Game changer for garment workers

Over 30 companies sign accord to protect Bangladeshi clothing workers.

International trade union organisations and anti-poverty campaigners are celebrating the signing by 31 major clothes stores of a five-year, legally binding agreement which guarantees independent fire inspections, worker-led health and safety committees and union access to factories in Bangladesh.

It also grants workers the right to refuse dangerous work, in line with ILO Convention 155.

This 'Accord on Fire and Building Safety' covers more than 1000 Bangladeshi garment factories.

The signatories, including Marks and Spencer, Tesco and H&M, have agreed to fund improvements in dangerous factories and deal with fire safety and structural problems.

This agreement comes after the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh collapsed on 24 April killing 1,127 workers.

According to the ‘If you tolerate this then your daughters will be next’ blog, the Bangladeshi garment industry accounts for over 80 per cent of the country’s exports.

Its workers are among the lowest paid in the world, earning on average USD38 a months, according to IndustriALL.

For campaigners this agreement is a game changer.

International trade union organisations IndustriALL and UNI Global Union and pressure groups like the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Worker Rights Consortium have been pushing major clothing retailers to improve pay and working conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh for some time.

But Bangladesh is not the only country where garment workers face low pay and poor working conditions.

This week the Guardian reported that a shoe factory had collapsed in Cambodia killing several workers.

Clearly agreements like the one in Bangladesh need to be signed throughout the developing world, and we need to put pressure on companies with the worst pay and safety record by refusing to buy their goods.

This is more difficult than it seems, as there are many factors to take into consideration.

Netherlands-based campaign group Rank a Brand has come up with a list of criteria which they use to score brands on their labour conditions.

These include whether companies have a code of conduct, outlining hygienic conditions and standards against forced child labour and discrimination; whether their workers can join trade unions; their factories are audited and audit information is responded to, and whether they aim to improve labour conditions as a wider organisation.

@sssukiii has invented an infographic to help consumers identify which brands have the best policies.

Interestingly the cheaper, high street brands like H&M, Zara, Gap and Monsoon tend to perform better than high-end designer labels like Paul Smith, Versace or Vivienne Westwood, who make statements about environmental sustainability or workers rights and even support campaigns, but appear to have no formal, published policies in place.

To see if your favourite brand has set up solid initiatives so as to reduce their impact on the climate, makes serious efforts to improve their environmental performance or has the best and clearest policies for improving labour conditions in their factories, click here.

Story published on the Women's Views on News website, May 21, 2013