The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which is an independent agreement designed to make all garment factories in Bangladesh safe workplaces, signed on 15 May 2013 and supposed to end on 31 May, got a three-month extension after the parties involved — the unions, brands and retailers — in a last-minute move, reached a tentative deal to extend it by three months.
This is as per media reports.
Responding to the development, President of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, Kalpona Akter, in a WhatsApp message to a newspaper, reportedly, maintained that the three months’ extension was just a respite as it maintains the status quo and went on to add that the issue was just postponed and not solved while on the other hand President of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, Babul Akter, on his part, reportedly, underlined that without a legally binding agreement, no factory was safe.
It may be mentioned here the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was signed in 2013 in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza accident that killed at least 1,100 people.