The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety – a retail group backed by Walmart, Gap, and Target – is giving passing grades to Bangladeshi factories that have yet to follow through on life-saving safety repairs they pledged to implement following the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed 1,137 workers.
After the collapse, retailers including H&M, Adidas, Benetton, Marks & Spencer, and Tesco banded together to from the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which made legally binding agreements with local and international unions, and vowed to publish detailed public reports of its progress.
Not willing to join in any legal agreements, Walmart formed its own group – the entirely voluntary Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety – whose members include Gap, Target, Hudson’s Bay Company (owners of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor), and VF Corporation (owners of North Face, Timberland, Vans and Wrangler). And it’s this group that’s been accused of handing out fraudulent passing grades.
Out of the 107 factories labelled as “on track” by the Alliance, 99 were found to be behind in at least one major safety category by an independent survey conducted by the International Labour Rights Forum, the Worker Rights Consortium, the Clean Clothes Campaign, and the Maquila Solidarity Network. The survey also found that 62% of the factories lack viable fire exits and properly functioning alarms, and 47% have major structural issues, putting over 120,000 workers at risk.
You can read more about the survey’s findings at The Guardian.
