Eight workers just died in a fire at a Bangladeshi factory that supplied Walmart
and Gap.
How many more workers need to die before they
sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord
?
Sign the Petition
Breaking:
we’ve just learned that
a deadly factory fire broke out at another factory in Bangladesh
killing eight people and injuring another 50. It's just the latest in a string of
tragedies that have struck garment workers in Bangladesh
The records we’ve obtained so far show that
the factory supplied both Walmart and Gap.
The media is just starting to report on the latest tragedy. Let’s make sure that
as the news breaks, tens of thousands of consumers are putting the blame squarely
where it belongs -- on the shoulders of greedy companies like Gap and Walmart.
It shouldn't take more deaths to convince them to protect their workers by signing
the binding Accord of Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
Walmart and Gap -- don’t let more Bangladeshi workers die. Sign the Fire and Building Safety Accord now!
Since the Tazreen factory fire last November, we've joined with activists around
the world and pleaded for apparel brands to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord, which
could make tragedies like this a thing of the past. In the wake of the horrific Rana
Plaza factory collapse, which killed more than 1,000 workers, more than 90 companies
agreed to serious reforms, but
Walmart and Gap pushed a non-binding PR stunt of a safety plan. Bangladeshi workers
are still paying the price
with their lives.
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh
to sign was designed to prevent tragedies like this one.
Under the Accord, factories will undergo fire safety inspections, mandatory repairs
and renovations, and apparel brands will be required to help pay for any safety upgrades.
The Accord's inspections will be starting soon, and with hundreds of factories to
cover, it won’t fix everything overnight. In fact, several companies that have signed
sourced from the factory that burned down yesterday. This latest tragedy just underscores
why a new safety standard is so urgently needed, and the fact remains that
the Accord is the only credible plan to stop future disasters.
Incredibly, Walmart and Gap praised the Bangladeshi firm responsible for this disaster
as a “top supplier.”
It's just another reminder that we can't trust corporations with people's safety,
which is why the independent inspections and legally-binding commitments to safety
improvements that the Accord creates are so important. We can't rely on Gap and Walmart's
corporate-controlled "alliance for worker safety" to do much more than give corporations
an excuse to avoid getting serious about worker safety.
Not only have Walmart and Gap refused to sign a binding safety agreement, they have
also refused to compensate the victims of the factory disasters in which they've
been implicated. In recent years, over a thousand workers have lost their lives in
factory fires and collapses in Bangladesh
severely that they'll never work again. That means that thousands of families have
lost a primary breadwinner and are still struggling to survive.
Walmart and Gap have made billions off of Bangladeshi workers -- they have a responsibility
to make sure that their victims receive full and fair compensation
.
When Walmart, Gap, and their allies walked away from the Accord,
we knew more workers would die as a consequence
. We can’t let this go on any longer. Let’s make sure that Walmart, Gap, and the
media hears us loud and clear as this story breaks.
Tell Walmart and Gap to sign the Fire and Building Safety Accord now and to pay full compensation to all factory disaster victims.
Thanks for all you do,
Rob, Angus, Paul, Kaytee, and the team as SumOfUs.org
**********
More information:
, CBC, Oct. 8th, 2013.
www.sumofus.org/
SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations
accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
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