On today’s tenth anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster, it’s important to commemorate the victims and take stock – what has improved in this time, where are the gaps? The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Safety in Buildings (Bangladesh Accord) and its extension, the International Agreement on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry (International Accord), are certainly major milestones, but they do not include related industries such as tanneries and factories for shoes and leather goods.
“The working conditions in this industry are miserable, the obligations of the agreement could help. Inkota calls for the Accord to be extended to tanneries, shoe and leather factories,” demands the development policy Inkota network.
“Piece work and no fixed contracts, unpaid overtime, unprotected exposure to toxic chemicals – workers in the leather and shoe industries work in terrible conditions. In contrast, the International Accord has significantly improved the lives of two million garment workers in Bangladesh. Factories are safer and workers can request safety improvements themselves through an effective and transparent grievance mechanism. It is a scandal that these advances have not yet arrived in the leather and shoe industry,” explains Berndt Hinzmann, business and human rights officer at Inkota, in a statement.
Although the International Accord was extended from Bangladesh to Pakistan earlier this year, adoption is still hesitant; only 45 companies have signed it, including Aldi, C&A, H&M, Inditex, Kik, Marks & Spencer, Otto Group, Primark, PVH and Zalando. Inkota complains that many members of the textile alliance are still missing and that the expansion of the International Accord does not extend to the leather and shoe supply chains of these companies.
“We welcome the fact that large German companies, the Otto Group and Zalando, have signed the Pakistan Accord and want to improve the workers in their supply chain. At the same time, this is an opportunity to lead by example and extend the agreement to the leather and footwear supply chain. Especially since both companies are aware of the gaps in human rights due diligence in this area, as an Inkota company survey shows,” adds Hinzmann.
Ten years is a representative period in which the benefits of a binding agreement such as the Accord are clearly demonstrated through the many improvements mentioned above. Armed in this way, it is now important to expand the International Accord as quickly as possible in the textile and clothing industry to include living wages, gender-based violence at work, environmental impact and more, but also vertically to related sectors such as the shoe and leather industry, including tanneries and other companies.