After the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, workers of other textile factories have taken to the streets in protest against their working conditions and low incomes.
Bangladesh has the largest textile industry in the world, supplying its products to leading retailers like Zara, Primark, H and M, C and A and Intidex. However, the income earned by workers at these factories is 38 dollars a month, one of the lowest in the world.According to the BBC, factories in Bangladesh are in a poor state with walls developing cracks and floors unequipped to bear the weight of heavy machineries.
As a result of the protest by workers on issues of safety, the owners have shut their factories. The government on the other hand amended the 2006 Labour Act by allowing the workers to form Trade Labour Unions without prior permission by the factory owners.
Major western retailers like Zara, H and M, Inditex, C and A and UK's Primark store will come together to back the agreement on fire and building safety by the International Labour Organization.
The agreement would require the companies to conduct routine site inspections for fire and safety standards, pay for repairs and stop business when any factory refuses to make safety improvements.
US firm Gap Inc. declined to sign the accord with conditions of changes made to the rules on how the disputes would be solved.
