Example in Action: The International Accord Tackles Hazardous Work Risks in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Women and men sewing in garment factory with white tile floors
Photo Credit: Rio Lecatompessy_Unsplash

  • The International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry (International Accord), which took effect in September 2021, is a legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions IndustriALL and UNI Global Union. International Accord is governed by a steering committee of brand and union representatives. It evolved from the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, negotiated after the tragic Rana Plaza collapse and the Tazreen factory fire in 2013. This new iteration contains key elements of the original Bangladesh Accord including: independent, rigorous garment factory inspections based on building safety standards and conducted by qualified industrial engineers, the requirement that signatory global companies ensure their supplier factories remediate all safety hazards identified through Accord inspections, shared and equal governance by trade unions and brands, covered workers’ access to a credible safety and health complaints mechanism with protection from reprisal and the right to refuse dangerous work, and a functioning labor-management safety and health committee at each Accord covered factory. The International Accord aspires to be introduced to the textile and apparel sectors in countries beyond Bangladesh. Currently, 200 global apparel and retail companies have signed onto the International Accord, including many of the world’s largest apparel companies. 
  • With the signing of the Pakistan Textile and Apparel Health and Safety Accord (Pakistan Accord) in December of 2022, Pakistan became the second country with a legally binding agreement between global apparel companies and IndustriALL and UNI Global Union. 
  • The duration of the Pakistan Accord is for an initial term of three years starting in January 2023.  The Pakistan Accord intends to apply the provisions of the International Accord to signatory global companies’ supplier factories in Pakistan.  As of early May 2023, 54 brands have signed the Pakistan Accord.  The implementation of the Pakistan Accord is in its early stages. 
  • For more information, visit: https://internationalaccord.org/updates

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