Mango joins Bangladesh safety agreement – Gap and Asda refusing to sign

With less than 24 hours left before the deadline Mango, one of the major UK high street brands sourcing from the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh where over 1,000 people were killed, has joined other major retailers in signing the Bangladesh Safety Accord. Despite many major companies including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Next signing up, Gap and Asda Wal-Mart are both refusing to sign and are attempting to undermine this vital initiative.

The Bangladesh Safety Accord is a landmark project, bringing together brands, supplier factories, trade unions and NGOs to end the appallingly unsafe factory conditions and ensure decent working conditions. The heart of the agreement is the commitment by companies to pay for the renovations and repairs necessary to make factory building in Bangladesh safe.  This agreement will save lives.

Crucially the Bangladesh Safety Accord differs from company codes of conducts and other voluntary initiatives in that the agreement is transparent, enforceable, legally binding and ensures meaningful representation of workers and trade unions. Crucially the agreement forces brands to accept responsibility for the safety of the workers who make their clothes.

Amirul Haque Amin, President of the National Garment Workers Federation in Bangladesh said:

“The National Garment Workers' Federation welcomes the fact that some brands have finally signed the Building and Fire Safety Agreement but at the same time continues demanding that every brand doing business in Bangladesh sign the agreement immediately.”

Mango is the latest of the brands that has signed the agreement under intense pressure, after more than 80,000 people signed War on Want's petition calling on them to join the agreement and pay compensation to the victims of the recent disaster.

Gap has said that it will sign the agreement, but only if the requirement for it to be enforced through the courts is removed. This ‘single change' as Gap calls it would undermine the entire agreement, which is based on the need for any agreement to be enforceable and legally binding for it to be effective.

Asda's parent company Wal-Mart has announced that it is refusing to sign the agreement, and will instead conduct it's own factory inspections in Bangladesh. It was these same voluntary and corporate led initiatives that have shown to have failed so badly in the Rana Plaza disaster, a completely avoidable tragedy which these corporate led initiatives failed to prevent. Wal-Mart has also said that it will not pay for any safety improvements to its supplier factories.

Murray Worthy, campaigner at War on Want said:

“All major brands and high street retailers that care about the safety of the workers who make their clothes must sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord. These companies have less than 24 hours to meet the deadline to join the agreement and engage in this ground-breaking initiative that will save workers' lives

“Attempts by companies like Gap and Asda Wal-Mart to either try and gut the agreement or propose their own voluntary models of inspection, the same voluntary models that failed so badly and have led to the deaths of over 1,000 people, are appalling. These companies must stop trying to wreck this landmark deal and join this vital effort to ensure disasters like the recent building collapse never happen again.”

Asda Wal-Mart are one of the biggest buyers in Bangladesh, yet they are still refusing to sign the agreement. If we can put enough pressure on Asda in the UK, this could force Wal-Mart to sign the deal. Tell Asda to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord now on Facebook and Twitter.

Gap's attempts to gut the Accord risks undermining the whole Accord. Tell Gap to stop trying to wreck it and sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord now on Facebook and Twitter.

The companies that have signed the agreement so far are:

• Tchibo (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger)
• H&M
• Inditex (owner of Zara)
• Primark
• Tesco
• Marks & Spencer  
• Mango
• G-Star
• Helly Hansen
• New Look
• Mothercare
• Sainsbury's
• Next  
• Aldi
• Benetton
• C&A
• PVH
• El Corte Inglés
• Carrefour
• KiK
• Loblaws
• N Brown Group
• Stockmann

UPDATE – Bonmarché have now signed the agreement. Bonmarché are now the fourth UK high street company that sourced clothes from the factories in the Rana Plaza building that collapsed killing over 1,000 people to sign the agreement. Over 85,000 people have signed War on Want's petition calling on Bonmarché to sign the agreement.

John Lewis has also announced it will be signing the agreement.