European retailers yet to recruit local engineers for factory inspection

The platform of European retailers is yet to recruit 25 local engineers as promised although factory inspections are going on in full swing.
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of around 150 retailers mostly headquartered in Europe, earlier said the recruitment of 25 local engineers, a demand of the factory owners, would be completed by early March.
Roy Ramesh Chandra, general secretary of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, Bangladesh chapter of IndustriALL Global Union, said the recruitment is being delayed due to procedural causes.
“We have plans to recruit the local engineers for the next five years as the inspection will continue for this time,” he said, adding that the Accord's steering committee will discuss the matter in a meeting to be held in Dhaka on April 9-10.
At present, 60 foreign engineers recruited by Accord are conducting the factory inspections, with assistance from 52 Bangladeshi nationals, for structural integrity and fire and electrical safety.
About 250 factories will be inspected each month as per its plan to inspect all of its 1,500 supplier factories.
The legally binding agreement was signed in last May in response to the Rana Plaza collapse that killed at least 1,135 people in April last year.