What do cut flowers and sweat socks have in common? On the surface, not a lot. However, if you follow the trail back to where they were made, they both come with a pretty heavy backstory the store clerk doesn’t often sell you on.
The story, whether we’re talking Joe Fresh socks or the mother’s day flowers slowly wilting in your mom’s vase (both featured in this week’s Ecoholic spread in NOW), is the one about the people getting shafted, ill and killed to make our stuff under atrocious working conditions with virtually no safety regulations safeguarding their health (or, for that matter, the health of the planet).
The good news is the media glare that’s accompanied over 1100 human beings crushed to death in a factory collapse in Bangladesh has pushed H&M and the owner of Zara to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with the Global Unions IndustriALL and UNI as well as Bangladeshi unions. Early signers include PVS, owners of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein brands.
(For the complete list as well as sponsors of IndustriALL, see their website.)
Now the Maquila Solidarity Network and hundreds of thousands from around the globe are calling on Joe Fresh’s big daddy Loblaw, as well as Gap (and its Old Navy/Banana Republic brands), Walmart and other North American retailers and brands to sign the accord by this Wednesday, May 15 to prevent further tragedies.
“In the wake of this horrible tragedy, it is now time for apparel companies to move beyond vague promises, business-as-usual self-regulatory schemes and hollow rhetoric, and to sign a binding safety agreement that can finally bring an end to the mounting death toll in Bangladesh,” says MSN executive director Lynda Yanz said in the org’s statement.
That pact, as outlined by MSN’s Kevin Thomas in NOW recently provides for independent audits and public disclosure of factories inspected and of those that fail to address problems. It also includes worker/management health and safety training and committees and the right of workers to file complaints and refuse unsafe work. As well, it obliges brands and retailers to cover the costs of renovations and to terminate business with any factory that refuses to make necessary safety upgrades.
The truth is, even if you choose never to buy Joe Fresh again – or Mango, Children’s Place, Benetton, Dress Barn or Walmart, which were also clients of the collapsed building – you may just be walking into a store whose labour rights record is still sitting like a poison mushroom in the dark.
So please, check your closet, pick your favourite brands sourcing from Bangladesh and take 30 seconds out of your day to honour the women and men quite literally dying to make our stuff by asking those brands to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh ASAP.
Post it on their Facebook page, tweet it, tell the store manager, email the company directly, and pass it on to friends. To get you started, head to Joe Fresh’s Facebook page. Loblaw rep Juilja Hunter tells NOW the company is currently reviewing the terms of the accord. Let’s give them incentive to do the right thing.
Update (5/14/2013 5:18pm): Loblaws has announced that it has signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. And with a whole day to spare!
