The nation's government — known for lax building code enforcement — has suddenly grown tougher, closing 18 factories for safety violations.
Tahmina Rahman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said the government needs to do more to punish factories for safety lapses.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh announced the shut-down of 18 garment factories for safety reasons, amid growing concerns over the issue of industrial safety across the country.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bangladesh announced a shut down of 18 garment factories for safety reasons, amid growing concerns over the issue of industrial safety across the country.
On Wednesday the Bangladesh government said it had shut down 18 garment factories for safety reasons following the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories making clothes for Western brands.
But in the same interview with the BBC's Bengali service, Mr Khondker admitted no action had ever been taken against a factory for violation of safety rules, inadequate fire safety or, indeed, against landlords for violation of building codes.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has pledged forty-two million dollars for an initial worker-safety fund, and another hundred million in low-cost capital available to factories for funding safety improvements.
"If you have to find $10m for factory safety and put aside another $10m for lawyers, you will really start to suck the energy out of this," says Jay Jorgensen, a Walmart executive.This is debatable, especially given recent court rulings that seem to have watered down the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that might have put the retailers at risk.
Soon after, Mr. Raina, the labor leader, convened a meeting in Geneva with representatives of the world's largest brands — including H&M, Inditex, Gap, Wal-Mart, Marks & Spencer and Tesco — to push them toward a joint solution for factory safety in Bangladesh.
Eight Democratic senators — including Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader; Sherrod Brown of Ohio; and Tom Harkin of Iowa — sent a letter to Wal-Mart, Kohls, Gap, the Children's Place, J. C. Penney and several other top retailers, urging them to join the international plan for factory safety in Bangladesh.
In three years Holliday has created a $100 million consulting business from scratch by cashing in on DuPont's reputation for factory safety; its rate of injuries and illnesses per hour worked is one-fifth that of typical manufacturers.
