Matalan, Marks & Spencer, Asos and John Lewis are some of the first amongst the British fashion retailers to sign the new International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, which has so far been signed by more than 70 brands, maintained media reports.
It may be mentioned here that the International Accord (26-month legally-binding agreement), which replaces the now-expired Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, comes after months of negotiations between the retailers, global unions UNI and IndustriALL.
Earlier, a news report that appeared in The Guardian, had claimed that British brands including JD Sports, Primark and Next were yet to sign the same, which further added Primark, which paid millions of pounds in compensation to victims of Rana Plaza building collapse (where one of its suppliers was based), reportedly, stated that it intended to sign the same and was reviewing the legal documents even as it went on to add that some brands also held back because of union demands to extend the agreement into other countries beyond Bangladesh.
In the backdrop of deaths of more than 1,100 workers in the tragic Rana Plaza building collapse of 2013, parties concerned created the Accord with Bangladesh in the forefront while the initiative was signed by 228 brands even as Accord, reportedly, decided to wrap up their operations in Bangladesh in 2018 and, around two years ago, made a deal to hand over the responsibilities to the Readymade Garments Sustainability (RSC), which is at present monitoring workers’ safety issues in the Bangladesh RMG sector.
