International Health and Safety Accord

Agreement reached to release imprisoned Bangladeshi union leaders, but crisis not fully resolved

Photo: IndustriALL

On February 23, Bangladeshi unions affiliated with IndustriALL Bangladesh Council reached an agreement with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Ministry of Labour for the release on bail of the remaining union leaders still imprisoned for their alleged association with a wage strike in December 2016.

Pressure mounts for end to anti-union repression in Bangladesh

The Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labor Rights Forum announced today that because of continuing anti-union repression in Bangladesh, five major apparel brands – H&M, Inditex (Zara), C&A, NEXT and Tchibo – and the UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative have pulled out of the February 25 Dhaka Apparel Summit, which will be hosted by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Brands must intervene to win release of imprisoned labour leaders in Bangladesh

Twenty-two human and labour rights organizations from around the world are calling on international apparel brands to press for the release of unjustly imprisoned Bangladeshi union leaders and worker rights advocates and the reinstatement of 1,500 workers suspended or terminated for taking part in a wage strike.

Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety overstates progress; workers’ lives at risk

More than three and a half years after 1,134 workers died in the Rana Plaza building collapse, major apparel brands and retailers that are members of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, including Walmart, Gap, Target, VF Corporation, and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company, are way behind in ensuring that their Bangladesh supplier factories are safe, says a new report from four labour rights organizations.

Three years after Rana Plaza: What has and hasn’t changed for Bangladeshi garment workers?

Photo: Pieter Van de Boogert

April 24, 2016 was the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, in which over 1,100 workers were killed and approximately 2,500 injured in the worst industrial disaster in the history of the garment industry.

Three years later, what has changed for the injured workers and the families of those who died, and for the young women and men who continue to work in the industry?

Compensation

Bangladeshi factories remain unsafe: H&M suppliers fail on deadlines to address safety hazards

As Swedish fashion giant H&M prepares to announce a predicted increase in their profits for 2015, labour rights groups are calling on the company to do more to protect garment workers in Bangladesh, after a review of H&M’s strategic suppliers shows that severe delays in carrying out urgent and vital building repairs continue to leave tens of thousands of workers at risk of death and injury.

Another Bangladesh factory fire reinforces desperate need to speed up safety repairs

Graphic: Clean Clothes Campaign

A fire at another Bangladesh factory producing clothes for H&M, JC Penney and other brands has reinforced serious concerns raised by MSN and other witness signatories to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety about long delays in required safety renovations at factories producing for US and European brands.

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