Alliance Consortium is giving passing grades to Bangladeshi factories in spite of some deficiencies in compliances, according to a new report published on Monday.
The Guardian wrote that Alliance, an organisation backed by global retailers, has pushed back deadlines to implement fire exits, alarms and structural renovations more than three years after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse that claimed 1,137 lives.
The London-based newspaper made the observations reviewing the first independent systematic survey of the Bangladeshi garment factories used by the Alliance after the Rana Plaza tragedy which triggered a global consumer backlash against major retailers.
The authors of the survey conclude that the factories that provide clothes to some of the biggest names in retail have so far failed to implement key renovations by their own mandated deadlines, according to the Guardian.
The report observed that 62 per cent factories still lack viable fire exits, 62 per cent do not have a properly functioning fire alarm system and 47 per cent have major, uncorrected structural problems.
The report, as The Guardian said, concludes that in some cases, once firm deadlines for repairs and improvements set for 2014 and 2015 were scrapped to be replaced with a 2018 deadline that coincides with the end of the Alliance arrangement.
The newspaper mentioned that the Alliance disputed the report’s findings, saying it relied on inaccurate and outdated information.
James Moriarty, country director for the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, was quoted to have said he was “totally confident” that the factories would meet retailers’ standards by 2018, when the agreement ends.
In the wake of the Rana Plaza tragedy, retailers formed two groups to address safety issues in Bangladesh. The first one was Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which is led by H&M and backed by Adidas, Benetton, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and others.
The other major initiative Alliance which is backed by retailers such as Gap, Target and Walmart.
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. It identified 175 factories which supply both Accord and Alliance’s signatories, said The Guaraian.
Source: Prothom Alo
