{"id":10368,"date":"2023-05-15T10:34:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T08:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=10368"},"modified":"2023-10-23T16:00:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T14:00:02","slug":"a-decade-of-the-accord","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/news\/a-decade-of-the-accord\/","title":{"rendered":"The International Accord: Ten years of making work safer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">Ten years ago, on 15 May 2013, UNI Global Union, IndustriALL Global Union and international fashion brands signed the Accord on Fire Building and Safety in Bangladesh (Bangladesh Accord), just three weeks after the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse. This landmark, binding agreement was born out of the urgent need to address the prevalence dangerous conditions in the textile and garment industry. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">Ten years on, it has made significant progress on worker safety. <\/span><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">The Accord has been called\u00a0 \u201cone of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/01\/world\/asia\/rana-plaza-bangladesh-garment-industry.html\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"0\">the most effective campaigns of the globalized era<\/a><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\"> to improve labour and safety conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>It has saved lives not only in the thousands of factories it covers but also in many others where the non-signatory brands made efforts to keep up. But more is to be done to help garment and textile workers secure their rights and win fair wages.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u201cThe Accord has saved an untold number of lives, and its success is further proof that workers\u2019 rights can be protected throughout supply chains in even difficult environments,\u201d said\u00a0<b>UNI General Secretary Christy Hoffman<\/b>. \u201cOn the ten-year anniversary of the Accord, we celebrate its accomplishments \u2013 millions of workers reached, hundreds-of-thousands-of-hazards fixed \u2013 and we call on more brands to step up. They have a responsibility to ensure human rights in their supply chains and expand the Accord to new factories and new countries.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SafetyAccord?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@safetyaccord<\/a> has saved lives and made work safer in the factories it covers.<br><br>On its 10th anniversary, UNI and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndustriALL_GU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@IndustriALL_GU<\/a> celebrate its achievements and call on more brands to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SignTheAccord?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SignTheAccord<\/a>!<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VdDaN71URe\">https:\/\/t.co\/VdDaN71URe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/onKLhbGtTp\">pic.twitter.com\/onKLhbGtTp<\/a><\/p>&mdash; UNI Global Union (@uniglobalunion) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/uniglobalunion\/status\/1658096479830183937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u00a0In 2018 the Transition Accord transferred the inspection functions in Bangladesh to the tri-partite Ready Made Garments Sustainability Council, (RSC), which includes brands, unions and factory-owners. In September 2021, the global unions negotiated for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/internationalaccord.org\/\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"1\">International Accord<\/a>, which replaces and expands Bangladesh Accord\u2019s commitments. The International Accord expanded into Pakistan in late 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">Over the past ten years,<\/span><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u00a0suppliers in Bangladesh have made significant safety improvements at their factories, with support from more than 220 brand signatories who have<\/span><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u00a0invested over US$70 million to finance the Accord programs and operations in Bangladesh.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">Since 2020,\u00a0 alone, there have been nearly 56,000 inspections across over 2,400 garment factories in Bangladesh. Out of the 170,000 health and safety issues identified during these inspections, 140,000 have been corrected through measures such as <\/span><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">installation of fire doors, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, fixing faulty electrical systems, and strengthening building structures. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">Recognizing worker participation is necessary for safe workplaces, more than 1,200 joint <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/internationalaccord.org\/workers\/safety-training\/\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"2\">labour-management safety committees<\/a><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u00a0at Accord-covered factories are now trained and equipped to address and monitor factory safety on a day-to-day basis. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"x_x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\">\u201cSince the Accord&#8217;s inception, its signatories and partners have contributed to the continuous and sustained remediation of health and safety risks at garment and textile factories in Bangladesh. Recognizing that more remains to be done and against the backdrop of increasing human rights due diligence legislation, we look forward to a decade of greater collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to strengthen safety standards, support capacity building, and foster an environment of accountability and transparency in the textile and garment industry,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"x_x_contentpasted0\"><b>Joris Oldenziel, Executive Director, International Accord.<\/b><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years ago, UNI Global Union, IndustriALL and international fashion brands signed the Accord on Fire Building and Safety in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2719,"template":"","categories":[41],"global-issues":[33],"sectors":[11],"cross-sector-groups":[],"workers-rights":[88],"regions":[85],"topics":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9 - 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