The North American retailers have so far inspected 80 per cent of 626 garment factories that supply products to them and two of the factories were closed down on safety grounds as per their recommendations. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, the platform of the North American buyers, revealed the update of its inspection of garment units at a press conference at its Gulshan office in the city on Thursday.
The Alliance said that they found structural and electrical faults in most of the 508 garments they had inspected but they sent a list of five factories with severe faults to the government-formed review committee for closing down.
‘One factory has been closed down and all workers of the unit have been transferred to another factory owned by the same person. Another factory has been completely closed down and the owners of the unit and Alliance have given compensation equal to wages for two months,’ M Rabin, executive director of the Alliance said at the press conference.
The review committee, comprising of representatives of the government, factory owners, BUET, Alliance and the European retailers group, Accord, will decide the fate of the rest three factories, he said.
The Alliance, which began the factory inspection in February, is committed to release inspection reports of all factories in the months to come, said Rabin.
Rabin said that the Alliance held a meeting with trade union leaders on Thursday and discussed how workers’ unions could be integrated in the inspection process to make a meaningful effort.
He said that the Alliance would roll out a worker-helpline in 50 factories next week and it would be expanded to more than 100 factories by the end of 2014.
Replaying to a query, Rabin said that they were considering the issue of increasing compensation amount for the workers who were losing jobs because of factory closure.
Ian Spaulding, adviser to the Alliance board, said that the key target of Alliance was to improve safety in the RMG factories in Bangladesh without shutting them down.
The Alliance members are investing in the RMG sector as they are committed to improve safety and they were comfortable in doing business with Bangladesh, he said.
The North American buyers will extend all-out support to the Bangladeshi manufacturers to make the factories compliant and retailers will provide loans to the factory owners for remediation, Ian said.
Bangladesh Trade Union Centre general secretary Wajed-ul-Islam, Bangladesh Labour Federation general secretary Delwar Hossain Khan, Jatiya Sramik Leauge president Shukkur Mahmud attended the programmes, among others.
The labour leaders said that workers of the closed factories should be given compensation and benefits as per the labour law, which stipulates that a worker would get wages for three months and other benefits like gratuity after the factory closure.
They also criticised the EU retailers for not taking any responsibility of the workers who were losing jobs because of factory closure.
After the Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 people mostly garments workers in April last year, the EU retailers formed Accord on Fire and Building Safety to improve factory safety in Bangladesh.
The Accord has launched its inspection of around 1,700 factories in February.
North American retailers, including Walmart and Gap, on July 10 formed the Alliance undertaking a five-year plan, which sets timelines and accountability for inspections and training and worker empowerment programmes.
-With New Age input
