
The renewed agreement advances the fundamental elements that made the Accord successful. These include respect for freedom of association, independent administration and implementation, a high level of transparency, provisions to ensure remediation is financially feasible, safety committee training and worker awareness programmes, and a credible, independent complaints mechanism.
In Bangladesh, the agreement is already implemented by the independent national tri-partite RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) consisting of brands, unions and the industry.
Key new features of the International Accord include a commitment to focus on the health and safety programme in Bangladesh, and on building a credible industry wide compliance and accountability mechanism; a commitment to expand the work of the International Accord based on feasibility studies; an option to expand the scope of the agreement to address human rights due diligence; and optional streamlined arbitration process to enforce the Accord’s terms.
The trade union signatories—IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union—have joined along with leading brands this new agreement.On September 1, the new Accord will announce the first wave of brands and retailers that sign the agreement.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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