Leading global fashion brands and trade unions agreed today continue a safety program involving thousands of garment factories in Bangladesh for another three years.
Two Switzerland-based global trade unions IndustriALL Global Union and UNIGlobal Union and brand representatives announced the agreement in Paris.
The current five-year campaign for fire and building safety expires next May and involves only European brands. Another group of North American brands is working separately to improve safety conditions in Bangladesh.
Following the collapse in 2013 of Rana Plaza, a complex housing five garment factories, global clothing companies joined the Bangladesh government in promising to improve safety standards.
The collapse, which killed more than 1,130 workers and injured 2,500 others, highlighted grim conditions in the country's garment industry, the second largest in the world with about 4,000 factories employing about 4 million workers and earning $25 billion a year from exports, mainly to the United States and Europe. Low wages in the South Asian country have attracted global apparel brands and retailers.
Since then, representatives from North American and European brands have visited the country's garment factories to suggest improvements or sever ties with factories that failed to improve.
The Bangladesh government has also hired more than 350 new factory inspectors and passed legislation setting up a workers' welfare fund and allowing stronger union representation.
As of Thursday morning, 23 companies had signed the new agreement, said Christy Hoffman, deputy general secretary of UNIGlobal Union, which represents workers in the retail sector. But a large majority of the previous signers 217 brands are expected to be part of the new deal, which will include more worker training, she said.
The initial agreement covered about 2.5 million workers, Hoffman said.
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