Accord gets 281-day extension to work in Bangladesh

The top court has extended the work of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh by 281 working days.

The decision came on Sunday after Bangladesh’s garment makers and European retailers reached an agreement.

The Accord was signed in the immediate aftermath to the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013, which killed 1,133 workers and critically injured thousands more.

Over 220 companies signed the five-year Accord, and by May 2018, the work of the Accord had contributed to significantly safer workplaces for millions of Bangladeshi garment workers.

Fashion brands and trade unions in 2017 signed a new agreement which was scheduled to go into effect after the expiry of the Accord last year.

The High Court had halted the new accord following a writ petition filed by a leader of an organisation of garment workers and employees.

An Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on Sunday reviewed the High Court order following an appeal filed by the Accord.

The Accord will now be able to continue its operations in transition in Bangladesh for 281 working days from May 8 this year following the signing of a memorandum of understanding or MoU between the Accord and garment entrepreneurs’ lobby BGMEA.

The accord expanded worker protections, aiming to ensure that factories give severance pay to employees when they shut or relocate for safety reasons.

The new agreement put greater emphasis on the right of workers to organise and join a union, linking worker empowerment to workplace safety for the first time.

The BGMEA said in a statement after the Supreme Court order that the association had planned the establishment of a “RMG Sustainability Council or RSC, given the importance of a full and independent national compliance monitoring system in Bangladesh”.

The RSC will be governed by the BGMEA or BKMEA, brands, and workers’ representatives, according to the statement.

It will take over the structure, operation and resources of Accord as it phases out from Bangladesh in the 281 days of signing of the MOU, it said.

The RSC is envisaged to take over all safety related matters in the RMG industry within the legal framework of the government, the BGMEA added.

The BGMEA also said that it will immediately establish an operating unit within the Accord’s Dhaka office named ‘BGMEA Unit’ during the transition period to ensure a smoother transition.

Referring to the MoU, the BGMEA said it agreed that there will be no termination or escalation of any factory from Accord’s end without the agreement of the BGMEA Unit.

Accord also agreed that there will be no group termination in case of the failure of one factory, the BGMEA said.

There will be no duplication of inspection between the safety initiatives - RCC, Accord and Nirapon, which means factories once inspected by any inspecting authority will be considered as common standard, it added.

In case of any dispute between the ‘BGMEA Unit’ and Accord, the matter will be referred to RCC for final settlement, according to the statement.

The parties also agreed to work on developing modalities for listing new factories within the safety regimes, it said.

“This MoU marks a departure from the past unilateral framework and establishes the route to self monitoring.

As a gesture of goodwill of the board and Accord, this MoU represents the true spirit of collaboration in the transition.”