Global unions and international fashion brands agreed a three-month extension of the 2018 Transition Accord to allow negotiations over a legally binding workers' safety accord in Bangladesh.
"Ahead of the expiration of the 2018 Bangladesh Transition Accord next week, UNI Global Union, IndustriALL Global Union, and a negotiating committee representing leading fashion brands are pleased to announce that they have reached a tentative agreement to extend the current commitments of the 2018 Accord for three months as negotiations continue," said a statement.
"This interim agreement must still be signed by the individual brands," it noted.
IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union are the labour signatories of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (The Accord) that formed for five years immediately after the Rana Plaza building collapse. More than 200 global apparel brands, mostly from European Union, joined the initiative.
The Accord closed its Dhaka Office in May last year while the 2018 Transition Accord, the extended version of the Accord agreed by the global unions and brands, ended on May 31 this year.
RMG Sustainability Council, governed by an equal number of representatives from brands, manufacturers and trade unions, set up to carry forward the achievements made by the Accord on workplace safety in Bangladesh.
Terming the extension a 'very important commitment', IndustriALL General Secretary Valter Sanches said in the statement that the Accord hasplayed an outstanding role in preventing fatal accidents since its creation in 2013, and the work must continue.
"It demonstrates that we will not allow the safety and health of the Bangladeshi garment workers to be jeopardised while we continue negotiating a successor agreement with the brands, preserving the achievements in Bangladesh and also expanding them to other countries."
The Accord signatories unions earlier on May 12 announced that they would cease their participation from the RMG Sustainability Council in Bangladesh on June1 if a binding agreement is not reached.
In recent months, global apparel brands have insisted upon a new framework for the future which discards the key elements that have led to the Accord's success in making garment factories in Bangladesh safe for workers, for example, individual brand accountability and independent monitoring of brands.
When asked, Md Shahidullah Azim, a vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, according to one of the conditions of the Sustainability Compact, the Accord would expire once a local authority is set up.
RMG Sustainability Council was set up to take over the Accord's activities in Bangladesh, he said.
However, some unions were creating obstacles towards the functioning of RSC for their 'own interests', he alleged.
The BGMEA vice president said that only eight out of 200 brands agreed to the extension, while all brands must agree on it individually.
Only two brands, Asos,a UK retailer, and Tchibo, a German retailer, have so far committed publicly to sign an extension of the legally binding agreement, according to industry people.
Munni_fe@yahoo.com