Garment Factory Inspection
Retailers’ teams to talk pledges, conspiracy theory in April
High-ups of North American and European retailers groups are coming to Dhaka in early April to discuss garment factory safety inspection issue following government’s and factory owners’ criticism of strict inspection standards and allegation of conspiracy. Garment factory owners and commerce minister Tofail Ahmed recently came down heavily on the two groups — EU Accord on Fire and Building Safety and North American Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety — after their team of experts started safety inspection of around 2,300 garment units.
The groups were formed after the Rana Plaza building collapse on April 24, 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, to improve workplace safety in the country’s factories.
Garment industry insiders and people close to the groups said that the retailers groups were not happy about the criticism of conspiracy to destroy the sector in the name of safety inspection.
They said that the retailers took the allegations seriously as they started the inspection after taking approval from the government.
The advisory committee of the EU Accord will arrive in Dhaka on April 3 and the Alliance board members, led by chair Ellen O’Kane Tauscher, will come to Dhaka on April 14 to discuss with the government about the factory inspection issue.
The groups will also discuss about the progress of commitments made by the government and garment factory owners to improve work place safety after the Rana Plaza collapse, they said.
Garment factory owners, who alleged that the retailers started factory safety inspection with tight standards, flayed the retailers after two garment units were shut down at Mirpur for safety reason.
The two retailers’ group started separate inspection of around 2,300 factories in February and they would prepare the primary report by September outlining the corrective measures the factories would have to take to improve safety.
The EU team also found all 10 garment units inspected by its engineers in December faulty.
The retailers groups want to see an end to such kind of criticism over the inspection programmes as they have obtained government licence through the Board of Investment and working here to make the garment industry safer according to the guidelines of National Tripartite Plan of Action, said the sources.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Shahidullah Azim told New Age that the advisory committee of the EU Accord will arrive in Dhaka on April 3 and hold meeting with the government and stakeholders.
Alliance board members will hold a board meeting in Dhaka on April 14 and then the delegation will sit with the ministers including commerce minister and state minister for labour and other stakeholders in April 15-16, he said.
Progresses of the commitments which were made after the Rana Plaza collapse and the differences between the inspection standards of retailers and National Action Plan will be discussed in the meetings, Azim said.
‘We will also raise the issue of selective sharing of inspection outcomes on the web site or on the database in the meeting’, he said.
‘We will inform them about the progresses of corrective action plan in 10 factories suggested by the Accord experts and also will request them not to share the inspection report publicly’, Azim said.
Accord steering committee member Roy Ramesh Chandra said that the advisory committee would sit with the government and stakeholders in the first week of next month but the programme schedule was yet to be finalised.
Replaying to a question he said that baseness would not be sustainable if the factory owners treated the retailers as opponents.
Both the government and factory owners should be more responsible to make the industry sustainable, Ramesh added.
Alliance managing director M Rabin said that the Alliance Board of Directors is supposed to arrive in Dhaka in mid-April.
‘The team will take part a number of meetings in Bangladesh and will also arrange its board meeting here,’ he said.
Some important issues over the ongoing factory inspection as well as the issues related to the worker rights will be discussed in the separate meetings with the government and other stakeholders, Rabin said.
-With New Age input
