A survey conducted in Bangladesh shows, Alliance has given passing grades to factories that are yet to implement life-saving safety changes the retailers had pledged to put in place following Rana Plaza factory’s collapse in 2013 that killed 1,137 people.
The fatal collapse highlighted the hazardous working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry and prompted promises of change from retailers including Gap, H&M, Walmart and others. Three and a half years after the building collapse, it has been concluded that the factories that provide clothing materials to some of the biggest names in retail have so far failed to implement key renovations by their own mandated deadlines.
The report has come to a conclusion that in some cases, once firm deadlines for repairs and improvements set for 2014 and 2015 were scrapped and later replaced with a 2018 deadline that coincides with the end of the Alliance arrangement. However, the Alliance disputed the findings saying it relied on inaccurate and outdated information.
Alliance has not published detailed reports of its progress. The new report, titled ‘Dangerous Delays on Worker Safety’, was compiled by the International Labour Rights Forum, the Worker Rights Consortium, the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Maquila Solidarity Network.
