Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Different global labour rights groups have called upon major retailers and brands to join the labour-supported Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement in order to prevent future tragedies.
The call came following Saturday’s fire incident at Smart Export Garments Limited in Bangladesh that killed at least seven female workers and left several others injured, according to a joint statement of labour rights organizations.
The labour rights groups are the US-based workers rights advocacy organisation International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF), another US-based labour rights monitoring organisation Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and an alliance of organisations in 15 European countries working to support empowerment of workers Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).
The factory fire is the latest in a pattern of deadly fires that labour rights advocates say could have been prevented with appropriate measures, the statement added.
“So far, no brand or retailer has stepped forward to acknowledge a relationship with Smart Export Garments. The factory reportedly had 350 to 400 workers and was likely producing goods for US and European brands and retailers,” it noted.
The disaster at Smart Export Garments comes just two months after the Tazreen Fashions fire in which more than 111 workers were killed. 
“None of the retailers that produced at Tazreen, which included Walmart, Sears and C&A, have paid any compensation to the injured workers and families of the dead,” the statement said, adding that there have also been 18 other non-fatal apparel factory fires in Bangladesh since November.
The ILRF, WRC and CCC jointly said that the companies that used the factory should immediately take responsibility and commit to aid the victims.
The labor rights groups have for years been calling on these and other US brands and retailers to finance the major renovations and repairs needed to make Bangladesh’s apparel factories safe. 
Two companies, PVH (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) and the German retailer Tchibo, have signed the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement, which provides for such financing, bans production at any factory that refuses to make needed safety repairs, and requires public disclosure of the results of all factory inspections. 
While Walmart and other companies say they are taking action to protect workers, labor groups challenge the validity of those claims, pointing out that the companies have made no enforceable commitments, refuse to pay for factory renovations, and won’t make the names of their factories in Bangladesh and the results of their safety audits public.
According to ILRF’s new report –Deadly Secrets –which examines how corporate-controlled monitoring has failed to protect workers’ lives, since 1990, over 1000 people have been killed in garment factories in Bangladesh.
“After more than two decades of the apparel industry knowing about the risks to these workers, nothing substantial has changed: brands still keep their audit results secret; they still walk away when it suits them; and trade unions are still marginalised, weakening workers’ ability to speak up when they are at risk,” Judy Gearhart, Executive Director of ILRF said.
Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, said: “The recurring fires give us a clear picture that the initiative by the government and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to curb the death toll is too little and too late. The government, BGMEA and western retailers need to act rapidly to stop the killings and to ensure a safe workplace for our workers.”
Asked Scott Nova, Executive Director of the Worker Rights Consortium, “How many more workers have to die before the Walmart, Gap, H&M and the other big retailers finally commit to pay for the reforms that are needed to make the industry in Bangladesh safe?”
“All the key buyers in Bangladesh have been involved in deadly fires in the past years; however they refuse to make the systemic changes necessary to their sourcing and monitoring practices to ensure that buildings are upgraded and workers can freely speak out and report safety violations. Instead, they go for cosmetic changes that merely scratch the surface,” Ineke Zeldenrust of the CCC said.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-27Jan13-12:37 pm (BST)