CM directs labour dept to sign MoU for garment workers’ safety

Sindh caretaker chief minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar directed on Thursday the labour department to sign a memorandum of understanding with the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry.

A delegation from the International Accord, which is a legally binding agreement between garment brands and trade unions to make workplaces safer across the world, called on the CM at his office, discussing rectification of safety hazards in the garment and textile industry in the province.

The Accord was represented by its fire and safety expert Brad Loewen, fire and safety engineer Danielle Antonellis and Pakistan consultant Zulfiqar Shah. Provincial secretary for industries Rasheed Solangi and secretary for labour Shariq Ahmed assisted the CM.

The meeting was told that the Accord had been successfully implemented in Bangladesh since 2013, after the Rana Plaza incident in which over 1,100 workers were killed and thousands more injured as a multi-storey garment factories complex collapsed in Dhaka.

“Bangladesh now boasts one of the safest and most transparent ready-made garment industries in the world,” the delegation said, adding that over 2,000 factories have been inspected, 120,000 safety hazards have been rectified, more than two million workers have received training on workplace safety and have access to an independent safety complaints mechanism.

They said these improvements had made Bangladesh an attractive spot for international clothing brands to outsource work, contributing to the country’s exports and improving its image as a sustainable destination for garment production.

They said that following its success in Bangladesh, the Accord has been extended to Pakistan from this year, with 79 international garment brands endorsing it and sharing a list of 470 local factories that produced clothes for them. “The Pakistan Accord is estimated to cover 700,000 workers in the country,” they added.

The CM said he was working to create an environment where labourers could work under safety precautions. He commented that the Baldia factory fire was a haunting example of industrial disasters and incidents like this must be prevented. He directed the provincial labour department to sign an MoU with the International Accord to provide the garment industry workers with safety and security from occupational hazards.