#TUC13 Congress: River Island: Sign the Bangladesh safety accord now! "Keep away from fire"

Hat tip to TUC Going to work "We visited River Island in Bournemouth with Bangladeshi garment workers’ union President Amirul Haque Amin. River Island are one of the 8 UK clothing firms still holding out from signing the Fire and Building Safety Accord for Bangladesh, which could save many lives in that country’s hazardous garment industry.

 

Most UK companies that source clothing in Bangladesh have signed the Accord, which will pay for safety inspections and repairs aimed at stopping disasters like the Rana Plaza building collapse and the Tazreen factory fire.

River Island need to step up to their responsibilities to the people who make our clothes. Nobody’s life is worth as little as a few pence extra on a T-shirt.

Please help us convince River Island and the other 7 UK brands who still won’t sign by sending them an email.

 

Send an email now

 

And please also sign our friends SumOfUs.org’s petition to River Island to face their responsibilities and sign now.

 

Sign the petition now"

#TUC13 Congress - Sunday

TUC 2013 Congress started off for me with a UNISON delegation meeting in our hotel.  During which we agreed positions on motions and composites as well as our speakers.

Congress kicked off at 4pm at the Bournemouth BIC venue. There was the traditional welcome committee outside who expressed concern about our lower limb disorders (TUC - Get off your Knees - General Strike Now!).

This year the TUC President is Lesley Mercer from the union CSP (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy). She introduced Sororal/fraternal delegates and visitors followed by the obituary of union activists who have died in the previous year and a silence for world peace. During the obituary they played Paul Robeson singing "Joe Hill 

Congress business for today was on Employment Rights and then Equalities.  Motion 54 was the most controversial. This motion included discussion of mass industrial action and was opposed by several unions.  It was passed overwhelmingly. UNISON voted in favour.

The President made her address and received the vote of thanks in return. Congress was prolonged in order to hear Amirul Haque Amir, the leader of the Bangladeshi Federation of Garment Workers speak about the  Rana Plaza building collaspe in April when over 1200 workers were crushed to death.

Congress finished at 7.15pm after which there was a reception for delegates by the TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady. During which I met Amirul.

After the reception I had a meal with fellow delegates then went off to the hotel early to go over my speech for tomorrow morning on the Housing debate.

Roll of Retail Shame: River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

I've just sent an email via the TUC Going to Work website to the shameful 8 UK retailers who have refused to sign the international "Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh".

I am sure that most people will remember the Rana Plaza building collaspe in April when over 1200 workers were crushed to death.

"The Accord commits companies to fund an independent safety inspection body that will involve workers in the process, through their unions, and to make long term deals with suppliers, offering more secure employment and training for workers. As such it represents a big deal for Bangladeshi workers".

The website has some clever software by which you can email the Shameful 8 and ask them to sign the Accord. There is a standard message you can send but you can also personalise it which may prove more effective. This is what I sent :-

"Dear Sir/Madam

I am a Councillor in the London Borough of Newham and I have also worked in Tower Hamlets for the past 20 years. Both boroughs have large Bangladesh communities.

I am horrified that your company has not signed the UNI accord and you are exploiting workers in Bangladesh and putting them at risk by making your clothes in potential death traps.

I understand that you are a private company but I will be contacting the Pension funds of Newham and Tower Hamlets Council to see if they have any investments in your company. The reputational damage and risk to your brand by not signing the Accord is huge.

I hope you reconsider your immoral and economically damaging decision".

Please click here to send your own message and encourage the sharing of this information. Also next time you go shopping just think about these brands and remember the rows of dead and disfigured bodies you saw on TV after the collapse. If your friends or family wear clothes from those stores who refuse to sign up to the Accord just remind them of the true cost of cheap fashion.... River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

The President of the Bangladeshi National Garment workers Federation Amirul Haque Amin is speaking tomorrow at the start of the TUC Congress.

Pensions Age article on Rana Plaza Building Collapse.

This is a short article I wrote on behalf of the Associated Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) for Pensions Age magazine last month (sorry can't find on line link).  See my previous post
on this wholly avoidable mass killing.

"I’m sure that everyone who watched the TV footage of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh would have been shocked and horrified. The death toll is now more than 1100. The reasons for the collapse are unclear but there has been suggestions that alterations to the building were made without official planning permission and allegations of local bribery and corruption.

UK clothing retailer Primark who sold goods produced in this building (which is owned by FTSE 100 Associated British Foods) has offered to help with compensation payments. This is all very good but the question that pension trustees should consider at their next board meeting is this.

Have they done all they can to ensure that the companies they invest and partly own take all reasonable steps to ensure that their supply lines do not profit from potential death traps?

To be clear, the direct responsibility for Rana Plaza lies in the hands of its owners and State authorities. However, as owners of companies that have benefited from the production of cheap clothing we also have a duty.

We need to make sure that our fund managers know that not only do we care about what is done in our name and with our money but we believe it makes long term financial sense that we only do business with companies that can demonstrate they take all their responsibilities seriously".

Pay 2p extra per teeshirt to save workers lives

Check out the TUC website Going to Work and the campaign it is running with LabourStart to make Garment factories in Bangladesh safe.

They point out that the people responsible for poverty wages and very poor safety standards are not consumers in the UK looking for bargain clothes but the global brands and retailers who set prices and therefore wage rates and safety standards.

If the £27 per month wages of these workers were to be doubled this would only cost an extra 2p per tee shirt sold in the UK. They would then not be so desperate for work regardless of conditions. Effective health and safety at work would cost even less. Especially if free trade unions were allowed in Bangladesh who could drive up safety standards.

All pension fund trustees should be scrutinising their fund managers about what they are doing to make sure that any investments they hold in any part of the garment supply chain (not just factories and shops but also finance, raw materials, construction, design, transport and insurances) act responsibly and make sure all workers are properly paid and safe. This is not just a matter affecting Bangladesh.

We have factories making Apple iPADS in China who treat their workers so badly that they have to put up suicide nets around high buildings.

Trustees own these assets on behalf of their beneficiaries and must take personal responsibility for what is done in their name and on their behalf. It is also a given in my book that investments in well managed companies that to not allow their supply chain workforce to be killed, do not employ child labour, do not bribe local officials nor destroy the environment - will produce superior long term returns for the pension fund.

Workers Memorial Day - The cost of cheap clothes is paid for in blood & why we are all guilty

Tomorrow is Workers Memorial Day (WMD). An international day of remembrance for those who have been killed in accidents at work or who have died of work related ill health.

As I type this rescuers are still trying to save workers trapped for days in the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The BBC report that at least 336 people have died and 600 are missing.

WMD is also a campaigning day to fight for the living as well as remember the dead.

We all have to take responsibility for the dreadful events in Dhaka. The ridiculous cheap prices for clothes at discount stores such as Primark or Matalan is paid for in blood. Shoppers need to understand this and demand responsible and accountable ethical sourcing.

But the problem is wider than this. No doubt the middle class John Lewis brigade will be shaking their heads in disgust at the thought of all these chavs buying their cheap clothes - while at the same time their pension and insurance policies are profiting from the world wide exploitation of the same workers.

Pension trustees need to raise their game and make sure that the companies they invest in have pro active and vigorous supply chain inspection regimes and that all their sub contractors truly respect workers rights and safety. 

We also need to make sure that that the huge contract pension and insurance funds that don't have any trustee oversight are brought into the responsible investment fold. If you pay into any product that invests in any part of this supply chain you can't wash your hands of your responsibilities as a owner and a beneficiary of what is done in your name.

Why don't we make UK companies and investors legally responsible for the reckless mass deaths of companies they invest in as they are for the manslaughter of workers they directly employ in the UK? 

Also, before we get too smug, don't forget the 20,000 plus Brits who die prematurely every year in this country because of their work.

Check the TUC website for list of local events to mark Workers Memorial Day.