Building on work underway for the past several months, a group of leading retailers and brands, including Wal-Mart, have joined together in New York to develop and implement a new programme to improve fire and safety regulations in the garment factories of Bangladesh.
The meeting was organised by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and co-chaired by former US Senate Majority Leader and BPC Co-Founder George J Mitchell and former US Senator and BPC Senior Fellow Olympia Snowe, BPC said in a statement on Friday.
This alliance includes representatives from retailers and brands, as well as participants from industry associations among them: American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), National Retail Federation (NRF), Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), and the Retail Council of Canada (RCC).
The meeting was the first of several working sessions to be held over the next month in New York and Washington, DC by the BPC.
The alliance of retailers and brands requested that the BPC convene these discussions and that Senators Mitchell and Snowe serve as independent facilitators.
The alliance is driving to develop a single, unified action plan and schedule for implementation that will achieve effective and long-lasting change for the garment industry and its workers in Bangladesh. The alliance intends to release this plan by early July.
“Since the recent tragedy, the retailers, brands, and trade associations have made considerable individual and collective progress developing new worker safety programmes,” said Jason Grumet, the president of BPC.
“Over the next several weeks, we look forward to building on the efforts of the Safer Factory Initiative (SFI) and seeking input from key stakeholders to forge an effective response.”
Bipartisan Policy Center
Founded in 2007 by former US Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell, BPC is a non-profit organisation that drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation and respectful dialogue.
With projects in multiple issue areas, BPC combines politically balanced policymaking with strong, proactive advocacy and outreach.
Source: The Daily Star
