Accord extends stay for three more years

Trade unions and leading apparel brands yesterday extended the tenure of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety for three more years for further strengthening of workplace safety and labour rights in the country.

The government was not in favour of extending the tenure of the Accord and has been kept in the dark about the signing of the new agreement at the OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris, said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

The garment makers too are in opposition of the extension.

“It is the decision of the retailers and unions. The extension is not our decision. We do not know about it yet. They did not speak with us in this connection. We are with them until the expiry of the first agreement,” Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.

The second agreement, which is known as Accord 2018 and will also be legally binding, is scheduled to come to effect from May next year after the expiry of the current one.

The Accord 2018 has a few new elements like the importance of freedom of association, enhanced protection for workers and dispute resolution, said IndustriALL, a global union federation, in a statement.

Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, echoed Ahmed.

“The decision of extension has been taken unilaterally. We were not informed by the signatories.”

The signatories also did not inform the government, he said.

“Firstly, we do not want the extension. Still, if it is needed we want inclusion of all stakeholders in the new agreement,” Rahman added.

The Accord 2018 will mainly focus on workers' rights and freedom of association, said Nazma Akter, an executive member of IndustriALL.

The first Bangladesh Accord was launched in May 2013 as a response to the Rana Plaza tragedy that killed 1,134 people and injured thousands more.

It was established by a coalition of trade unions, non-governmental organisations and retailers.

The Accord's operation in Bangladesh involves more than 200 staff, including 87 structural, electrical and fire safety engineers and 50 worker training personnel. The five-year agreement expires in May 2018.

So far, 25 lakh Bangladeshi garment workers have been covered by the Accord and 1,800 factories surveyed along with 7,000 periodic follow-up inspections, IndustriALL said.

A total of 118,500 violations of the Accord's fire, electrical, and structural safety standards have been identified, and 79 percent of them are being corrected.

The corrections include changes like the installation of fire doors and replacement of shoddy electrical wiring -- the ignition source for most factory fires.

A total of 32 factory buildings with extreme structural flaws that created the risk of a Rana Plaza-like catastrophic failure were identified by the Accord's inspectors.

The buildings were either closed, and in some cases, immediately evacuated or compelled to make swift renovations to ensure basic structural integrity.

The agreement has so far been signed by more than 200 brands from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia and the number is expected to rise.

“The Accord is, at present, the only credible option for health and safety in Bangladesh's garment factories,” said Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriALL.

Over the past four years, unions and worker safety organisations have worked together with global brands within the Accord to find a solution to the seemingly intractable problem of dangerous factories in Bangladesh, said Christy Hoffman, deputy general secretary of UNI Global Union.

Since the Rana Plaza tragedy, the Bangladeshi garment industry has grown and so has the Accord's importance, she added.