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116TH CONGRESS"
2d Session

COMMITTEE PRINT!

S. PRT.
116–17SEVEN YEARS AFTER RANA PLAZA,SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES REMAINA MINORITY STAFF REPORTPREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONSUNITED STATES SENATEONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESSSECOND SESSIONMARCH 5, 2020

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations

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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONSJAMES E. RISCH, Idaho, Chairman
MARCO RUBIO, Florida
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
CORY GARDNER, Colorado
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
TIM KAINE, Virginia
RAND PAUL, Kentucky
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
TODD YOUNG, Indiana
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
TED CRUZ, Texas
CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
DAVID PERDUE, Georgia
CHRISTOPHER M. SOCHA, Staff Director
JESSICA LEWIS, Democratic Staff Director
JOHN DUTTON, Chief Clerk(II)CONTENTS
Page

Letter of Transmittal ...............................................................................................
Executive Summary .................................................................................................
Introduction: Factories Are Now Safer, But Workers Are Not ............................
Chapter One: Abuse of Workers in Ready-Made Garment Factories ..................
Female Garment Workers Face Disproportionate Abuse ..............................
Culture of Impunity .........................................................................................
Chapter Two: Workers’ Rights Under Attack .......................................................
Government Response to Worker Protests .....................................................
Challenges to Union Registration ...................................................................
Chapter Three: Factory Safety Has Improved ......................................................
Government of Bangladesh’s 2013 Labor Commitments ..............................
Subcontracting ..................................................................................................
Chapter Four: The Key Actors Shaping Factory Safety and Labor Rights
in Bangladesh .......................................................................................................
The International Safety Initiatives: The Accord and the Alliance .............
The European-Led Accord’s Accomplishments ...............................................
The American-Led Alliance’s Accomplishments .............................................
The Successor to the American-Led Alliance, Nirapon .................................
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturing and Exporters Association(BGMEA) .......................................................................................................
The RMG Sustainability Council ....................................................................
Chapter Five: The United States and European Union Response to theTazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza Tragedies ....................................................
U.S. Response ...................................................................................................
U.S. Assistance for International Labor Rights .............................................
EU Sustainability Compact .............................................................................
The Brands’ Response to the Tazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza Tragedies .................................................................................................................
Brand Purchasing Practices ............................................................................
Consumers .........................................................................................................
Conclusion .........................................................................................................
Full List of Recommendations ................................................................................
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTALUNITED STATES SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS,
Washington, DC, March 5, 2020.
DEAR COLLEAGUES: On April 24, 2013, more than eleven hundred
garment workers lost their lives in the collapse of the Rana Plaza
building in Bangladesh, which housed factories supplying major
Western brands. The tragedy of Rana Plaza was the worst in astring of disasters, including a fire at Tazreen Fashions factory
which killed 112 people. Following these tragedies, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Democratic Staff produced a report at my direction which concluded that Bangladesh’s garment
workers could not have truly safe, healthy, and decent working
conditions unless they gained the ability to organize and defend
their rights. Nearly seven years have passed, during which twobrand-led international initiatives were mandated to inspect andremediate over 2,000 Ready-Made Garment factories in Bangladesh. The second of these initiatives will conclude in the coming
months, and a locally-led private safety monitoring entity will fully
assume these safety monitoring responsibilities. Bangladesh faces
a critical inflection point as these initiatives come to a close andthe government and local industry look to fill the void.
Given this changing landscape, I directed my SFRC Staff to assess the progress made in worker safety and labor rights since2013. Last year, my staff conducted a visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh,
where they met with Bangladeshi garment workers and union activists, leaders of the international safety monitoring initiatives,
government of Bangladesh officials, the International Labour Organization, civil society, and other stakeholders. They collected additional information through meetings in Brussels with European
Union labor officials, and in Washington D.C. with U.S. government officials, international labor rights advocates, retailer brandassociations, and the head of a Bangladesh-based private safety
monitoring organization.
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During the course of their research, they found that while many
Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment factories were structurally
safer, the workers inside are not. Workers face increased intimidation, threat, and violence in retaliation for their labor activism.
Worse, some workers are being subjected to physical abuse—especially women, who constitute the majority of Bangladesh’s ReadyMade Garment workforce. As I said in 2013, American consumers
will simply not accept clothes stained with the blood of those who
made them. I remain in awe of the courage and bravery shown by
these Bangladeshi garment workers. This report shines a light on
the ongoing plight of these workers in their fight to defend theirrights and gain better treatment.
Bangladesh’s continued growth of its garment sector is critical tosupporting the country’s economic development, including supporting women’s economic empowerment, both goals that theUnited States should enthusiastically support. However, unlessclear steps are taken, Bangladesh’s garment sector will struggle togrow amid a competitive fast-fashion market and growing global
consumer concern about the conditions under which their clothes
are made. Significant steps have been taken to improve safety insome of Bangladesh’s factories and the government has made some
progress through reforms to its labor law. This progress must be
built upon and I hope that the Bangladeshi government will takeseriously its responsibility to protect factory workers, not only fromunsafe buildings, but abusive management and repression of laborrights.
Labor unions across the world are increasingly under attack forexercising their rights to organize. The Trump administration has
consistently sought deep decreases in funding for international
labor rights programs, but to date, Congress has thankfully rejected these cuts. The United States must lead in advancing laborrights, at home and abroad, and call on foreign governments to respect the internationally-recognized rights to associate, organize,
and collectively bargain. This report provides practical and timely
recommendations for the U.S. Government and other stakeholders
to protect workers from abuse, ensure workers are empowered todefend their rights, and to safeguard and advance the gains in factory safety.
Sincerely,
ROBERT MENENDEZ,
Ranking Member.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Nearly seven years ago, in April 2013, the Rana Plaza garment
factory in Bangladesh collapsed and killed more than one thousand
workers.1 Today, many of Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment(RMG) factory buildings are structurally safer, but the workers inside are not. Labor rights have declined precipitously in recent
years as union organizers contend with pressure on freedoms to associate, organize, and demonstrate. Worse, workers are being
abused—verbally, physically, and sexually—and their perpetrators
are largely walking free. According to one Bangladeshi labor organizer, ‘‘the environment for workers has never been worse.’’2
In the wake of the devastating Rana Plaza collapse, and a 2012
fire at a garment factory that killed at least 112, two international
initiatives—the European-based Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the American-based Alliance for Bangladesh
Worker Safety—were created to improve factory building safety,
and they have largely succeeded.3 However, as both initiatives conclude their operations, the government of Bangladesh must now assume full responsibility for ensuring factory safety and protectionof labor rights.4 Today, many workers and worker advocates areconcerned that standards for safety and rights could backslide,raising the specter of more accidents in the future.
Bangladesh sits at a crucial inflection point. The remaining international safety initiative, known as the Accord, is handing thereins on building safety and labor rights over to a locally-run private safety monitoring entity, the Ready-Made Garment Sustainability Council. As the responsibility for monitoring safety conditions and respect for labor rights in RMG factories in Bangladesh
evolves, stakeholders in Bangladesh and the international community must address the following questions:
1. Will the government maintain the progress made in building
safety and take additional measures to protect labor rights?
2. Will the new Ready-Made Garment Sustainability Councilbuild upon the progress of the international initiatives and1 In April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building in Dhaka, Bangladesh thathoused ready-made garment factories supplying Western brands collapsed. The day before, alocal engineer had inspected the building and deemed it unsafe, urging everyone to evacuate.
The building owner, Mohammad Sohel Rana, dismissed police orders and instructed employees
to return to work the next day. At least 1,138 people were killed, and more than 2,000 were
injured. ‘‘Bangladesh Factory Collapse Toll Passes 1,000,’’ BBC, May 10, 2013.
2 Factory Worker, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
3 The two international factory safety-monitoring initiatives are discussed further in Chapter
Four.
4 The Alliance concluded its operations in December 2018. ‘‘Alliance Announces End of Its Tenure,’’ New Age Business, Dec. 14, 2018; The Accord is due to wrap up operations in 2020. ‘‘Bangladesh Factory Safety Monitors Get Court Extension,’’ France24, May 19, 2019, See Chapter
Four.

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continue to improve building safety, promote respect for laborrights, and protect workers from abuse?
3. Will international brands insist on both building safety and respect for labor rights, including protection against worker
abuse?
Unless positive movement can be made on these key questions,
the Bangladesh RMG sector will face an uncertain future in a competitive fast-fashion market.
Shopna, a garment worker in Dhaka, summed up the sacrifices
made by workers producing the clothes we wear: ‘‘[It] makes me
happy that [consumers] are wearing something that I made. But I
want to let them know that this is more than a piece of cloth. This
piece of cloth is bathed in my blood, sweat and dignity. I’ve sacrificed all of that to be able to make a pair of pants that you will
wear and feel comfortable.’’5 This report will illustrate some of thetreatment workers endure and the sacrifices they make, and will
detail what stakeholders must do to improve conditions for workers
like Shopna.
After the Rana Plaza tragedy, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic Staff issued a 2013 report entitled Worker Safety
and Labor Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Sector.6 The reportfound that an independent and robust organized labor movementin Bangladesh was imperative to the future of the RMG sector andwould provide the ultimate bulwark against another tragic accident
on the scale of Rana Plaza. Nearly seven years following that firstreport, unfortunately, the main recommendations with respect tolabor rights remain unfulfilled. This second report by the Committee finds that a culture of safety has begun to take hold around
RMG factories, but not a culture of respect for workers and theirlabor rights.7 Ultimately, workers are best placed to represent theirown safety concerns and defend themselves against abuses. Independent, representative labor unions provide the greatest tool forthem to do so.
REPORT FINDINGS

Chapter One: Abuse of Workers in
Ready-Made Garment Factories• RMG workers, especially union leaders and organizers, are increasingly subjected to abuse and harassment, with almost no
punishment for the perpetrators.
• Female workers—who make up the majority of RMG workers—are disproportionately affected by the abuse in factories.
Most female workers serve in junior roles such as machine operators and rarely hold leadership positions.
• Lack of access to justice, especially for women, contributes toa pervasive culture of abuse in RMG factories, where perpetrators often act with impunity.
5 ActionAid, ‘‘80 Percent of Garment Workers in Bangladesh Have Experienced or Witnessed
Sexual Violence and Harassment at Work,’’ June 10, 2019, https://actionaid.org/news/2019/80garment-workers-bangladesh-have-experienced-or-witnessed-sexual-violence-and.
6 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Majority Staff, Worker Safety and Labor Rights in
Bangladesh’s Garment Sector, Nov. 22, 2013.
7 This report was finalized in February 2020.

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Chapter Two: Workers’ Rights Under Attack• Despite hopes that the Rana Plaza tragedy would motivate
genuine labor rights reform in Bangladesh, the environment
for union organizers and activists has deteriorated. The violence and repression during the December 2018 and January
2019 worker protests over the minimum wage illustrates thisdownward trajectory. While hundreds of unions were registered in the immediate aftermath of Rana Plaza, union leaders now face significant bureaucratic obstacles to registrationand intimidation from factory owners.
• Factory owners have not been held accountable for unfair labor
practices, as defined by the 2006 Bangladesh Labor Act. Examples of unfair labor practices include dismissal and firing from
employment, or the threat of it, if a worker joins a union, encourages others to do so, or files a labor related complaint. As
of January 2020, the Bangladesh Department of Labor has
failed to successfully fully prosecute or enforce reinstatementof union leaders in most, if not all, unfair labor practicecases—of which more than 15 have been pending for years.8
Chapter Three: Factory Safety Has Improved• The international initiatives created after Rana Plaza significantly improved fire, structural, and electrical safety conditionsin the factories under their respective purviews.
• Thousands of RMG factories across Bangladesh have been inspected or remediated, largely due to the work of internationalsafety initiatives. However, there are reportedly thousands ofunregistered RMG factories operating in Bangladesh that likely do not meet safety standards. The government of Bangladesh is responsible for inspecting and remediating hundredsof other factories, but has fallen short in its responsibility toensure safety standards at these factories.9
Chapter Four: Key Actors Shaping Factory Safety
and Labor Rights in Bangladesh• The government of Bangladesh has reformed its labor law andsought to develop bureaucratic capacity to conduct factorybuilding inspections, but these efforts have been insufficientand fall short of international standards. As the internationalsafety initiatives phase out, there is concern that the government of Bangladesh and local institutions will be unable tosustain, let alone advance, the progress made by the international initiatives.
• The new locally-run private safety monitoring entity, theReady-Made Garment Sustainability Council that will takeover the Accord’s operations, will be governed by a Board of Directors that includes industry representatives, brands andtrade unions. The credibility of this institution will be deter8 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Oct. 7, 2019.
9 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza: The Way Forward (‘‘Five Years after Rana
Plaza’’), NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights (Apr. 2018).

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mined by several factors, particularly the balance of power on
the Board.
Chapter Five: The U.S. and European Union Responseto the Tazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza Tragedies• After the Rana Plaza tragedy, in June 2013, the United Statessuspended Bangladesh’s trade benefits under the Generalized
System of Preferences (GSP), and negotiated an action planwith the government, that if implemented, would have provided a basis for reinstatement of GSP trade benefits. Nearlyseven years later, it has not been fully implemented and workers are facing increasing challenges, such as abuse inside factories and violations of labor rights.
• The Trump administration has consistently sought to cut funding for global labor rights programs. Congress continues todeny requested funding cuts and has maintained international
labor funding, including for Bangladesh.
• Some global brands insist suppliers ensure labor rights andsafe work environments. However, their purchasing practices
often incentivize the opposite behavior.
• Western brands have effectively used their economic leverage
to improve the safety culture in factories from which theysource directly. However, the low prices they pay for garments,
as well as poor forecasting practices and unfair penalties for
production delays, continue to incentivize factory owners to cut
corners on safety and violate labor rights.
• Consumers in Western countries are willing to pay more forclothes made under safe working conditions where labor rights
are respected.
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONSThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedomof Peaceful Assembly and of Association should:• Immediately launch an investigation into allegations of widespread abuse—including gender-based violence—of RMG workers in Bangladesh.
• Conduct a country visit to Bangladesh focused on workers’
rights to associate, join a union, conduct union activities andbe free from retaliation, such as retaliatory firings and false
criminal charges.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) should:• Launch a Commission of Inquiry on Bangladesh in response toalleged violations of the ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Right toOrganise and Collective Bargaining.

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The U.S. Government should:• Support, in its capacity as a member of the ILO Governing
Body of the International Labour Office, the launch of a Commission of Inquiry on Bangladesh.
• Maintain the suspension of trade benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences until the government of Bangladesh
fully implements the 16-point labor action plan (formerly
known as the GSP Action Plan) that the United States presented to the government of Bangladesh in 2013.
• Update the 16-point labor action plan to reflect the new challenges in Bangladesh’s RMG sector—including abuse of workers and increased violations of workers’ rights.
• Consider imposing visa bans against government officials andfactory owners implicated in retaliatory violence against labororganizers.
• Increase funding for U.S. programs promoting labor rights in
Bangladesh, particularly the right to organize and bargain collectively.
• Under the auspices of the Government Accountability Office,conduct an analysis of the status of labor rights in apparel-producing countries to inform U.S. government policy and programming.
The Government of Bangladesh should:• Protect union leaders from retaliation and illegal terminations
by promptly and effectively investigating and prosecuting factory owners who have violated labor laws, including by engaging in anti-union activity and abuse of workers.
• Carry out independent and impartial investigations of alleged
violations of internationally recognized labor rights and abuseof workers—including sexual harassment—and prosecute those
responsible.
• Complete pending investigations of unfair labor practices in athorough and expeditious manner.
• Properly compensate workers who were victims of false criminal cases filed by factory management and police.
• Revise the country’s labor law to ensure it conforms with international labor standards, particularly with the ILO Conventions on Labor Inspection, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, and Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining. Consult civil society and independent tradeunions in reforms.
• Expeditiously register unions that meet administrative requirements and transparently provide information to applicants throughout the process.

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The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA) should:• Ensure that workers’ representatives have power equal to the
BGMEA and participating brands on the Ready-Made Garment
Sustainability Council Board of Directors.
• Hold factory owners and management accountable for credible
allegations of worker abuse and violations of labor rights.
Apparel Retailers and Global Brands Sourcing from Bangladesh
should:• Collectively develop and implement a policy of zero-tolerance
on violence and harassment, especially gender-based violenceand harassment, and make these expectations public.
• Ensure that local initiatives maintain the high standards established by the international factory safety initiatives, including breaking contracts with suppliers that are non-compliant
with safety and labor rights standards.
• Ensure that pricing and sourcing contracts with RMG factories
incorporate cost of labor and safety compliance—including costof the minimum wage increase, overtime payments, and alllegal benefits—to eliminate incentives for unsafe conditions
and worker abuse.
BASIS OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The findings and recommendations in this report are based oncongressional oversight following the Rana Plaza tragedy and on a
July 2019 visit to Dhaka by Committee Staff. Staff visited garment
factories supplying Western brands and met with factory owners,
Bangladeshi government officials, labor and civil society activists,
the BGMEA, and representatives of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Staff conducted separate meetings with
union leaders and garment workers, including both union and nonunion workers. Separately, Committee Staff engaged with USAID,
European Union and U.S. diplomats, as well as the Ready-Made
Garment Sustainability Council that succeeded the Alliance for
Bangladesh Worker Safety.

INTRODUCTION: FACTORIES ARE NOW SAFER,
BUT WORKERS ARE NOTOn November 24, 2012, Reba Khatun, 27, was on the third levelof the Tazreen Fashions factory walking up a flight of stairs whena fire broke out. Trapped by the smoke from the fire and desperate
to escape the flames, she jumped out of a window, and fell threestories to the ground. Khatun survived, but with several injuries.10
Years later, she remains wary of returning to a large factory job
and can still hear the sounds of Tazreen Fashions workers shouting ‘‘Save me, save me.’’11
Tazreen’s managers had illegally stored large amounts of fabricand yarn, fueling the fire.12 They also ignored the fire alarms andordered workers to continue working in order to meet production
quotas. Workers that did try to escape found doors and gates
locked. One hundred and twelve workers did not find a way out
and lost their lives that day. Two hundred, including Reba Khatun,
were left grievously injured.13
Five months after the Tazreen fire, deep cracks appeared in thewalls of an eight-story building on the outskirts of Dhaka known
as Rana Plaza, which housed factories producing clothes for Western brands such as Mango, Walmart, Primark, and Benetton. A
local engineer inspected the building and deemed it unsafe. As hefled, he urged everyone to evacuate. The police ordered the building
to be emptied until further inspection, but the owner, Mohammad
Sohel Rana, dismissed the police orders and instructed employees
to return to work the next day or risk losing their jobs.14 Sometime
before 9am on April 24, 2013, more than 2,000 workers in need of
their meager pay and lacking union representation apprehensively
entered the building. The entire structure soon crumbled and fellto the ground, taking less than 90 seconds to collapse.15 Found in
the rubble were broken sewing machines, concrete slabs, and

10 Khatun sustained spinal and leg injuries that required treatment at three separate hospitals.
11 Chris Herlinger, ‘‘Survivors Still Coping with Trauma of 2012 Factory Fire,’’ National
Catholic Review, Apr. 20, 2016.
12 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Majority Staff, Worker Safety and Labor Rights in
Bangladesh’s Garment Sector, at 2, Nov. 22, 2013; Julfikar Ali Manik & Jim Yardley, ‘‘Bangladesh Finds Gross Negligence in Factory Fire,’’ The New York Times, Dec. 17, 2012.
13 Farid Ahmed, ‘‘At least 117 Killed in Fire at Bangladeshi Clothing Factory,’’ CNN, Nov. 25,
2012; Chris Herlinger, ‘‘Survivors Still Coping with Trauma of 2012 Factory Fire,’’ National
Catholic Review, Apr. 20, 2016.
14 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 5.
15 Michael Safi & Dominic Rushe, ‘‘Rana Plaza, Five Years On: Safety of Workers Hangs in
Balance in Bangladesh,’’ The Guardian, Apr. 24, 2018.

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8crushed bodies.16 The building collapse killed 1,138 people and injured more than 2,000.17
The Tazreen and Rana Plaza disasters spurred into action mostof the international brands sourcing from Bangladeshi factories.
Within months, global retailers created two initiatives—the European-led Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (‘‘theAccord’’) and the American-led Alliance for Bangladesh Worker
Safety (‘‘the Alliance’’)—both of which sought to improve building
and worker safety in Bangladesh’s garment sector.18
Since 2013, these two groundbreaking international initiatives
have been a force for real change in the Ready-Made Garments(RMG) industry in Bangladesh, transforming the culture of safety
in RMG factories over the course of their five-year mandates. They
did so in part by leveraging the economic and reputational powerof brands to inspect the supplying factories and require safety improvements. For the first time ever, unsafe factories that did notmeet the Accord’s and the Alliance’s safety standards were at riskof losing their business relationships with participating Westernbuyers.19
But, this progress only represents half the picture. While factory
safety has improved since the Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen
Fashions fire, this report finds that labor rights are under attack,workers face routine abuse, and female workers are being sexuallyharassed and assaulted in the Bangladesh RMG factories that supply many Western brands.

16 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 5.
17 Human Rights Watch, Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly: How Apparel Brand
Purchasing Practices Drive Labor Abuses (‘‘Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly’’), at
47 (Apr. 2019).
18 Id.
19 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 6.

CHAPTER ONE: ABUSE OF WORKERS IN
READY-MADE GARMENT FACTORIES
Nearly four million ready-made garment (RMG) workers in Bangladesh produce goods for export to the global market, primarily toEurope and North America. Factories vary in size and sophistication, ranging from large operations that employ thousands of workers, use modern machinery, and hold long-term contracts with foreign buyers, to smaller factories that employ dozens of workers ona short-term basis and in some cases are unregistered. Women arereported to comprise between 60 and 74 percent of the workers in
Bangladesh’s garment industry.20
Many of Bangladesh’s rural poor and women have gained employment in this sector, but their rights as workers fall considerably below international standards. Factory owners are increasingly operating with impunity and a belief that they can unfairly
fire, abuse, and attack workers.21 According to the Executive Director of the Accord, Rob Wayss, it is common for the initiative to receive credible safety and health complaints of workers beingslapped, pushed, and subjected to vulgar language.22
Rubana Huq, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), an influential national
trade association that represents the RMG sector, has suggested
the ‘‘allegations of labor abuse in the industry [are] isolated, negative practices.’’23 Labor advocates, activists, and experts paint a different picture. Sexual harassment allegations are regularly received via the Accord occupational safety and health complaints
mechanism. Sexual harassment prevention is also a component of
the Accord’s factory based safety training programs.24 In one illustrative case, the U.S.-based labor rights organization Solidarity
Center reported in November 2018 that political allies and men associated with the management personnel of a Konabari factory intimidated union leaders and organizers who had been organizing
workers at the factory for several years. Just weeks after the union
filed for registration with the Department of Labor, these men assaulted a male labor organizer and took a female organizer to an
20 Email from International Labor Rights Forum Representative, to Committee Staff, Nov. 19,
2019; Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, ‘‘Women’s Participation in RMG Workforce Declines,’’ Dhaka Tribune, Mar. 3, 2018.
21 Worker’s Rights Consortium, Banning Hope: Bangladesh Garment Workers Seeking a Dollar
an Hour Face Mass Firings, Violence, and False Arrests, at 29 (Apr. 2019), https://www.workersrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Crackdown-on-Bangladesh.pdf.
22 Rob Wayss, Executive Director, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
23 Anuradha Nagaraj, ‘‘First Female Boss Vows to Shake up Bangladesh’s Fashion Factories,’’Reuters, Apr. 9, 2019.
24 Email from Rob Wayss, Executive Director, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, to Committee Staff, Jan. 27, 2020.

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isolated area and raped her.25 With the assistance from the unionand labor lawyers, the rape victim reported the assault to the police, which charged and detained the perpetrators temporarily.
They have been released, but the government continues to prosecute the case against them. This is a unique case in which justiceis being pursued, although not yet delivered. The victim’s quest forjustice is facilitated by support from union and labor lawyers, but
most gender-based violence survivors are not so lucky.26 According
to international labor advocates, victims of gender-based violence
generally do not seek accountability due to a deep-rooted culture of
shaming sexual assault victims in Bangladesh.27
Prominent labor leader Kalpona Akter describes the discrimination, sexual abuse, and predicament female workers in Bangladesh’s garment sector face by male supervisors as follows:
A woman is continuously pressured and asked manytimes. She’s afraid that someone will find out and she’s
afraid what will happen if she becomes pregnant or her coworkers or her family find out. If there is a beautiful girlon the production floor, the supervisor can try to convince
her that he’s in love, or if she has a good relationship with
him then he can increase her salary. First it might be,‘‘Let’s go to the park.’’ Later on he tries to convince her tohave sex. ‘‘Let’s have sex and maybe I’ll let you leave thefactory early at 5 pm or 6 pm or you can walk around the
production floor without being harassed. . . .’’ She’s also
been trapped. ‘‘You need to continue this relationship withme or I’ll tell others.’’ She is now afraid she will never beable to get married, or, if the community finds out, thatthey will look at her in a different way and think of her
as a sex worker. If a woman has sex before she is married,
she can rarely get married or she will be considered a
prostitute for sleeping with multiple guys or she’ll be considered a bad person. There are lots of rape cases involving
women workers. The woman is always blamed. ‘‘She isbad; that’s why it happened to her.’’28
Bangladeshi women generally do not talk about their experiencesof sexual abuse because society puts the blame on them. They fear
backlash or being harassed further. Beyond the stigma, these workers also fear being fired if they report the abuse.29
Men in garment factories also face mistreatment, and in somecases, physical abuse, in the workplace. During a July 2019 meeting between garment workers and Committee Staff, a worker sat
hunched over, holding his arm over his chest. Staff invited him toshare his story. He first hesitated, but eventually revealed that his
factory manager had punched him in the face and kicked him in
the ribs. In that meeting, other garment workers agreed that25 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Oct. 7, 2019.
26 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Feb. 21, 2020.
27 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Oct. 7, 2019.
28 International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Our Voices, Our Safety: Bangladeshi Garment
Workers Speak Out, at 41 (Dec. 2015), https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications/
Our%20Voices,%20Our%20Safety%20Online—1.pdf.
29 Email, Representative, International Labor Rights Forum, to Committee Staff, Nov. 19,
2019.

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verbal and physical abuse is a regular occurrence in their workplaces.30
FEMALE GARMENT WORKERS FACEDISPROPORTIONATE LEVELS OF ABUSE

Bangladesh’s garment industry is dependent on female workers,
who are subjected to abuse by factory managers, who are mostly
men. That abuse includes verbal abuse, physical violence, coercion,
threats, and retaliation. Female workers have little to no ability topush back on the abuse because they are concentrated in subordinate roles, such as machine operators, checkers, and helpers, andrarely reach leadership positions.31 In an interview with the U.S.based human rights advocacy organization Human Rights Watch,a female worker at a Dhaka-based factory employing mostly womenshared an anecdote to describe the abusive conditions that female
workers face. When workers protested their manager’s refusal tooffer maternity leave benefits, a factory owner said, ‘‘If you’re allconcentrating on f****g, why are you working here? Go and workin a brothel.’’32
In October 2019, reports emerged that garment workers at a factory operated by the Youngone Corporation, which makes clothes
for North American brand Lululemon, are ‘‘paid scant wages, verbally harassed by their managers with slurs like ‘slut’ and ‘whore,’and face the threat of physical violence on the job.’’33 One female
factory worker claimed she was slapped for leaving work early because she did not feel well. ‘‘[The technician in charge of her line]
slapped me so hard my cheeks turned red. . . .’’34 In another illustrative case, workers reported, ‘‘During last Ramadan, they createda new line and recruited new female workers. One day, a technician hit a label operator so hard on her chest. We could see she
was in pain the whole day. . . . She was lying in the back of the line
for hours but our bosses did nothing about her.’’35 Lululemon reportedly indicated that its social responsibility and production teamvisited the factory in Bangladesh immediately to speak with workers and it will work with an ‘‘independent non-profit third party to
fully investigate the matter.’’ It went on to state that, ‘‘While our
production at this factory is extremely limited, we will ensure
workers are protected from any form of abuse and are treated fairly.’’36
The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity conducted focus
groups and interviews in 2019 and found many examples of genderbased violence in RMG factories, ranging from a line chief touchinga worker’s breast while showing her how to operate a machine, to
30 Factory Worker, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
31 Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee, End Gender-Based Violence and HarassmenteGender Justice on Garment Global Supply Chains: An Agenda to Transform Fast Fashion, Global Labor
and Justice and Asia Floor Wage Alliance, at 15 (2019). .
32 Human Rights Watch, Whoever Raises Their Head Suffers the Most, at 24-25 (Apr. 2015).
33 Hannah Gold, ‘‘Workers Making Lululemon Clothes Say They’re Beaten and Harassed on
the Job,’’ The Cut, Oct. 17, 2019.
34 Sarah Marsh & Redwan Ahmed, ‘‘Workers Making £88 Lululemon Leggings Claim They are
Beaten,’’ The Guardian, Oct. 14, 2019.
35 Id.
36 Hannah Gold, ‘‘Workers Making Lululemon Clothes Say They’re Beaten and Harassed on
the Job,’’ The Cut, Oct. 17, 2019.

12
another forcing a worker to lie down under a table in his office andraping her.37
Hafsa Begum, a 20-year-old garment worker, was finishing anight shift at her factory job in Dhaka when her line manager sexually assaulted her. ‘‘I kicked and slapped him, but he still managed to drag me into a dark alley next to the factory,’’ explains
Begum.38 She said he forcefully kissed and touched her, and hethreatened to fire her if she did not have sex with him. Begum
sought the help of a local union leader, and eventually her manager was fired. But speaking out has its consequences. Begum’s
abuser was not criminally prosecuted, and she had to leave her job
with a negotiated resignation compensation package. She lives infear of reprisal for exposing her abuser and seeking accountability.39
ActionAid UK, a chapter of the South Africa-based international
non-governmental organization ActionAid International, publishedin 2019 a survey of 200 garment factory workers in Dhaka, including 181 women, and found that 80 percent reported having experienced or witnessed sexual harassment and abuse at work.40 According to Aruna Kashyap, Senior Counsel at Human Rights
Watch:
If garment workers didn’t face retaliation for exposing sexual harassment, many of them would be screaming#MeToo at the top of their lungs. Their experiences arepart of the global crisis of workplace sexual harassment,
less visible in places like garment factories, but no less important than the high-profile cases involving Hollywood,
the media, and political figures.41
The combination of gender discrimination ingrained in society,limited female representation in political life, and the shaming of
women who report sexual abuse hinders women from seeking justice.42 Suffice to say, abuses in Bangladesh’s RMG factories are notsimply ‘‘isolated, negative practices.’’At the forefront of the movement against sexual abuse and assault of women in Bangladesh is labor activist Dolly Akhtar, who
was only 16 years old when she started working in garment factories in Dhaka that supply Western brands. She accepted the low
wages and long hours, but did not expect the culture of sexual
abuse in RMG factories. ‘‘When the line manager at the very first
factory I worked at tried to get me to sleep with him, I was terrified,’’ she said.43 She left this factory job for another only to findherself in the same situation. Akhtar started to work full-time as
an organizer for the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, one
37 Email from International Labor Rights Forum Representative, to Committee Staff, Nov. 19,
2019.
38 Jennifer Chowdhury, ‘‘#MeToo Bangladesh: The Textile Workers United against Harassment,’’ The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2019.
39 Id.
40 Sarah Young, ‘‘Growing Number of Garment Factory Workers in Bangladesh Subjected to
Sexual Harassment and Violence, Action Aid UK Finds,’’ Independent, June 10, 2019; ActionAid,‘‘80% of garment workers in Bangladesh have experienced or witnessed sexual violence and harassment at work,’’ June 10, 2019.
41 Human Rights Watch, Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Garment Industry, (Dec 2017).
42 Jennifer Chowdhury, ‘‘#MeToo Bangladesh: The Textile Workers United against Harassment,’’ The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2019.
43 Id.

13of Bangladesh’s largest trade organizations, spearheading efforts tofight sexual harassment, assault, and exploitation in the country’s
garment factories.44 Committee Staff spoke to Akhtar about her experience in the Bangladesh RMG industry, and she made a plea forvigilance:
This economy is developing constantly. A major contributor
is female workers, and these women workers are harassed
in public places as well, not just in factories. So I request
all concerned people in this industry to treat these workers
with dignity and respect and that influential persons in[the] community and society also do the same.45
CULTURE OF IMPUNITY

There appears to be little political will to tackle the pervasive
culture of gender-based violence in RMG factories. If there is no accountability, male perpetrators will continue to prey on the female
workers who report to them. Bangladesh’s Supreme Court issued
guidelines against sexual harassment at work in 2009, but ten
years later, ineffective implementation of the court order and lackof protection from retribution when workers complain have rendered the ruling meaningless.46 The United Nations should act
quickly to investigate allegations of abuse, particularly abuse of,and violence against, women in RMG factories.
In November 2017, Bangladesh’s leading independent humanrights organization, Odhikar, reported that:
Women are becoming victims of such violence due to nonimplementation of laws, a prevailing culture of impunity inthe government, lack of victims and witness protection,
criminalization and corruption in the law enforcement
agencies, supremacy of socially and politically influential
persons, poor economic conditions of women, weak administration, and also due to lack of awareness in society. In
most cases, victims are not getting justice due to a prevailing culture of impunity, which instigates more suchcrimes and encourages potential perpetrators.47

44 Id.
45 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Feb. 21, 2020.
46 Mizanur Rahman, ‘‘10 Years On, HC Guidelines against Sexual Harassment Neglected,’’Dhaka Tribune, May 4, 2019.
47 Odhikar, Human Rights Monitoring Report November 1-30 2017, at 29 (Dec. 2017), http://
odhikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/human-rights-monitoring-report-November-2017—
Eng.pdf.

CHAPTER TWO: WORKERS’ RIGHTSUNDER ATTACK
Abusive treatment of workers is further exacerbated by a growing repression of labor rights, including the right to associate, organize, and collectively bargain. In a meeting with Committee Staff,
one garment worker asserted that respect for labor rights is theworst it has been in Bangladesh’s history.48
In December 2016, the government of Bangladesh and factoryowners initiated a severe crackdown on labor rights following alargely peaceful protest by thousands of garment workers callingfor higher wages. At least 1,500 workers were dismissed, 38 union
leaders were arrested on baseless criminal charges, and tradeunion offices were closed or came under intense pressure from government authorities.49 Only after Western brands sourcing from
Bangladesh boycotted a high-profile annual summit organized by
the BGMEA did the Bangladeshi government start releasing detained workers. In February 2017, the government and the
BGMEA reached an agreement with the IndustriAll Bangladesh
Council, an umbrella body for many of the country’s garment
unions and a local affiliate of the global union IndustriAll, to release those remaining in prison, reinstate fired workers, and drop
pending criminal charges against the arrested workers and leaders.50 The brands’ advocacy had a significant impact on government and the BGMEA’s decision to change course, but this proved
to be short-lived.
Two years later, as part of the ongoing pressure on workers’
rights, RMG workers faced another crackdown. In September 2018,
the government announced a wage increase for Bangladeshi garment workers to go into effect that December. The new minimum
wage was announced to be set at 8,000 taka ($95) a month, up
from 5,300 taka ($63).51 However, this increased wage primarily
benefitted junior workers. Senior workers received only a modest
increase that failed to factor in rising costs of living.52 The inadequate wage increase sparked months-long protests and a govern48 Factory Worker, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
49 Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network& Worker Rights Consortium, Update on the Labor Rights Crisis in Bangladesh (Apr. 21, 2017),
https://laborrights.org/publications/update-labor-rights-crisis-bangladesh.
50 Id.
51 Marjorie van Elven, ‘‘Bangladesh Raises Minimum Wage for Garment Workers,’’ Fashion
United, Sept. 14, 2018.
52 Fair Labor Association, Minimum Wage Adjustments in Bangladesh Stir Protests and Mass
Worker Dismissals from Factories (Mar. 2019); Factory Worker, Interview with Committee Staff,
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.

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16
ment and factory owner-led crackdown on Bangladeshi workers in
retaliation to the protests.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO WORKER PROTESTS

Anger over the uneven and inadequate wage increase led to awave of wage-related strikes in December 2018 and January 2019
across the country. In January, police clashed with protestors andused tear gas, water cannons, batons, and rubber bullets against
them, injuring dozens and killing one.53 On January 8, 2019, 22year old Sumon Mia, a worker at Anlima Textile in the Savar subdistrict of Dhaka, was returning from lunch with a colleague when
they got caught in the protests. His colleague told Human Rights
Watch, ‘‘Police started shooting and the workers started runningaway, so Sumon and I started running and suddenly Sumon was
shot in his chest and he fell down. I fled. Later I found Sumon’s
body lying in the road. The police didn’t even take his body.’’54 Police reportedly raided homes, shooting indiscriminately. One
woman told Human Rights Watch that she could hear the police
coming towards her house on a raid while shooting. She heard six
rounds of firing; two bullets hit her window and one hit her lower
abdomen.55
According to the IndustriAll Bangladesh Council, an estimated
11,600 workers were fired, forced to resign, or jailed for participating in those strikes.56 Some factory owners also sought to block
union leaders and workers who protested from finding a job elsewhere. In May 2019, lists with names and photographs of terminated employees were posted at some factories, leading to theblacklisting of at least 1,793 workers.57 Committee Staff met withsome blacklisted garment workers in Dhaka in July 2019 who indicated that they remained unemployed. Workers shared anecdotes
about themselves or other workers who did not participate in theprotests, but were still dismissed and blacklisted.58 Ministry ofLabour and Employment officials told Committee Staff that the dismissals and criminal cases were in response to vandalism andlooting, and claimed a lack of knowledge about workers and union
leaders being blacklisted for engaging in protests. They made thisclaim despite widespread news coverage and reports made to the
Ministry and the BGMEA from trade union leaders contradicting
their claims.59
Garment workers and union leaders in Dhaka described to Committee Staff a growing trend of factory owners filing criminal
charges, largely fabricated, against union members and leaders.60
53 ‘‘Bangladesh Police, Garment Workers Clash in Protests,’’ Associated Press, Jan. 9, 2019.
54 Sushmita

S. Preetha, ‘‘Post-mortem of a Worker’s Death,’’ The Daily Star, Jan. 18, 2019.
55 ‘‘Bangladesh: Investigate Dismissals of Protesting Workers,’’ Human Rights Watch, Mar. 5,
2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/05/bangladesh-investigate-dismissals-protesting-workers.
56 IndustriAll Global Union, ‘‘Over 11,600 Bangladesh Garment Workers Lose Jobs and Face
Repression,’’ Feb. 11, 2019, http://www.industriall-union.org/over-11600-bangladesh-garmentworkers-lose-jobs-and-face-repression.
57 Email from U.S. Agency for International Development Official, to Committee Staff, May
29, 2019.
58 Garment Workers, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
59 Ministry of Labour and Employment Official, Meeting with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
60 Garment Workers, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.

17
Human Rights Watch reported that 29 criminal cases were filed
against 551 named individuals and more than 3,000 unnamed people—meaning that the authorities could arbitrarily fill those slots
with the names of union leaders or workers they deem to be troublemakers. In January and February 2019, authorities arrested approximately 50 workers and denied bail to 11 for several weeks.61
Despite the BGMEA’s assurances that member factory owners
would drop the baseless charges brought against workers, only 14
of 35 cases have been dismissed to date, largely due to pressure on
brands from advocacy groups.62 Some of the U.S. brands buying
from factories that have filed trumped-up charges against workers
that demonstrated for higher wages include Abercrombie & Fitch,
American Eagle Outfitters, Gap, Kontoor Brands, VF Corporation,and Walmart.63
The BGMEA is an influential private trade association with political clout in Bangladesh, representing the RMG sector in Bangladesh.64 During the 2018-2019 wage protests, BGMEA leadershipsaid that only workers who vandalized factories would lose theirjobs, yet thousands of non-violent protestors were reportedly
fired.65 More than one year after the protests, hundreds continue
to be blacklisted over what factory owners and managers insist are
criminal charges.66 The BGMEA is investigating member factories
that terminated workers during the unrest, but ultimately the responsibility to investigate and prosecute credible allegations ofcrimes, including abuse and labor rights violations should rest withthe government, not a private association of factory owners.67 To
date, no factory owners or managers have been prosecuted for unfair labor practices.68
The 2018-2019 wage protests came amid Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections, which were marred by irregularities, attacks
on the opposition, and intimidation of voters.69 The protests represented a test for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who responded
by declaring an additional minimum wage increase for senior level
workers. Workers told Committee Staff that they do not find thepay rates to be a living wage and worry about making ends meetgiven high costs of living in Dhaka.70 Nonetheless, union leaders
61 ‘‘Bangladesh: Investigate Dismissals of Protesting Workers,’’ Human Rights Watch, Mar. 5,
2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/05/bangladesh-investigate-dismissals-protesting-workers.
62 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Feb. 21, 2020.
63 Email from International Labor Rights Forum Representative, to Committee Staff, February 26, 2020.
64 See Chapter Four.
65 Refayet Ullah Mirdha & Aklakur Rahman Akash, ‘‘RMG Unrest: No ‘Innocent’ to be
Sacked,’’ Jan. 18, 2019, The Daily Star https://www.thedailystar.net/business/no-innocent-rmgworker-in-bangladesh-will-be-terminated-bgmea-1688917; ‘‘Bangladesh: Investigate Dismissalsof Protesting Workers,’’ Human Rights Watch, Mar. 5, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/
05/bangladesh-investigate-dismissals-protesting-workers.
66 Chris Remington, ‘‘Bangladeshi Workers Still Facing Repression over Wage Protests,’’
EcoTextile News, Jan. 15, 2020.
67 Bangladeshi Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), ‘‘BGMEA Probes
IBC Allegations of Worker Lay-offs by Factory,’’ (accessed Jan. 22, 2020), http://
www.bgmea.com.bd/home/activity/BGMEA—probes—IBC—allegations—of—worker—lay-off—by—factories.
68 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Feb. 4, 2020.
69 Sumit Ganguly, ‘‘The World Should be Watching Bangladesh’s Election Debacle,’’ Foreign
Policy, Jan. 7, 2019.
70 Garment Workers, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.

18
agreed to the deal. Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers
Federation President Babul Akter explained, ‘‘We had to accept it
as the proposal came from our prime minister. How can we dishonor it?’’71
Government security forces have reportedly intimidated and arbitrarily detained workers at the behest of factory owners. For example, union workers reported that during the 2018-2019 minimum wage protests, unionized workers at Tivoli Apparel Ltd. factory, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, refrained from engaging in theprotests.72 Vandalism occurred in neighboring factories, so management closed the Tivoli factory for one day. Despite constructive
work by union leaders at this factory to establish agreed-uponwages in a Memorandum of Understanding with management, special police entered the homes of, and detained, five union leaders
the night after the agreement was signed on January 12, 2019.73
The workers allege that they were blindfolded and tortured into
falsely confessing involvement in vandalizing factories, criminallycharged, and spent two weeks in jail.74 The workers were eventually released on January 21, 2019, and the union negotiated withTivoli management to secure termination benefits for some of thoseleaders and reinstatement for two of them. However, both union
leaders chose to receive severance instead of reinstatement, apparently out of fear that management would retaliate against themagain in the future.75
CHALLENGES TO UNION REGISTRATION

Despite international support for the rights of Bangladeshi
unions to organize and register, and renewed energy and courageon the part of labor organizers, the challenges to union registrationin Bangladesh remain considerable.
Widespread distrust remains between employers and tradeunions, and negative attitudes toward unions pose barriers to boththe formation of new unions and to existing independent unions.
The revisions to the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act in 2013
led to an initial strong growth in the number of RMG trade unions,however, that trend did not continue.76 The U.S. State Department
reported that after a sharp increase in trade union applications in
2014, there has been a decline every year since.77
In addition, the union registration process remains cumbersome.
Union leaders consistently expressed concern to Committee Staff
about the bureaucratic hurdles to registering independent unions.78
The Bangladeshi government currently rejects a high number of
71 Ruma Paul, ‘‘Bangladesh Garment Workers Stage Protests, Say Pay Rise Insufficient,’’ Reuters, Jan. 14, 2019.
72 Email from Solidarity Center Representative, to Committee Staff, Oct. 4, 2019.
73 Id.
74 Id.
75 Id.
76 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 15 (Sept. 2018), https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/september/tradoc—
157426.pdf.
77 U.S. Department of State, Report to Congress on the Government of Bangladesh’s Supportfor Human Rights; Protection of Freedom of Expression, Association, and Religion, and Due
Process of Law; and Ensuring a Free, Fair, and Participatory Elections, Jan. 1, 2020.
78 Garment Workers, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.

19
union applications.79 The European Commission found a need toprotect the Bangladeshi trade union registration process from arbitrary rejections.80 When discussing this topic, a senior Bangladeshi
government official admitted to Committee Staff that corruption
and bribery are serious problems.81 According to International
Labour Organization (ILO) member states, the Ministry of Labour
received 1,031 union registration applications between 2010 and2018 and denied 46 percent of the applications.82 The Ministry ofLabour and Employment reported that the country had 596 unions
in the garment sector; this figure includes 574 new unions in thegarment sector since 2013.83 The Solidarity Center and trade union
federation representatives assess that the Bangladesh Ministry ofLabour officials managing the registration process have too muchdiscretion.84 The ILO Committee of Experts also found that the
government rejects applications for registration at a high rate, andthat ‘‘a substantial proportion of rejections come without explanation.’’85 They request that the government ensures that registration is ‘‘a simple, objective, and transparent process, which does not
restrict the right of workers to establish organizations without previous authorization.’’86 In many cases, ministry employees or officials reject applications for union registration due to minor mistakes such as misspelled member names. Once those mistakes arecorrected, they may identify additional arbitrary reasons to rejectapplications.87 The U.S. State Department reports that ‘‘registration applications are often rejected or challenged for erroneous or
extrajudicial reasons,’’ and ‘‘prospective unions continued to report
rejections based on reasons not listed in the labor law.’’88
A common talking point from government officials, the BGMEA,
and factory owners in Bangladesh is that ‘‘factory owners like tohave unions’’ because it keeps everyone accountable and the workers happy.89 However, the Accord’s Rob Wayss said that ‘‘they seem
more to like to have a union if it is a union that is agreeable tomanagement positions and if it does not raise disputes, disagreements, and alleged violations with the brands, global unions, andlabor rights support organizations.’’90 Local union leaders referredto these type of unions as ‘‘yellow unions.’’ They are set up by fac79 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 3 (Sept. 2018), https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/september/tradoc—157426.pdf.
80 Id.
81 Bangladeshi Government Official, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
82 ‘‘ILO members states to propose inquiry commission against Bangladesh,’’ NewAgeBD, Aug.
26, 2019.
83 U.S. Department of State, Report to Congress on the Government of Bangladesh’s Supportfor Human Rights; Protection of Freedom of Expression, Association, and Religion, and Due
Process of Law; and Ensuring a Free, Fair, and Participatory Elections, Jan. 1, 2020.
84 Trade Union Leaders, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
85 International Labor Organization, Observation (CEACR)-adopted 2017, published 10th ILC
Session(2018),
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:13100:0::NO:13100:P13100—COMMENT—ID:3343756:NO (last visited Feb. 21, 2020).
86 Id.
87 Solidarity Center Representative, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
88 U.S. Department of State, Report to Congress on the Government of Bangladesh’s Supportfor Human Rights; Protection of Freedom of Expression, Association, and Religion, and Due
Process of Law; and Ensuring a Free, Fair, and Participatory Elections, Jan. 1, 2020.
89 Email from Rob Wayss, Executive Director, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, to Committee Staff, Jan. 27, 2020.
90 Id.

20
tory owners with the goal of preventing the registration of genuine
trade unions. This practice has resulted in authorities rejecting theregistration application of independent union leaders because another union already exists—the ‘‘yellow’’ one. After the 2018-2019
protests, ‘‘yellow union’’ members approached independent union
leaders and pressured them to sign documents to accept responsibility for protests and damages to factories in exchange for backwages, essentially attempting to coerce workers to admit guilt even
if they had not engaged in vandalism.91
Trade unions face harassment, intimidation, and other obstacles
when seeking to register and, once registered, when trying to organize. Employer retaliation against workers who file union registration papers is common. Rita Akhter, a labor activist and garment
worker at the Korean-owned Chunji Knit Ltd. factory, was physically attacked when trying to form a union, which had a chilling
effect on other workers’ efforts to form unions in that area. She
noted, ‘‘The workers say to us, even you organizers were beaten up
by the factory management—so how can you protect us, what will
be our fate if we join you?’’92 The government needs to pursue genuine efforts to combat anti-union activity and unfair labor practices. The overall environment of impunity remains a significant
concern for Bangladesh’s workers, as the government of Bangladesh has been slow to adjudicate unfair labor practices cases.
While the government of Bangladesh highlights that a number ofcases of unfair labor practices, including cases of unfair termination of employment, have been referred to the courts in recent
years, they are unable to point to a single successful prosecution.93
Labor activist Kalpona Akter asserts that forming unions is aright that exists on paper in Bangladesh’s constitution and laws,
as well as in the ILO Convention on Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, which Bangladesh has ratified; however, ‘‘the factory owners are so reluctant toward the unions.. . . Whenever[workers] join with unions, they will face threats, they get fired. . .and sometimes even forced [sic] to leave their community. And
the same happens when workers raise their voices against the poverty wages they’ve been getting.’’94
The ILO Governing Body of the International Labour Office,which includes governments, has the option to establish a ‘‘Commission of Inquiry’’ (COI) to examine complaints against member
States for not complying with ratified conventions.95 In June 2019,union delegates sought a COI against the government of Bangladesh given complaints that the government violated ILO conventions on labor inspection, freedom of association, right to organize,
91 ‘‘Bangladesh: Investigate Dismissals of Protesting Workers,’’ Human Rights Watch, Mar. 5,
2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/05/bangladesh-investigate-dismissals-protesting-workers.
92 Human Rights Watch, Whoever Raises Their Head Suffers the Most, at 50 (Apr. 2015).
http://features.hrw.org/features/HRW—2015—reports/Bangladesh—Garment—Factories/
index.html
93 Email from U.S. Government Official, to Committee Staff, Feb. 20, 2020.
94 Michelle Chen, ‘‘6 Years after the Rana Plaza Collapse, are Government Workers Any
Safer?’’ The Nation, July 15, 2019.
95 International Labour Organization, Complaints, https://www.ilo.org/global/standards/applying-and-promoting-international-labour-standards/complaints/lang--en/index.htm (last visited[Jan. 23, 2020]).

21
and collective bargaining.96 The ILO decided to put this item on
the agenda of the 338th Session of the Governing Body slated toconvene in March 2020, at which point it will vote whether to establish a COI.97

96 ‘‘ILO Members States to Propose Inquiry Commission against Bangladesh,’’ NewAge Business, Aug. 26, 2019 (last accessed Jan. 24, 2020).
97 International Labour Office, ‘‘First Report: Complaint oncerning non-observance by Bangladesh of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), the Freedom of Association andProtection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1949 (No. 98), made under Article 26 of the
ILO Constitution by several delegates to the 108th Session (2019) of the International Labour
Conference,’’ Oct. 29, 2019; ‘‘ILO Members States to Propose Inquiry Commission against Bangladesh,’’ NewAge Business, Aug. 26, 2019 (last accessed Jan. 24, 2020).

CHAPTER THREE: FACTORY SAFETY
HAS IMPROVED
Bangladesh provides an ideal combination of cheap labor andquick turnaround for fast-fashion manufacturers that produce inexpensive clothing rapidly in response to the latest trends. For years,
Bangladesh worked to facilitate the sector’s growth with little concern for factory conditions and labor rights. As the sector’s growth
exploded, more and more garment factories sprouted up in apartment buildings and multi-use structures that were not designed or
built to safely handle large numbers of workers and machines.
While building safety standards existed on paper, the governmentof Bangladesh lacked the capacity and political will to enforcethem.
The tragedies of Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions served as amuch-needed wakeup call to the government of Bangladesh thatsafety must be prioritized. What has the government of Bangladesh
done thus far to make its RMG factories safer? The short answer
is not enough. The RMG sector in Bangladesh has fueled the country’s economy for three decades, growing from $12,000 in exports
in 1978 to annual sales now exceeding $28 billion.98 The sector
generates 80 percent of the country’s export revenue.99 Bangladesh
is the world’s second largest garment exporter, and the industry
employs nearly four million people.100 The country has more thanhalved the percentage of people living under the $1.90 poverty line
since 1991.101 Bangladesh’s great strides in reducing poverty canlargely be attributed to its increase in labor earnings due to the expansion in RMG sector employment.102
The Rana Plaza tragedy led the government of Bangladesh to
make a series of labor rights commitments to the international
community and in its 2013 National Tripartite Plan of Action on
Fire Safety and Structural Integrity (NTPA).103 The NTPA lists 25
action items in three areas—policy and legislation, administration,and practical activities—that were to be implemented between
98 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Majority Staff, Worker Safety and Labor Rights in
Bangladesh’s Garment Sector, at 3, Nov. 22, 2013; Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana
Plaza: The Way Forward, NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, at 6 (Apr. 2018).
99 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 7.
100 Mostafiz Uddin, ‘‘RMG Industry as the Major Employment Sector,’’ The Daily Star, Feb.
17, 2019.
101 ‘‘Creating Jobs and Diversifying Exports in Bangladesh,’’ World Bank, Nov. 14, 2017,https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/11/14/creating-jobs-and-diversifying-exports-inbangladesh.
102 United Nations Development Program, Bangladesh Quarterly Development Update, at 11(Oct-Dec 2017).
103 Government of Bangladesh, The National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety and
Structural Integrity (July 2013).

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June 2013 and December 2014.104 The NTPA called for the submission of a labor law reform package and amendment of the national
labor law, recruitment of more safety inspectors, creation of a factory information database, and establishment of a worker safety
hotline. The chart below details the NTPA’s full list of commitments: 105

GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH’S 2013 LABOR COMMITMENTS
Activities
Legislation and Policy

Submission of a labour law reform package and theamendment of the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006
Adoption of a National Occupational Safety and Health Policy
Review and adjustment of laws, rules and regulations related to fire, building, electrical and chemical safety
Establishment of a taskforce of the cabinet committee onbuilding and fire safety

Administration

Recruitment of 200 additional labour inspectors to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments(DIFE)
Upgrading of the Institution of Inspection for Factories andEstablishments from a Directorate to a Department
Implementation of MoLE project ‘‘Modernization andStrengthening the Department of Inspection for Factories
and Establishments’’
Review and adjustment of factory licensing and certification procedures concerning fire, structural, environmental, chemical and electrical safety
Consideration of the establishment of a one-stop shop forfire safety certification and licensing
Development and introduction of a unified fire safety
checklist to be used by all relevant authorities

104 Mohd Raisul Islam Khan & Christa Wichterich, Safety and Labor Conditions: The Accord
and the National Tripartite Plan of Action for the Garment Industry of Bangladesh, Global
Labor University, at 20 (Sept. 2015).
105 Id. at 20-21.; International Labour Organization, ‘‘National Tripartite Plan of Action on
Fire Safety and Structural Integrity in the Garment Sector of Bangladesh (NTPA), (last accessed
February 26, 2020).

25

GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH’S 2013 LABOR COMMITMENTS—Continued
Activities
Practical Activities

Inspection and assessment of factory-level fire and electrical safety needs
Development and implementation of a factory fire improvement programme based upon the fire safety needs assessment
Inspection and assessment of structural integrity of all active RMG industries
Development of an accountable and transparent industry
subcontracting system
Delivery of a fire safety ‘‘crash course’’ for mid-level factory management and supervisors
Development and delivery of specific training on fire safety
for union leaders
Development and delivery of a mass worker education tool
to raise awareness regarding fire safety, OSH risks andprevention
Establishment of a fire safety hotline for workers throughthe Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD)
Development and delivery of specific training on fire safety
and structural integrity for factory inspectors
Strengthening of the capacity of Fire Service and Civil
Defence
Development of guidelines for the establishment of alabour-management committee on OSH
Development and dissemination of fire safety self-assessment and remediation tools
Development of a tripartite protocol for death and injury
compensation for workers
Establishment of a publicly accessible database on OSH
issues in RMG factories

26

GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH’S 2013 LABOR COMMITMENTS—Continued
Activities
Political Activities

Redeployment of the RMG workers who lost jobs as a result of occupational accidents, rehabilitation of disabledworkers

Source: Official website, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of
Bangladesh
The government’s implementation of NTPA is incomplete.106 The
following examples illustrate some areas where the government of
Bangladesh has failed to fully implement its commitments as outlined in its action plan. The government committed to ‘‘upgrade’’ anational body responsible for inspections of structural integrity,
fire, and electrical safety in factories, known as the Department ofInspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.107 The government has taken
steps to build DIFE’s capacity, including by increasing its annual
budget from $900 thousand in 2013 and 2014 to $4.93 million in
FY 2016 to 2017.108 DIFE also launched an online system in March2018 that compiles and makes accessible to the public labor inspection data, including information on factory license applications.109
However, there is ongoing concern about DIFE’s commitment andcapacity to inspect RMG factories. The European Union Sustainability Compact’s 2018 report concluded that DIFE was still not
fully operational and that it had filled only 312 of the authorized
575 safety inspector positions as of March 2018. The report also
concluded that the information on the DIFE website needed to be
updated regularly and some of the information was outdated.110 As
of February 2020, the DIFE website’s latest data appears to befrom May 2018.111 According to DIFE, it has inspected 1,549 RMG
factories.112 While the Accord and the Alliance were jointly responsible for improving safety at approximately 2,300 RMG factories,
the government reportedly has responsibility for safety in 745 RMG
factories.113 Thus, it is unclear what constitutes DIFE’s data given
the number of factories for which the government is responsible
falls below 1,000. The website also shows that as of 2018, only 107
of 809 factories under the government’s responsibility have been
106 U.S. Government Official, Call with Committee Staff, Aug. 28, 2019.
107 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 19 (Sept. 2018).
108 Id. at 20.
109 Id.
110 Id. at 22.
111 Bangladesh Ministry of Labor and Employment, Department of Inspection for Factories
and Establishments, http://database.dife.gov.bd/ (last visited Feb. 11, 2020). Notably, as of February 25, 2020, the website was not functioning.
112 Id.
113 Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network& Worker Rights Consortium, Bangladesh Government’s Safety Inspection Agencies Not Readyto Take Over Accord’s Work, at 1 (Apr. 2019), https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications/RCC%20report%204-1—3.pdf; Bangladesh Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.

27
fully remediated.114 As of March 2018, the website indicates 422
factories remediated more than 50% and 111 factories remediatedmore than 80% of the safety compliance issues identified in theircorrective action plans.115
DIFE’s online database also has a ‘‘Complaint Box’’ that allows
workers or employers to submit complaints about workplace issues.
Unfortunately, this complaints mechanism does not guarantee anonymity.116 This shortcoming could explain why the government of
Bangladesh reportedly received only 18 complaints through the
DIFE complaints mechanism between 2013 and April 2019, whereas the Accord’s anonymous reporting mechanism received 1,152
complaints during that same period.117
As part of the NTPA, the government of Bangladesh also committed to labor law reforms. In July 2013, the government adopted
amendments to the 2006 Bangladesh Labour Act (BLA) to improve
occupational health and safety conditions and to boost workers’
rights, but the latter still falls short of international labor standards.118 In September 2018, the government lowered the membership threshold requirements for trade union registration from 30 to20 percent of the total members of the factory workforce.119 The
2018 European Commission report on Bangladesh labor called forlegislative changes to the BLA and its implementing rules—particularly with respect to lowering the membership threshold requirements for unionization—to bring Bangladesh in line withinternational labor standards. It recognized the reduction ‘‘to forma union [from 30 percent] to 20 percent of the workforce [as] an important first step which needs to be fully applied in practice,’’ butthat the threshold ‘‘should be further lowered to comply with international labor standards.’’120 Labor rights advocates, including Solidarity Center, assert the threshold is still too high as compared toother countries.121 While the ILO Convention does not specify anumber for minimum membership in a trade union for registration,
it asserts that these requirements be ‘‘realistically attainable in all
relevant circumstances. However, minimum membership requirements must not act as a deterrent to the establishment of organizations in practice.’’122 Although Bangladesh has adopted standard
114 Bangladesh Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Inspection for Factories
and Establishments.
115 Id.
116 Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network& Worker Rights Consortium, Bangladesh Government’s Safety Inspection Agencies Not Readyto Take Over Accord’s Work, at 1 (Apr. 2019).
117 By comparison, the Accord’s complaint mechanism provides workers a tool to anonymously
submit safety and health complaints at Accord-covered RMG factories; ensures that workers areable to exercise their right to refuse dangerous work; protects workers from retaliation; and provides retailers with knowledge of factory-level issues that would otherwise go undetected andunreported. The Accord ensures the concerns are properly addressed and remediated. Clean
Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network & Worker
Rights Consortium, Bangladesh Government’s Safety Inspection Agencies Not Ready to Take
Over Accord’s Work, at 1 (Apr. 2019).
118 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 7 (Sept. 2018), https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/september/tradoc—157426.pdf.
119 ‘‘Government Cuts Requirement for Trade Union Registration,’’ BDNews24, Sept. 3, 2018.
120 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 8 (Sept. 2018).
121 Solidarity Center Representatives, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
122 The International Labour Organization, Substantive Provisions of Labor Legislation: Freedom Association, https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/dialogue/ifpdial/llg/noframes/ch2.htm#18.

28
operating procedures for trade union registration, government officials have broad discretion to decide on union registration applications.123
As the second of two international initiatives comes to an end,
responsibility for factory monitoring and remediation will shift tothe new RMG Sustainability Council and the government. International labor rights experts question the government’s capacity
and ability to ensure safety conditions in RMG factories under its
purview moving forward. Concrete progress made by the international initiatives could all be undone if the focus on complianceis not maintained.124
SUBCONTRACTING

An often overlooked element of Bangladesh’s garment industry isa two layer system whereby larger export-oriented factories subcontract garment production to smaller factories that operate in the
shadows. Given short turnaround times and slim profit margins described earlier in the report, subcontracting factories play a criticalrole in helping the large factories maintain low production costs
and manage the ebb and flow of orders. Factories that do subcontracting work generally do not have direct relationships with large
Western buyers.125 As a result, unauthorized subcontracted factories could be the most dangerous for workers’ safety. Tazreen
Fashions factory made clothes for Walmart as a subcontractor, although Walmart argues it did not authorize the factory to do thiswork, emphasizing the point that lack of oversight of these facilities poses a serious danger to safety of workers.126 As noted earlier
in the report, the deadly fire at Tazreen Fashions in November
2012 resulted in 112 deaths and more than 200 injuries.
The Associate Director of the Center for Business and Human
Rights, April Gu, argues that Western brands turn a blind eye tosubcontracting. ‘‘It’s an open secret. I mean, at one subcontracting
factory we visited, there was a quality control inspector on thefloor, from the Accord-covered supplier. Brands know that’s goingon; they know there’s this two-tier system that’s developed . . . thefast-fashion business model relies on it, because the supply chain
has to be flexible enough to accommodate large orders that comein at the last minute.’’127 There appears to be no consensus on thenumber of subcontracting factories in Bangladesh. The government
has not done a census on the industry.128 In May 2019, the government issued guidelines requiring subcontractor factories to havemembership in the industry associations (i.e. BGMEA and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association), minimum wage for workers at subcontracting factories, and government approval of factory structural designs.129
123 European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, at 7; Solidarity Center Representative, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
124 Email from U.S. Department of State Official, to Committee Staff, Aug. 8, 2019.
125 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 2.
126 Id. at 9.
127 Maya Singer, ‘‘Until Western Brands Take a Stand, the Lives of Bangladeshi Garment
Workers are at Risk,’’ Vogue, Dec. 4, 2018.
128 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 7.
129 ‘‘BGMEA, BKMEA Membership Must for Garment Subcontracting Factories,’’ NewAge
Business, July 2, 2019.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE KEY ACTORS SHAPING
FACTORY SAFETY AND LABOR RIGHTS IN
BANGLADESH
Safety in some of Bangladesh’s RMG factories has improved due
to unprecedented work and collaboration among international laboradvocates, industry leaders, the brands, and the government of
Bangladesh. The U.S. government and the European Union applied
diplomatic and economic pressure towards improvements in factory
safety and to a lesser extent, labor rights. Meanwhile, amid a competitive global RMG market, consumers are increasingly becoming
aware of the conditions under which their clothes are made. The
contributions of these stakeholders in shaping the Bangladesh
RMG landscape are discussed in detail in this chapter.
THE INTERNATIONAL SAFETY INITIATIVES:
THE ACCORD AND THE ALLIANCE

Shortly after the Rana Plaza collapse, well-known European retailers—such as Inditex, which is the Spanish parent company ofMango and Zara, Sweden-based H&M, and the British retail chain
Tesco—formed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. In addition, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety
was established, representing companies like Walmart Inc., Target
Corporation, and The Gap, Inc. Their member brands agreed to inspect supplying factories and committed to cut off any suppliers
that failed to meet safety standards set by them. The European-led
Accord included 220 brands, and the North American-led Allianceincluded 29 brands.130 The Accord’s steering committee included
representatives of major international unions and two Bangladeshi
labor federations.131
The initiatives have been a groundbreaking beacon of hope for
Bangladeshi garment workers and have set an international standard for how agreements among brands, suppliers, unions and workers should be designed and implemented. They produced the firstlegally binding and comprehensive set of standards for fire andbuilding safety measures that mandated inspection, remediation,and ongoing monitoring of the workplaces. The strength of the Accord, in particular, rested on enforcement mechanisms under which
hundreds of multinational labels, like H&M, Esprit, and American
130 Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, ‘‘Alliance Cites Progress Toward a Collective
Agreement on Worker Safety,’’ Apr. 11, 2018, http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/en/476progress-toward-collective-agreement (last visited Jan. 27, 2020).
131 Paul Barrett et al., Five Years after Rana Plaza, at 11.

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30
Eagle, ‘‘were formally liable for the safety conditions of their supplier factories.’’132
THE EUROPEAN-LED ACCORD’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In February 2014, the Accord initiated its fire, electrical, and inspection program across more than 2,000 RMG factories producing
for its factory signatories. Five years later, 85 percent of the safety
hazards identified during initial inspections across all Accord factories had been fixed; 150 Accord factories have fully remediatedtheir factories and 857 factories have completed more than 90 percent of remediation requirements.133 The Accord also reports significant progress on what it calls common safety issues. For instance, 97 percent of its factories removed the lockable or collapsible gates found onsite during initial safety inspections, allowing
for egress from a building in case of a fire or other emergency.134
Workers at Accord-covered factories can anonymously submit
complaints on a range of topics—including structural safety, forced
overtime, denial of sick leave or maternity benefits, and violenceand harassment, including gender-based violence and unfair termination. The Accord takes action by contacting factory owners to rectify the problem and investigating the complaint.135 If a factoryowner refuses to address the issue, the Accord informs the retailers
sourcing from that factory and terminates the business relationshipbetween the brand and all of the factory owner’s facilities.136 The
Accord indicated to Committee Staff that most workers’ issues get
resolved, and often by workers agreeing to separation from workwith payment.137 The Accord’s website reports that as of February
25, 2020, 175 factories have been made ineligible for business withAccord member buyers for failure to implement workplace safetymeasures.138
THE AMERICAN-LED ALLIANCE’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

A parallel international initiative, the Alliance for Bangladesh
Worker Safety, was formed by North American brands. Its mandate concluded in December 2018, and its final report shows thatover the last five years, the initiative inspected 714 factories, andcompleted 93 percent of remediation at its factories. The Allianceestimated that its 24-hour confidential worker hotline reachedmore than 1.5 million workers.139 The report notes that to date, theAlliance has suspended 178 factories for failing to make adequate
132 Michelle Chen, ‘‘6 Years after the Rana Plaza Collapse, Are Government Workers Any
Safer?’’ The Nation, July 15, 2019.
133 Accord
Bangladesh,‘‘Achievements
2013
Accord,’’
July
20,
2018,
https://
bangladeshaccord.org/updates/2018/07/20/achievements-2013-accord.
134 Id.
135 Rob Wayss, Executive Director, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
136 Elena Arengo et al., Calling for Remedy: The Bangladesh Accord Complaint Mechanism
has Saved Lives and Stopped Retaliation across Hundreds of Factories, International Labor
Rights Forum, at 10 (May 2019).
137 Rob Wayss, Executive Director, Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
138 Accord Bangladesh, https://bangladeshaccord.org/factories (last visited Jan. 27, 2020).
139 ‘‘Alliance Announces End of Its Tenure,’’ New Age Business, Dec. 14, 2018.

31
remediation progress.140 The Alliance’s final report notes that‘‘nearly 1.6 million workers have been trained to protect themselvesin case of a fire emergency, and the Alliance . . . developed local
training partners to expand the training beyond Alliance-affiliatedfactories [and] 181 worker safety committees have been formed,
giving workers a seat at the table with management in resolving
safety issues within their factories.’’141
THE SUCCESSOR TO THE AMERICAN-LED ALLIANCE, NIRAPON

When the Alliance shut down its operations in 2018, several
former Alliance members launched a new self-regulating platform
known as Nirapon (which roughly translates as ‘safe place’ inBangla). Nirapon is responsible for overseeing safety inspection, remediation, and training efforts at the 600 member factories fromwhich its members source.142 Nirapon’s member brands include
Abercrombie & Fitch, The Gap, Carter’s, Costco Wholesale, J.C.
Penney, Nordstrom, Macy’s, The Children’s Place, Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s.143
While noting that Nirapon will build on the achievements of the
Alliance, Nirapon CEO Moushumi Khan made clear that ‘‘the
Nirapon model is fundamentally different.’’144 The Alliance worked
directly with factories on factory remediation; Nirapon’s model is toconduct independent oversight and verification of safety and training compliance and will not suspend factories. Also, it will not publicly share safety compliance issues, and will keep this information
private with its members.145 The lack of transparency in the
Nirapon model will make it harder for local and international laboradvocates to hold brands and suppliers accountable for unsafe factories.
The BGMEA has reportedly sought to incorporate Nirapon into
the RMG Sustainability Council structure; however, Nirapon has
not agreed, to date, to be a part of the organization.146 On October22, 2019, after a factory owner sought a petition against Nirapon,
the courts barred Nirapon from conducting any safety monitoring
visits in factories for six months. The courts also asked Nirapon tojustify why it should not be ordered to join the RMG Sustainability
Council.147 Nirapon appealed the case; however, in December 2019,the courts upheld the earlier decision to impose the six monthban.148 Some observers view the court case against Nirapon as apossible pressure campaign by BGMEA.

140 Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, An Industry Transformed: Leaving a Legacy of
Safety in Bangladesh’s Garment Sector, (Nov. 2018), http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/
files/Alliance%20Fifth%20Annual%20Report%202018.pdf.
141 Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, ‘‘Alliance Fifth Annual Report 2018,’’ Dec. 11,2018.
142 ‘‘Factory Safety: Nirapon Comes in Place of Alliance,’’ The Daily Star, Apr. 30, 2019.
143 Nirapon, Membership, https://www.nirapon.org/membership/ (last visited Jan. 27, 2020).
144 ‘‘Factory Safety: Nirapon Comes in Place of Alliance,’’ The Daily Star, Apr. 30, 2019.
145 Id.
146 Representative of Nirapon, Meeting with Committee Staff, Nov. 22, 2019.
147 ‘‘High Court Imposes Ban on Nirapon for 6 Months,’’ New Age Business, Oct. 23, 2019.
148 Simon Glover, ‘‘Nirapon loses appeal against High Court ban,’’ Ecotextile News, Dec. 3,
2019.

32
THE BANGLADESH GARMENT MANUFACTURERS AND
EXPORTERS ASSOCIATION (BGMEA)

The BGMEA is a national trade association of garment manufacturers that wields extraordinary power and political influence inthe country. While the law does not give the BGMEA the authority
to serve a regulatory function, in practice the BGMEA exerts regulatory authority in certain areas. For example, the government entrusts the BGMEA with issuing a utilization declaration to factories, which is essentially a license required to export materials.
The BGMEA also takes part in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.149 Its members are important drivers of the national
economy; in addition to their ownership of garment factories, anumber of them are Members of Parliament, and owners of television stations and newspapers, and other commercial enterprises.150
The BGMEA has a clear incentive to ensure building safety to
avoid attracting negative international attention to the RMG industry again. While the garment industry has turned Bangladesh
into the second largest exporter of RMG in the world, trailing only
China, there are other countries—such as Vietnam—that arestrong contenders for the number two spot.151 The RMG sector produced over 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports and contributed to11.1 percent of the GDP in fiscal year 2017-2018.152
Current BGMEA President Rubana Huq was elected in April
2019. She is the managing director of Mohammadi Group, a conglomerate that owns multiple factories supplying brands like H&M
and Primark.153 Huq made it an early priority of her presidency towork with the government of Bangladesh, global brands, and theAccord to establish the Ready-Made Garment Sustainability Council, a new locally-led safety initiative that will take over the Accord’s operations. Huq stated during her election speech that Bangladesh’s RMG industry’s failure to create its own regulatory bodywas a huge mistake, and that in her new capacity she intended tocreate a regulatory agency to supervise and monitor the industry.154 Huq has reached that goal with the creation of the RMG
Sustainability Council.
THE RMG SUSTAINABILITY COUNCILIn April 2018, the Bangladeshi High Court ruled the government
could not extend the Accord’s tenure following a writ petition filed
by a supplier accusing the Accord of wrongdoing.155 Labor activists
believe the courts pursued action against the Accord under pres149 BGMEA, ‘‘BGMEA’s Activities,’’ Sept. 3, 2019, http://www.bgmea.com.bd/home/about/
BGMEASACTIVITIES.
150 Jim Yardley, ‘‘Garment Trade Wields Power in Bangladesh,’’ The New York Times, July24, 2013.
151 Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, ‘‘RMG Global Market Share, Bangladesh Loses as Vietnam Gains,’’
Dhaka Tribune, Aug. 4, 2019.
152 Id.
153 Anuradha Nagaraj, ‘‘First Female Boss Vows to Shake up Bangladesh’s Fashion Factories,’’Reuters, Apr. 9, 2019.
154 Satarupa Barua, ‘‘First Female President of Bangladesh Garment Group Eyes Advances,’’
Voice of America, May 21, 2019.
155 The writ asserted that the Accord acted improperly after its inspectors found the remediation at the owners’ factories insufficient and Accord retailers broke their relationship with the
supplier. Refayet Ullah Mirdha, ‘‘Accord’s Extension Runs into Trouble,’’ The Daily Star, May
17, 2018.

33
sure from the BGMEA.156 In May 2018, the High Court in Bangladesh ordered the Accord to cease operations.157 The Accord appealed this decision, and the Supreme Court eventually held ahearing on the matter one year later in May 2019.158 Before thehearing date, the Accord and the BGMEA developed a transition
plan that they submitted to the court. The court decided the Accord
could continue operations for approximately 281 days in order totransition to a new safety entity called the RMG Sustainability
Council.159
In January 2020, the Accord, the BGMEA, and the Bangladesh
Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association entered into anagreement, which commits the three parties to ‘‘initiate a timebound transition process in which all major functions of the Accord
office in Bangladesh will transition before 31st of May 2020 into
the national initiative RSC [RMG Sustainability Council].’’160 The
RMG Sustainability Council is a private initiative and separate
from, but complementary to, the government’s regulatory powers
and bodies.161
The RMG Sustainability Council is to be governed by a Board of
Directors that includes an equal number of representatives fromthe industry, brands, and trade unions.162 According to the agreement, the new entity will retain all safety and health inspections,and remediation, training, and complaints handling functions
maintained by the Accord.163 The credibility of the institution will
be determined by a number of factors, including the true balanceof power on the Board of Directors.164
Some notable elements of the agreement require the RMG Sustainability Council to retain the Accord’s practice of full public disclosure of inspection results and remediation activities; to maintainthe Accord’s independent complaints mechanism; to share datawith the Accord Foundation in Amsterdam, but the terms of accessto RMG Sustainability Council data will be specified at a later
date; and to appoint a Chief Safety Officer (i.e. inspector) retaining
the independence, authorities, autonomy, and reporting requirements as practiced by the Accord.165 According to the agreement,
the RMG Sustainability Council’s safety inspectors must be credible and independent and have the ability to recommend that noncompliant factories be restricted from selling to apparel brands.
Labor advocates assert that ‘‘[w]hile many important details
about the future Accord mechanism remain to be decided, there are
156 Union leaders, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
157 Refayet Ullah Mirdha, ‘‘Accord’s Extension Runs into Trouble,’’ The Daily Star, May 17,
2018.
158 Weixin Zha, ‘‘Uncertainty Lingers as Bangladesh Accord and Government Fail to Reach
Agreement,’’ Fashion United, Feb. 18, 2019; ‘‘Bangladesh Factory Safety Monitors Get Court Extension,’’ France24, May 19, 2019.
159 ‘‘Bangladesh Factory Safety Monitors Get Court Extension,’’ France24, May 19, 2019.
160 Transition Agreement between Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and
BGMEA/BKMEA, (Jan. 14, 2020), http://bgmea.com.bd/bgmea/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Accord-BGMEA-RSC.pdf.
161 Id.
162 Id.
163 Id.
164 International Labor Rights Advocates, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
165 Transition Agreement between Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and
BGMEA/BKMEA, (Jan. 14, 2020).

34
concerns about the [RMG Sustainability Council] because of thebrands and BGMEA’s potential influence over the complaints process, and their ability to self-regulate.’’166 The notion that BGMEA
would ultimately police itself in an industry from which it profits
is questionable. As one labor expert put it, ‘‘the BGMEA cannot beleft to cut its own chicken.’’167 For the RMG Sustainability Council
to prove effective, workers’ representatives must have a comparable
level of voting power to the BGMEA and brands on the RMG Sustainability Council Board of Directors.
The Accord’s effectiveness also derives from its ability to compel
factories to be compliant with safety standards. The Accord ‘escalation protocol’ holds noncompliant factories accountable because iffactory owners do not comply, the Accord will terminate the factory’s business relationship with the buyer.168 BGMEA officials did
not indicate in conversations with Committee Staff their intent toretain this protocol, and instead referred to the BGMEA’s power towithdraw a non-compliant factory’s utilization declaration.169 The
BGMEA argues that this escalation tool is stronger given thatwithout a utilization declaration, non-compliant factories cannot
export to any destination country, including Turkey and Russia, as
opposed to only being blocked from Western countries where mostAccord signatory brands are based.170 Revoking utilization declarations appears to be a stronger tool for holding noncompliant factories accountable if the BGMEA enforces it when any factory fails
to meet safety standards.
The uncertain fate of the Accord after the past year has led toboth employers and brands delaying repairs. Life-threatening hazards remain uncorrected in some factories covered by the Accord,
as a result.171 It will be critically important for these Accord-covered factories to complete outstanding remediation before handover
to the RMG Sustainability Council.
Bangladeshi labor activist Kalpona Akter asserts that the Accord’s biggest achievement is the drop in severe, fatal factory accidents: ‘‘[After] experiencing these hundreds and thousands of workers dying in the factory collapses, it’s a phenomenal change, andit should get recognition, and it should be continued.’’172 Fellow
labor union leader Nazma Akter emphasized that ‘‘[t]he Accord has
saved our industry, our country.’’173 RMG workers and labor activists fear that the departure of the Accord will have dire consequences for workplace safety and labor rights. The government
has a responsibility to ensure a comprehensive and credible transition to ensure the Accord’s progress in improving factory safety
standards is not lost.
166 Email from International Labor Rights Advocate, to Committee Staff, Nov. 15, 2019.
167 International Labor Rights Advocate, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
168 The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, ‘‘Ineligible Suppliers for Businesswith Accord brands,’’ Jan. 5, 2018, https://bangladeshaccord.org/2018/08/22/ineligible-suppliers/.
169 BGMEA Representative, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
170 Id.
171 Email from International Labor Rights Forum Representative, to Committee Staff, Nov. 20,
2019.
172 Michelle Chen, ‘‘6 Years after the Rana Plaza Collapse, Are Garment Workers Any Safer,’’
The Nation, July 15, 2019.
173 Union Leader Nazma Akter, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPEANUNIONRESPONSE
TO
THE
TAZREEN FASHIONS AND RANA PLAZA
TRAGEDIES
U.S. RESPONSE

Following the Tazreen Fashions and Rana Plaza tragedies, theUnited States suspended Bangladesh’s trade benefits under the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in June 2013, in responseto the government of Bangladesh’s failure to recognize RMG factory
workers’ internationally recognized labor rights.174 The UnitedStates subsequently negotiated a labor action plan with the government that, if implemented, would have provided a basis for reinstatement of GSP trade benefits. To date, the United States has
not reinstated GSP trade benefits due to lack of sufficient progressin the plan’s implementation, despite assertions by the governmentof Bangladesh to the contrary. The original intent of the action
plan was that the government of Bangladesh would implement it
within a reasonable period of time; however, nearly seven years
later it has not been fully implemented. In addition, new problems—particularly abuse of workers and increased violations ofworkers’ rights—have arisen that make the action plan largely outdated.175 Given the overall deterioration of the labor environment
in Bangladesh, the United States should update the labor action
plan to reflect these new challenges in Bangladesh’s RMG sector.
U.S. ASSISTANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor deployed a labor attachéto the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka to manage the Bangladesh laborrights portfolio. The creation of this senior position demonstrated
the U.S. commitment to worker safety and labor rights in Bangladesh. The labor attaché, who concluded her assignment in 2016,
played a senior role in elevating the issue in the bilateral relationship and provided some measure of accountability. After almost
three years, in September 2019, Embassy Dhaka hired a labor analyst to monitor the labor situation in Bangladesh.176 The Obamaadministration had appointed a Special Envoy for International
Labor Rights, who led the State Department’s global efforts to advance labor rights. The Trump administration has left the post un174 Press Release, Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Labor& the Department of State, Statement by the U.S. Government on Labor Rights and Factory
Safety in Bangladesh, July 19, 2013, https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2013/july/usg-statement-labor-rights-factory-safety.
175 U.S. Government Official, Meeting with Committee Staff, Oct. 3, 2019.
176 Email from State Department Official, to Committee Staff, Jan. 28, 2020.

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filled, which reflects the lack of priority it places on international
labor rights.
The Department of Labor, the United States Agency for International Development, and the Department of State’s Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor bureau have expended, to date, at least$23.2 million on labor rights programs in Bangladesh since2011.177 The Trump administration has consistently sought to decrease labor-related programming worldwide, consistent with its
broader efforts to shrink foreign aid, and continues to seek reduced
funding for the Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Affairs—an office that helps combat poor working conditions and organize labor unions around the world. For example, for Fiscal Year
(FY) 2019, President Trump requested $18.5 million for the Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Affairs global programs, a sharp decrease from the bureau’s allotted $86.1 million in2017.178 Despite the administration’s efforts to significantly reduce
global labor programs, the Department of Labor’s budget operatingplan shows $96.1 million went toward these programs in FY 2020.
However, President Trump’s FY 2021 request again seeks to slash
this number to $18.6 million.179
The United States also has a longstanding history of providing
support to the ILO. The State Department’s Congressional Budget
Justification for FY 2021 shows actual assistance to the ILO in FY
2019 to be $84.5 million instead of the Trump administration’s requested $42.5 million, and estimates that FY 2020 will be $86.4
million. However, the Trump administration has requested again to
cut this assistance by almost half, down to $42.1 million, in its FY
2021 request.180
Congress, however, has denied these requested funding cuts andmaintained resources for international labor programming abroad
through the appropriations process. Since the Rana Plaza tragedy,
from FY 2014 through 2019, Congress has earmarked a total of $20
million for labor rights in Bangladesh.181
EU SUSTAINABILITY COMPACTThe United States joined the European Union (EU) Sustainability Compact in 2013, which is a tripartite agreement between
the EU, the government of Bangladesh, and the ILO. The Sustainability Compact’s goals are broadly consistent with the U.S. 16point labor action plan, as is its assessment of the government’s
lack of progress.182
177 Email from USAID Official, to Committee Staff, Feb. 2, 2020.
178 U.S. Department of Labor, FY 2019 Department of Labor Budget in Brief, at 42, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/general/budget/2019/FY2019BIB.pdf.
179 Id. at 47.
180 U.S. Department of State, Congressional Budget Justification: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Feb. 10, 2020, at 41, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2020/02/FY-2021-CBJ-Final.pdf.
181 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-76, Explanatory Statement, 9Cong. Record 160 at H1165; Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015,
Pub. L. No. 113-235, Explanatory Statement, 151 Cong. Record 160 at H9952; Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-113, Explanatory Statement, H. Cmte. Print Bk. 2 at
1632; Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-31, Explanatory Statement, 76
Cong. Record 163 at H4055; Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-141, Explanatory Statement, H. Cmte. Print Bk. 2 at 1800; Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019,
Pub. L. No. 116-6, H. Rept. 116-9 at 838.
182 Press Release, Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Labor& the Department of State, Statement by the U.S. Government on Labor Rights and Factory

37
The impact of foreign assistance on promoting labor rights is not
only measured by the dollars spent or the number of unions registered—but also by the change in the culture around labor rights,
whereby authorities and factory owners respect freedoms of association and collective bargaining. Given the lack of political will toprotect and advance labor rights and ensure accountability forabuse of workers in Bangladesh, U.S. assistance and bilateral diplomatic engagement with Bangladesh must consistently prioritizethese issues.
THE BRANDS’ RESPONSE TO THE TAZREEN FASHIONSAND RANA PLAZA TRAGEDIES

Apparel brands and retailers have an important role to play inensuring protection of labor rights and safe conditions in factories
from which they directly and indirectly source. However, despite
the fact that many brands joined the Accord and the Alliance, gaps
in worker safety and respect for worker rights persist. In fact,
American brands have recently been tied to garment factories thatappear unsafe. An October 2019 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) investigation traced a shirt that a third-party seller listed on Amazon
for $4.99 to a factory in Chittagong ‘‘that has no fire alarms andwhere doors are of a type managers can lock and keep workers
in.’’183 The WSJ found ‘‘other apparel on Amazon made in
Bangladeshi factories whose owners have refused to fix safety problems identified by two safety-monitoring groups [the Alliance andthe Accord], such as crumbling buildings, broken alarms, and missing sprinklers and fire barriers.’’184 The WSJ also found shipping
records that tied Bangladeshi factories that had been banned under
the international safety initiatives to Walmart and its online marketplace Walmart.com, as well as other American retailers including Target, Sears, and Kmart. Some items from these banned factories were reportedly sold directly by Walmart or by third parties
on Walmart’s online marketplace.185
In response to the WSJ report, an Amazon spokesperson said‘‘Amazon inspects factories that supply its own brands to ensure
they are in line with international safety standards similar to thoseof the safety-monitoring groups. . . . Amazon doesn’t inspect factories making clothing that it buys from wholesalers or that comesfrom third-party sellers. Instead it expects those wholesalers andsellers to adhere to the same safety standards.’’186 A Walmart
spokesperson indicated they are reviewing items that Walmart isdirectly selling and in talks with their suppliers.187 Target removed
at least one listing after the WSJ article was published but declined to comment, according to the WSJ. Sears and Kmart are reSafety in Bangladesh, July 19, 2013, https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2013/july/usg-statement-labor-rights-factory-safety; European Commission, Implementation of the Bangladesh Compact: Technical Status Report, (Sept. 2018).
183 Justin Scheck et al., ‘‘Amazon Sells Clothes from Factories Other Retailers Blacklist,’’ The
Wall Street Journal, Oct. 23, 2019.
184 Id.
185 Id.
186 Id.
187 Id.

38
portedly importing from banned factories but also did not respondto questions about their sourcing policies.188
BRAND PURCHASING PRACTICES

In conversations with Committee Staff, the one issue that garment workers, union leaders, labor rights advocates, andBangladeshi officials could all agree on was that brands need to increase their purchasing prices and improve their purchasing practices.189 While some global brands insist that suppliers ensurelabor rights and safe work environments, their purchasing practices often incentivize the opposite behavior. Low purchase prices,demands for fast turnaround, unfair penalties, and poor forecasting
affect the suppliers’ bottom line and often squeeze suppliers financially, driving them to cut corners in ways that exacerbate unsafe
conditions and workplace abuses.190 For example, the pressure tosimultaneously lower costs while increasing speed and delivery
time results in factory managers insisting on long hours for workers.191 Countries with abundant cheap labor, such as Bangladesh,
are unfortunately well-placed to meet these demands.
Brands generally require their RMG supplier factories to respect
their codes of conduct to enter a business relationship, but rarely
factor compliance with those codes into what they pay the suppliers.192 To date, most brands have not prioritized paying higher
prices to suppliers to help compensate for increased costs, including
wage increases.193 However, some have participated in efforts suchas the Action, Collaboration, and Transformation (commonly known
as ACT) initiative, which seeks to address the issue of living wage
in the garment supply chain; the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights purchasing practices initiative,
which seeks to develop a series of evidence-based indicators andbenchmarks for best practices by examining the interlinkages between company purchasing practices and factory-level outcomes forworkers; and the Better Buying initiative, which offers information
and analysis about good purchasing practices. Primary responsibility for abusive and unsafe workplace conditions lies with factoryowners; however, if brands are committed to clean supply chains,
they need to ensure that their own business practices do not increase the risk of abuse and safety hazards. Steps could include improving purchasing practices, avoiding unfair penalties imposed on
suppliers, and increasing how much they pay suppliers for goods.
In addition, as mentioned earlier, the ILO Governing Body of theInternational Labour Office, composed of governments, workers,
and employers will decide in the coming months whether to establish a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to examine complaints against
the government of Bangladesh for violating ILO conventions, including on freedom of association and collective bargaining.194
Brands will have an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment
188 Id.
189 Union Leaders, Interview with Committee Staff, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Staff Visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 2019.
190 Human Rights Watch, Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly, at 31 (Apr. 2019).
191 See, e.g., id, at 4.
192 Id. at 15.
193 Id. at 15-18.
194 International Labor Rights Advocate, Phone Call with Committee Staff, Sept. 27, 2019.

39
to safety of workers and protection of labor rights by supporting
the establishment of the COI.195
CONSUMERS

Shopna, the Dhaka-based garment worker referred to in the Executive Summary, said in June 2019 that, ‘‘It makes me happy that[consumers] are wearing something that I made. But I want to letthem know that this is more than a piece of cloth. This piece ofcloth is bathed in my blood, sweat and dignity. I’ve sacrificed allof that to be able to make a pair of pants that you will wear andfeel comfortable.’’196
American consumers care about how their clothes are being
made, and are increasingly rejecting clothing stained with theblood of factory workers. A 2018 study known as the Conscious
Consumer Spending Index by marketing agency Good.Must.Grow.
found that 32 percent of Americans actively boycotted products andservices within the past year that were not socially responsible, arecord high.197 According to the same poll, a majority of Americans
said that they would not buy a brand that does not pay workers
a fair living wage.198
The Clean Clothes Campaign, a global alliance dedicated to improving working conditions, and the Changing Markets Foundation, an organization focused on increasing the market share ofsustainable products, commissioned a survey (7,701 interviews) inNovember 2018, which showed that 72 percent of respondents fromthe UK, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Poland andSpain believe clothing brands should be held responsible for what
happens during the manufacturing process.199 Another 81 percent
of respondents are concerned about the working conditions of theemployees.200
This combination of committed organizations and consumer opinion demonstrates that Americans care about how their clothes arebeing produced and demand more information on working conditions in fashion supply chains. Pressuring the government of Bangladesh to ensure it improves safety conditions and workers’ rights
is in the long-term interest of businesses from a cost and reputation perspective.
CONCLUSION
The government of Bangladesh must prioritize respect for therights of Bangladeshi workers, and their protection from unsafe
conditions, above economic growth, particularly amid rising global
concern among consumers about the conditions under which theirclothes are made. Bangladesh cannot withstand the daily tragedies
faced by RMG workers subject to abuse and sexual exploitation.
195 Email from International Labor Rights Advocate, to Committee Staff, Oct. 7, 2019.
196 ActionAid, ‘‘80 Percent of Garment Workers in Bangladesh Have Experienced or Witnessed
Sexual Violence and Harassment at Work,’’ June 10, 2019.
197 Good.Must.Grow., ‘‘Politics, Violence, and Price Tags Creating Drag on Social Responsibility, According to Sixth Annual Conscious Consumer Spending Index,’’ Dec. 13, 2018, https://
goodmustgrow.com/cms/resources/ccsi/ccsindexpressrelease2018.pdf.
198 Id.
199 Ipsos MORI, ‘‘Sustainable Fashion Survey: Prepared for Changing Markets Foundation,’’Nov. 2018.
200 Id.

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While corporate international responses have helped to considerably improve the safety culture around garment factories, only
Bangladesh can change its attitude towards freedom of associationand protecting its garment workers from abuse. These workers fuelBangladesh’s economy. It behooves the government to take bold action against those who abuse them.
Nearly seven years after Rana Plaza, safety improvements in the
sector are real, but require continued commitment to be sustained.
The responsibility for safety in Bangladesh’s factories will soonfully shift to the government and the RMG Sustainability Council.
The onus is on the government of Bangladesh and industry leaders
to create a culture that not only ensures safe factory buildings, butalso safe workers. A ‘‘Bangladeshi-led’’ effort is not limited to thegovernment or BGMEA—it must also provide space for
Bangladeshi workers and labor unions to defend their rights andprotect themselves from abuse while helping build a stronger national economy. Only then will ‘‘Made in Bangladesh’’ become atrue label of pride for all the people of Bangladesh.

FULL LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONSFOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedomof Peaceful Assembly and of Association should:• Immediately launch an investigation into allegations of widespread abuse—including gender-based violence—of RMG workers in Bangladesh.
• Conduct a country visit to Bangladesh focused on workers’
rights to associate, join a union, conduct union activities, andbe free from retaliation, such as retaliatory firings and false
criminal charges.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) should:• Launch a Commission of Inquiry on Bangladesh in response toalleged violations of the ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, and Right toOrganise and Collective Bargaining.
• Focus technical assistance on increasing the number of genuine unions while building union leaders’ capacity to organize
and collectively bargain.
• Consider establishing a multi-stakeholder task force, organizedwith the government of Bangladesh and local industry, andcomprised of global brands and international financial and development institutions. The mandate of this task force would
be to adopt a shared responsibility model that would allow enhanced coordination between key stakeholders (governments,
brands, and workers representatives) and facilitate providing
the financial resources necessary to make garment industry
factories safer and to enhance the rights of workers.
FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENTThe U.S. Government should:• Support, in its capacity as a member of the ILO’s Governing
Body of the International Labour Office, the establishment of
an ILO Commission of Inquiry on Bangladesh in response toviolations of the ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association
and Protection of the Right to Organise, and Right to Organise
and Collective Bargaining. Urge other members of the ILO governing body to support the inquiry.
• Maintain the suspension of U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade benefits for the government of Bangladesh
(41)

42
until it fully implements the U.S. 16-point labor action plan
(formerly known as the GSP Action Plan).
• Update the U.S. 16-point labor action plan to reflect the ongoing challenges in Bangladesh’s RMG sector—including abuse ofworkers and increased violations of workers’ rights.
• Consider imposing visa bans against current and former officials as well as factory owners who engage in abuse of RMG
workers and use violence and intimidation to dissuade labororganizing efforts.
• Continue ongoing U.S. programs promoting labor rights in
Bangladesh, and increase funding for them going forward.
• Deploy a senior Department of Labor official to serve as laborattaché at U.S. Embassy Dhaka in order to ensure consistenthigh-level attention, and engagement on, factory safety concerns and labor rights and protections.
• Carry out, under the auspices of the Government Accountability Office, an analysis of the status of labor rights acrossthe globe to inform the U.S. government’s policy and programming.
• Provide U.S. funding for a safer garment industry in Bangladesh as part of a multi-stakeholder task force or othershared responsibility initiative.
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH AND THE BANGLADESH GARMENT MANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS
ASSOCIATION (BGMEA)The Government of Bangladesh should:• Investigate and prosecute factory owners and managementthat have been implicated in violating internationally recognized labor rights standards and domestic labor laws, including
by engaging in anti-union activity and committing abuseagainst workers.
• Expeditiously complete pending investigations of unfair labor
practices. Dedicate funding for the Ministry of Labour and Employment to hire lawyers to properly prosecute these cases in
the labor court.
• Properly compensate workers who were victims of false criminal cases filed by factory management and police.
• Protect unions and their members from anti-union discrimination and reprisal. Any alleged worker misconduct or offense related to industrial issues should be filed in labor courts and/or with the Ministry of Labour and Employment or Department of Inspections for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
No such case should be filed or accepted in criminal courts orpolice stations.
• Publicly declare that the BGMEA will not be allowed to selfregulate in the RMG industry. Transfer authority to issue ‘‘utilization declarations’’—which is essentially a license to export—from the BGMEA to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Expand the utilization declarations requirements to include standards on factory safety and labor rights.

43• Further revise the country’s 2006 labor law to conform withinternational labor standards, including reducing arbitrary administrative burdens for trade union registration and further
lowering the threshold for membership to start a union. Consult civil society and independent trade unions in reforms.
• Expeditiously register unions that meet administrative requirements and transparently provide information to applicants throughout the process.
• Reduce discretion in processing union registration applications
by developing clear and concrete standards for approval anddenial.
• Ensure the DIFE public database on factory safety and remediation efforts has complete and up-to-date information. Ensure
full disclosure of RMG employment database systems—including the BGMEA’s—for proper investigation into potential misuse against workers.
• Ensure RMG workers have access to an anonymous complaints
hotline.
BGMEA should:• Ensure that the workers’ representatives have power equal to
the BGMEA and participating brands on the RMG Sustainability Council Board of Directors.
• Ensure any complaints mechanism, including the complaints
hotline managed by the RMG Sustainability Council, maintains the anonymity of the individual filing a complaint.
• Ensure RMG Sustainability Council inspectors are independent and free of influence from factory owners.
• Hold factory owners and management accountable for credible
allegations of worker abuse and violations of labor rights.
FOR THE APPAREL BRANDS AND RETAILERS
Apparel Brands and Retailers sourcing from Bangladesh should:• Prioritize labor rights in contracts and in interactions withmanagement of supplying factories and ensure that all factories involved in the supply chain respect labor rights, in particular the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
• Ensure that pricing and sourcing contracts with RMG factories
incorporate cost of labor and safety compliance—including costof the minimum wage increase, overtime payments, and alllegal benefits—to eliminate any incentive for unsafe conditions
and worker abuse.
• Ensure that local initiatives maintain the high standards established by the international factory safety initiatives, including breaking contracts with suppliers that are non-compliant
with safety and labor rights standards.
• Include freedom of association and protection against antiunion discrimination in factory audit and inspection regimes.

44• Collectively develop and implement a policy of zero-tolerance
on violence and harassment, and for suppliers who consistently
engage in anti-union activity.
• Support the establishment of an ILO Commission of Inquiry in
Bangladesh.
• Ensure that the RMG Sustainability Council and Nirapon
maintain the high standards established by the Accord and theAlliance respectively.

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