The Bangladesh government has taken up the initiative to reassess over 80 garment factories operating in the country, with which Accord and Alliance had cut business ties.
The government has also notified that necessary action would be taken against factories found unsafe as indicated by the groups.
According to officials, Accord and Alliance have suspended their business links with a total of 83 local garment units in phases since 2014, after the initial inspection was completed.
So far Accord, a platform of more than 200 buyers, brands and trade unions from mostly the European Union, has terminated business with 23 factories, while Alliance, a grouping of 26 North American apparel companies, buyers and retailers, has suspended operations in more than 60 factories. Both the groups are conducting fire, electrical and structural integrity assessment in their listed factories.
Last month, Accord, severed ties with 10 more production units owing to its failure to implement workplace safety measures.
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However, according to Mahmud Hasan Khan, Vice-President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said there are some other reasons, besides remediation work, behind the termination or suspension of those units.
He added: “We will scrutinise the status of those units shortly, and take necessary measures in this regard.”
Requesting the Alliance not to make the names of these factories public, he said that there are many who are not doing the business, and also that, “It creates difficulties for factories to do business with its existing buyers and other buyers who are yet to join the groups.”
The groups have stringent requirements with time-bound Corrective Action Process (CAP), and if the factories fail to comply with the CAP, then the group issues a notice straightaway, eliciting that its business may get terminated if the supplier does not comply with the procedures.
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (or the the Accord) is a five-year independent, legally binding agreement between global brands and retailers and trade unions, designed to build a safe and healthy RMG industry in the country.
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (or simply The Alliance) is a group of 26 major global retailers formed to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking with the intent of improving safety in Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) factories after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse.
