DHAKA: A US government delegation will visit Bangladesh this weekend to press for a major overhaul of factory safety following the nation’s deadliest industrial accident, an official said yesterday.
The collapse of a nine-storey factory complex outside the capital last month killing 1,127 workers highlighted appalling safety conditions in Bangladesh’s 4,500 garment plants.
The delegation, led by the State Department’s Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, will arrive on Sunday on a two-day visit and meet officials. “They’ll talk about labour law reforms and what is the best way to proceed,” US Ambassador Dan Mozena said.
“They’ll talk about fire safety standards, a minimum standard for every factory. They’ll talk about minimum structural soundness standards.” If the proposals are accepted, “it will become the largest ‘better work’ programme in history”, he said. US firms are among the leading garment importers from impoverished Bangladesh.
The Rana Plaza building which housed five factories was found to have flouted building laws by constructing upper floors without required structural changes.
Mozena praised Dhaka’s moves to reform labour laws but said “there are some outstanding issues” to be addressed. The government has pledged to tighten safety inspections and make it easier for workers to form unions. It has also set up a panel to raise wages for the three million garment workers, whose basic $38 monthly pay prompted Pope Francis to compare it to that of “slave” labour.
The factory collapse followed three fires in quick succession in garment plants that claimed the lives of around 130 workers as they made clothing for leading Western retailers such as US giant Walmart.
AFP
