Retailers, owners talk on implementation

Top global retailers and brands yesterday launched talks with garment factory owners in Dhaka to work out a roadmap for implementing the building and fire safety accord signed earlier this month for the garment sector.
A total of 84 clothing retailers and brands, mostly European, signed the legally-binding accord, initiated by IndustriALL Global Union after the Rana Plaza collapse killed 1,132 workers in April.
Separately, North American buyers signed a similar but non-binding accord for the country's garment sector.
The signatories to the legally-binding accord will inspect around 1,500 garment factories, and provide funds for repairs of risky factories or their relocation out of Dhaka.
“In the first meeting, we discussed how we will implement the accord. We have also discussed the funding for implementing the accord,” said Roy Ramesh Chandra, general secretary of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council.
Garment factory owners and IndustriALL are trying to have a unified code of conduct, as three parties -- IndustriALL, North American Alliance and National Action Plan -- have their own inspection codes, he said.
Ramesh was speaking at a press briefing after a meeting between factory owners and representatives of IndustriALL and retailers at the BGMEA office in Dhaka.
He, however, did not say from when the factory inspection will start.
Philip Chamberlain, head of Sustainable Business Development of C&A Buying, said, “We have discussed a whole range of issues to make the RMG [ready-made garment] business sustainable in Bangladesh.”
Chamberlain represented the delegation of retailers and brands in the meeting.
Referring to the newly amended labour law, Chamberlain said, “I do not want to comment on the amended labour law of Bangladesh as it is yet to be signed by the president of Bangladesh.”
A unified code of conduct for factory inspection is needed to spare a factory from being inspected twice, said Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
“We are trying to include representatives of the BGMEA, the BKMEA and the government in the steering committee on the accord because if they [retailers and brands] want to implement the accord, they will need cooperation from the government and the two trade bodies,” said Islam.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Employers Federation urged the International Labour Organisation to engage in both the accords -- one signed by North American buyers and the other by European buyers -- for garment factory inspection in Bangladesh.
The BEF made the appeal at a meeting with Yoshiteru Uramoto, regional director of ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, at Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.
Bangladesh's garment industry now faces tremendous pressure over the implementation of the two accords and the ILO's better work programme following the Rana Plaza collapse, said BGMEA President Atiqul Islam.
“We seek the ILO's support in all these issues,” said Islam.