Even as the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety confirmed its exit from Bangladesh by the year end, its 24/7 worker helpline (Amader Kotha) meant for the workers in the country’s readymade garment sector and set up in 2014, is going to become independent.
“Amader Kotha has empowered hundreds of thousands of garment workers to report issues of concern anonymously and without fear of retribution. We are incredibly proud to leave the Helpline as a legacy, and that this important resource will continue, and grow, under the leadership of the Helpline Project Partners,” reportedly observed Executive Director of the Alliance Jim Moriarty in Dhaka recently.
The helpline allows workers to report and resolve issues ranging from emergencies and urgent safety concerns to workplace abuse and wage compensation disputes.
It may be mentioned here that after Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed’s recent claims that Accord and Alliance would leave the country by December this year, the Executive Director of Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety Jim Moriarty on Sunday reportedly maintained that the buyer’s body would wind up Bangladesh operations by December.
“The Alliance will not be here after January 1 next year,” Jim Moriarty reportedly said at a news briefing on Sunday, adding that their work will be completed before that.
“We are not asking for an extension,” he further reportedly underlined. It may be mentioned here that the global buyers’ bodies — Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety – were formed in the wake of aftermath of the tragic Rana Plaza incident, to carry out inspection and remediation of the apparel manufacturing units in the Bangladesh readymade garment sector.
Following the Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013, which claimed lives of more than 1,100 people, North American brands and retailers formed Alliance while retailers from Europe formed Accord.
