Business Desk :
Leading fashion brands have joined global trade unions in signing a new accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh to redouble their efforts to improve clothing supply chains.
IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union, together with representatives from C&A and LC Waikiki, announced the new agreement in Paris.
The agreement has so far been signed by Kmart Australia, Target Australia, Primark, H&M, Inditex, C&A, Otto, KiK, Aldi South, Aldi North, Lidl, Tchibo, LC Waikiki and Helly Hansen, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union said in a statement on Thursday.
A further eight brands: Esprit, Hüren, Bestseller, Wibra, Schmidt Group, N Brown Group, PVH, Specialty Fashion Group Australia have committed to signing it. It means that more than 1,000 Bangladeshi garment factories supplying products to signatory brands will be covered under the new legally binding agreement.
IndustriALL and UNI are signatories to the new accord, while four nongovernmental organisations including the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Worker Rights Consortium will be witness signatories.
The three-year agreement builds on the achievements of the first Bangladesh accord signed in May 2013 in response to the Rana Plaza building collapse.
It continues the first accord’s ground-breaking legally binding framework and commitment to transparency.
It also adds new worker protections and ensures that many more factories will be inspected and renovated, as signatory brands add suppliers.
The Rana Plaza collapse claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers, injuring 2,500 more. The new accord goes into effect after the 2013 Accord expires in May 2018.
Leading fashion brands have joined global trade unions in signing a new accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh to redouble their efforts to improve clothing supply chains.
IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union, together with representatives from C&A and LC Waikiki, announced the new agreement in Paris.
The agreement has so far been signed by Kmart Australia, Target Australia, Primark, H&M, Inditex, C&A, Otto, KiK, Aldi South, Aldi North, Lidl, Tchibo, LC Waikiki and Helly Hansen, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union said in a statement on Thursday.
A further eight brands: Esprit, Hüren, Bestseller, Wibra, Schmidt Group, N Brown Group, PVH, Specialty Fashion Group Australia have committed to signing it. It means that more than 1,000 Bangladeshi garment factories supplying products to signatory brands will be covered under the new legally binding agreement.
IndustriALL and UNI are signatories to the new accord, while four nongovernmental organisations including the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Worker Rights Consortium will be witness signatories.
The three-year agreement builds on the achievements of the first Bangladesh accord signed in May 2013 in response to the Rana Plaza building collapse.
It continues the first accord’s ground-breaking legally binding framework and commitment to transparency.
It also adds new worker protections and ensures that many more factories will be inspected and renovated, as signatory brands add suppliers.
The Rana Plaza collapse claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers, injuring 2,500 more. The new accord goes into effect after the 2013 Accord expires in May 2018.
