Loblaw sends monitors to Bangladesh factories
In wake of deadly collapse, retailers move to improve safety of garment workers
As the death toll in Bangladesh’s biggest industrial disaster continues to rise, apparel retailers around the world are tak- ing steps toward improving worker safety in the struggling nation.
The collapse of the eight-storey building in Savar, which left more than 400 dead, shone light on the overseas operations of the fast-fashion industry, where impoverished garment workers went to work in a building with cracked walls that had been ordered evacuated.
Here in Canada, Galen Weston, executive chairman of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., said Thursday that his company will send Canadian employees to monitor factories in Bangladesh where Joe Fresh clothing is made.
In addition, a team of senior company officials, including supply chain experts, will travel there next week to discuss safety with Bangladeshi officials and unions.
Loblaw has also set up a fund for victims and their families.
Weston said a new standard has been established at Loblaw in the wake of the tragedy — all products under their brand control must be made in facilities that respect local construction and building codes.
Joe Fresh clothing is made at 47 factories in Bangladesh.
The factories are currently routinely inspected by Bureau Veritas and Intertek, global experts in testing and inspection. Weston said that although he had personally seen the reports, testing for underlying structural problems was not part of the inspection routine.
“We must do a much better job of insuring the safety of workers,” said Joe Mimran, creative director of Joe Fresh and one of Canada’s leading retailers.
“Properly inspected, well-built, well-run factories play an important role in the development of countries like Bangladesh. The apparel industry is at the forefront of every developing country. I believe we can do more good and drive lasting change by staying in Bangladesh,” Mimran said Thursday.
WalMart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. were among retailers who sent representatives to a meeting near Frankfurt on Monday to discuss working together to improve worker safety in Bangladesh.
J.C. Penney will “take an active part in the dialogue that aims to come up with a comprehensive approach — that includes multiple stakeholders — to solving the factory safety issues in Bangladesh,” Daphne Avila, a spokeswoman for J.C. Penney, said in an email.
Weston also called on other retailers to step forward and take responsibility and help drive change in the sector.
“As many as 30 international apparel brands were having goods manufactured in this building — yet only two have come forward and publicly commented,” said Weston, referring to his own company and to Primark, a division of Associated British Foods PLC, which is owned by another member of the Weston family.
Walt Disney Co. told suppliers in March that it will no longer let its branded merchandise be made in Bangladesh and will restrict production to a list of permitted countries, according to a letter the company released on Thursday.
“These are complicated global issues and there is no ‘one size fits’ solution,” Bob Chapek, president of Disney’s consumer products division, said in an emailed statement. “Disney is a publicly held company accountable to its shareholders and after much thought and discussion we felt this was the most responsible way to manage the challenges associated with our supply chain.”
A spokesperson for World Vision praised the steps taken so far by Loblaw.
“It really could be a game-changing moment,” said Cheryl Hotchkiss, the senior manager of our End Child Slavery Campaign.
Kevin Thomas, of the Maquila Sol- idarity Network, said he hopes Loblaw will accept that a lot of the groundwork for reform has already been done by human rights groups and labour unions. “We’re at the point where we need commitments. We don’t need more study, more audits.” In addition to the 433 confirmed dead, police report that 149 people are still missing in what has become the worst disaster for Bangladesh’s $20-billion-a-year garment industry. A mass Muslim funeral was held Wednesday for 34 victims whose bodies were too battered or decomposed to be identified. Cemetery workers have dug long rows of graves where scores more unidentified bodies are expected to be buried in the coming days. Five garment factories occupied upper floors of the eight-story Rana Plaza building that collapsed April 24, a day after huge cracks appeared in the building and police ordered an evacuation. The owner of the building is accused of telling tenants it was safe despite the order. The disaster was at least the third reported industrial accident in the South Asian nation since November, when 112 people died in a fire at a workshop that was producing clothes for companies including WalMart Stores. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer wasn’t involved in production at the affected factories in Savar, 24 kilometres northwest of Dhaka. Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Building owner Mohammed Sohel Rana is under arrest and expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing people into work, which are punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. Authorities have not said if more serious charges will be added. Canadian labour unions, including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Canadian Auto Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, have signed an open letter to Weston, asking him to take immediate action. The unions are urging Loblaw to disclose all factory audit reports for its Bangladeshi supplier factories.