The New York Assembly passed the Retail Worker Safety Act last night, as retailer workers across the state face increasing violence and harassment in the workplace. The Act, a proposal for a workplace safety bill backed by retail unions in New York state, including Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), seeks to mandate retail...
Jun 4, 2024
Different day, same story: A fire breaks out in a garment factory, exits are shut and workers die because they cannot get out. This time, Nandan Denim was affected, in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The fire broke out last Saturday evening, killing seven workers as the sole exit was reachable only via a...
Feb 17, 2020
A deadly fire at an Anaj Mandi area factory in north Delhi killed 43 people in the early morning hours on Sunday; 16 to 20 people were injured. The story sounds only too familiar: The building in a residential area of Delhi was illegally operated as a factory that made various products, including garments. About 70 factory workers - mainly...
Dec 10, 2019
While the garment industry worldwide is by now well aware of what transpired on 24th April 2013 when the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,134 workers in the five garment factories it housed and injuring 2,500, few are aware of Pakistan’s worst industrial disaster that occurred just a few months before: On 11th September...
Sep 17, 2019
The president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has said that only 200 out of 1,500 garment factories in the country have met safety requirements for workers set out by an international accord, Reuters reports. According to the news organisation, Rubana Huq accused members of the accord on Sunday of...
Aug 5, 2019
The Bangladesh Alliance for Worker Safety (Alliance) announced in a press release yesterday that it will transition its 24/7 worker helpline Amader Kotha (“Our Voice”) this month together with other initiatives to an independent safety monitoring organisation (SMO) managed in partnership with credible, local partners. This is good news for...
Jul 23, 2018
For the fifth time, people around the world will commemorate the anniversary of the worst industrial disaster, the most devasting blow to the garment sector - Rana Plaza. On April 23, 2013 the Rana Plaza building in Savar, close to Dhaka in Bangladesh, collapsed. The building housed five garment factories and the accident took the lives of 1,138...
Apr 24, 2018
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) whose five-year-term draws to a close at the end of the year, has decided to look for a way to carry forward its inspections, safety monitoring, training and helpline services. This was announced by the Alliance in a note released today. The board of directors of the currently 29 brands strong...
Apr 11, 2018
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which currently covers 785 factories and close to 1.4 million workers, has realeased its fourth annual report today, announcing substantial factory safety improvements and the expansion of its worker training and empowerment initiatives within the past year. According to the Alliance, the data confirm...
Nov 15, 2017
To guarantee that efforts are sustained beyond May 2018, the time when the five-year duration of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety will run out, a new Bangladesh Accord has been announced yesterday at the OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris. “The renewal of the Bangladesh Accord ensures the continuation of...
Jun 30, 2017
For the fourth time, people around the world will commemorate the anniversary of the worst industrial disaster, the worst blow to the garment industry. On April 24, 2013 the Rana Plaza building in Savar, close to Dhaka in Bangladesh, collapsed. It housed five garment factories and cost the lives of 1,134 of their workers; more than 2,500 were...
Apr 24, 2017
With the four-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster approaching in less than a week, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) reported at a press conference last week that 72 percent of repairs have been finished and that 71 factories have completed their Corrective Action Plans (CAPs). “72 percent of all required repairs...
Apr 18, 2017
