What's Happening with the Bangladesh Accord

📢 UPDATE 📢

The Bangladesh Accord has been extended for 3 more months, and is now due to expire on 30 August 2021. We still need your help to ensure its renewal and the safety of millions of garment workers.

Kristof Vadino via Maquila Solidarity Network

Kristof Vadino via Maquila Solidarity Network

On 23rd April 2013, the Rana Plaza building collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people and injuring many more. Concern over cracks in the building’s structure was reported days before, and while other shops and banks in the building closed, garment workers were forced to continue working or risk losing their jobs. The incident was one of the deadliest in fashion’s history, and brought national attention to the human risk factors of fast fashion.


Protecting Garment Workers

After Rana Plaza, there was a bit of a turning point. it took a long time, but eventually through campaigning the Bangladesh Accord was set up in May 2013. The Accord is a binding instrument initiated by Bangladeshi trade unions and Global Union Federations together with labour rights groups to ensure a safe workplace and practices within garment factories. It has been signed by over 200 global fashion brands and retailers (though it took a long time to get any brands to sign up). This introduced robust inspections on factories to ensure worker safety as a priority, ensuring:

  • Protection of the right to refuse unsafe work

  • Protection of right to participate in the work of the Safety Committee

  • Protection against retaliation for reporting workplace safety / health related matters

  • Uses collective leverage of the Accord brands

  • Escalation of non-compliant factories and the risk of business termination with all Accord brands


"Rana Plaza was a homicide rather than an accident. This preventable disaster would not have happened with adequate safety measures and a strong monitoring system with inclusion of workers' voices. The Bangladesh Accord has introduced and implemented these in the past eight years. If we want to prevent another Rana Plaza and sustain the positive changes, then we need a new Accord agreement to be signed by all brands sourcing from Bangladesh.”

- Kalpona Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) and founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS)


However, in 2018 the Accord elapsed its 5-year agreement, and with the wavering support for this intervention there is a real threat that it will all fall apart. A number of the signatories signed a transition agreement to continue for the next 3 years, but others have dropped out. Last year, there was a petition brought to the High Court of Bangladesh by a Factory Owner to have the Accord removed. The High Court put in place a restraining order to have the inspectorate removed by November last year - this is being appealed in the Supreme Court and there will be a decision by April this year - so at the moment the agreement remains in place, but is in huge danger.


The Accord Works

Since its origin in 2013, the Accord has protected over 2 million workers and dealt with 145,000 cases of fire and safety concerns in garment factories. Without the Accord in place, the safety of garment workers across Bangladesh is put at risk and brands will no longer be held accountable. A proposed leaner structure coming from brands dismantles the independent secretariat and removed the ability for unions to take brands to court, two major features of the Accord’s success.

There is still so much work the Accord has to do. From Clean Clothes Campaign and their call to #ProtectProgress, the outstanding safety issues that still need to be addressed include:

  • 1,243 factories yet to have Fire Alarm and Detection Systems verified as installed to standard

  • 917 factories yet to have all safe egress measures implemented and verified to standard

  • 375 factories yet to complete structural remediation based on an Engineering Assessment


“Even eight 8 years since the Rana Plaza incident, our governments and employers are not willing to show their full commitment to creating safe working conditions for garment workers. We hear news of small-scale incidents every day in South Asian countries where workers are injured or lose their lives. It's just matter of time that we hear news of another big incident. Workers should be given more free space to organise their unions and bargain collectively so that they are able to participate in safety policies. Brands, governments and employers have to make sure that workers feel confident, free, safe and health while working in the factory.”

- Khalid Mahmood, director of the Labour Education Foundation (LEF) in Pakistan

Clean Clothes Campaign

Clean Clothes Campaign

Take Action

Brands are sensitive to pressure. In fact, it was public pressure and national attention which pushed forward the signing of the Bangladesh Accord in the first place. So far, the only brand to publicly sign on to the extension of the Accord is ASOS. With H&M’s huge presence in Bangladesh (and supposed ‘sustainable’ goals), there needs to be more pressure put on H&M to sign the Accord. In the past, once H&M’s signed on, other brands tend to follow suit.

To make a difference and ensure the Accord is not discarded, you can:

  • Sign the petition from PayUp Fashion demanding brands sign on to renew the Accord

  • Comment on brand socials ‘#KeepWorkersSafe Renew The Accord’

  • Email H&M’s Head of Sustainability Leyla Ertur demanding H&M sign the Accord: Ertur@hm.com

Sources

  • https://remake.world/

  • https://cleanclothes.org

  • https://www.fashionrevolution.org/

EnvironmentAlex Farley-WoodComment