Walmart and Gap refuse to sign broad safety agreement in Bangledesh

[Maraya1969]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/15/2013441/walmart-gap-bangladesh/?mobile=nc

After six major European retailers announced on Monday and Tuesday that they would sign onto a broad safety upgrade agreement in Bangladesh, American companies Walmart and Gap announced that they would not sign on. Gap has been the most outspoken about its opposition, reports the New York Times:

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Walmart cited “requirements, including governance and dispute resolution mechanisms” in the agreement as its reason not to sign on, saying they are “appropriately left to retailers, suppliers and government, and are unnecessary to achieve fire and safety goals.”

The company plans to instead use its own safety plan. It began its own factory inspections of 279 Bangladesh facilities this year after the fire in November that killed 110 and it will release the names and inspection information as well as provide fire safety training for every worker in the factories that produce its goods. The inspection results will be posted on June 1.

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The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity has provided The New York Times with photos of several documents not disputed by Wal-Mart that were recovered in the building’s rubble, showing that a Wal-Mart contractor from Canada had produced jeans last year at the Ether Tex factory, which had been situated on the fifth floor of the collapsed Rana Plaza building.

And here is the criticism of Walmart's grand plan, I mean scheme.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/walmart-bangladesh-factory_n_3275756.html

Walmart's Bangladesh Factory Safety Plan Draws Skepticism From Worker Advocates

Walmart announced Tuesday that it plans to develop its own safety program to address dangerous working conditions in factories in Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment factory complex last month took the lives of more than 1,100 people.

But labor advocates reacted skeptically, noting that Walmart’s announcement came only after at least seven major retail brands agreed to join forces and sign a safety accord hailed by supporters as industry-changing. That plan is legally binding, with sanctions facing factories that fail to live up to its standards, but Walmart now appears unlikely to participate.

By contrast, what Walmart announced on Tuesday is a voluntary program that amounts to no more than an aspirational statement, labor advocates said. They portrayed the announcement as a crafty public relations device: Noting that the deadline to sign the stricter industry-wide accord lands on Wednesday, they took Walmart’s statement as a sign the company will not go along with that agreement, while still finding a way to take credit for bold action.

"It's not surprising, and the timing is fishy," said Brian Finnegan, global worker rights coordinator at the AFL-CIO, the labor federation. "The whole point of what we're doing is to make it binding and enforceable."

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The companies that did sign

After H&M, the largest purchaser of garments in Bangladesh, announced on Monday that it would sign a fire and safety upgrade plan in the country, four other retailers have similarly signed on: Spanish retailer Inditex, owner of Zara, Dutch retailer C&A, and British retailers Primark and Tesco. Europe accounts for 60 percent of the country’s clothing exports. American company PVH, which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Izod, also signed onto the deal, a more expansive version of one it had already signed, and pledged to contribute $2.5 million to underwrite factory safety improvements.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/14/2006501/six-major-retailers-sign-factory-safety-upgrade-plan-in-bangladesh/

[OldEurope]

1. Useless anyway.

I'm afraid the European companies that signed will just go forward to another country. The plan is for Bangla Desh only, so they will move to Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Also there is still no sign of fair paying or the possibility of Unions or compensation of overtime. It is a mere fig leave to keep the customers quiet.