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The Pakistan Accord — a new, legally binding agreement spanning factory safety and improved working conditions for fashion’s supply chain — is the first regional successor of the Bangladesh Accord, paving the way for the evolution of the historic agreement signed following the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster.
The Pakistan Accord, also referred to as the Pakistan Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, is set to go into action in the spring of this year and will address working conditions and safety within the textile and garment supply chains of brands sourcing in Pakistan. It’s the first country-specific accord to be rolled out by the new International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, the renewed and expanded version of the Bangladesh Accord that was signed in 2021 by more than 200 brands and was intended to provide a model that could be adopted beyond Bangladesh. According to the International Accord, 110 of its signatory brands are currently sourcing from Pakistan. The plan is to introduce similar agreements in more countries.
The initial goal of the 2013 Accord was to create a safe Bangladeshi garment industry, where workers did not need to fear fires, building collapses, or other major hazards or accidents that are prevented with reasonable health and safety measures, says Joris Oldenziel, executive director of the International Accord. Since then it has evolved to introduce training programmes for safety committee members to monitor local factories, as well as create a space where workers can file complaints for issues relating to health and safety. “These components all contributed to the main goal: to avoid a Rana Plaza or factory fire that could be prevented with reasonable health and safety measures,” he says.
Expanding the Accord to other locations is part of their aim to create safer factories in garment-producing countries. Conversations with brands and retailers who have signed the Accord highlighted key sourcing locations and areas of interest. The Accord is currently hiring a chief safety officer who will oversee operations in Pakistan.
Although similar to the Bangladesh Accord, Oldenziel explains that the scope of the Pakistan Accord is different. Unlike Bangladesh, Pakistan has significantly more fabric and textile mills, he says, meaning the scope of the Accord will later expand to also cover fabric mills. Home textiles and accessories will also be covered. However, Oldenziel explains that how the Pakistan Accord would be implemented across fabric mills is yet to be determined, as “many brands do not have direct relationships with fabric mills, and we will need to analyse how that would work in terms of the leverage that the brands have; [as well as] the application of protocols and procedures under the Accord”.
For now, the focus remains on improving health and safety, says Oldenziel. The umbrella of health and safety is broad, with many concerns falling into this category — for example, he notes excessive working hours can have a subsequent impact on the workers’ health causing increased fatigue which in turn could cause a potential accident in the workplace. Other issues such as sexual harassment, gender-based violence and harassment are also covered by the Accord.
The next location for a region-specific Accord is yet to be decided. “We did feasibility studies in a number of countries that have been nominated by the brands,” says Alke Boessiger, deputy security of UNI Global Union, one of the key negotiators behind the Pakistan Accord (the Pakistan Accord is an agreement between trade unions, UNI Global Union and IndustriALL, and brand signatories to the International Accord). “We identified Pakistan as the first country in terms of priorities, and there are a number of other places. We just have to go step-by-step, one-by-one. It’s simply a capacity issue in terms of being able to roll out these programmes.” She explains that brands and retailers are tightening their budgets due to the state of the global economy and are less willing to invest funds to ensure their supply chains are safe. Fees range from $185,000 for heavyweight retailers and brands, to $2,500 for small brands.
Pakistan was one of the priority areas — along with Sri Lanka, Morocco and India — identified by the International Accord for potential expansion of the agreement. (The Accord itself still applies in Bangladesh.) However, the varying political landscape has made expanding the Accord a long and challenging process, says Boessiger. In Pakistan the “power lies within the provinces and not centrally with a national government”, she explains, which means discussions are required with each provincial government, who hold the political power in their own respective province. “You have to work with many different organisations, which of course makes it more difficult to create a local governance structure,” she adds, noting that the formula that worked for Bangladesh cannot easily be recreated across other countries, and subsequently requires a lot of time.
Experts argue that the regulations that transformed the garment industry in Bangladesh are not expanding to other countries fast enough. “Workers have been made to wait too long for progress,” says Theresa Haas, director of global strategies at the labour union Workers United. “Brands should do everything possible to ensure that expansion of the Accord’s protections continues.”
The Accord can provide brands and countries the opportunity to improve their public image. “These are processes that take time to negotiate,” says Mark Anner, director of the Center for Global Workers’ Rights and professor of labour and employment relations and political science at the Pennsylvania State University. “Brands, suppliers and governments should move faster and look at the example set by Bangladesh and see the importance of the Accord in protecting workers, which, in the process, protects the image of producing countries and the industry.”
Learnings from the Bangladesh Accord
Attitudes towards garment workers’ health and safety has become a growing concern for brands, acknowledges Oldenziel of the International Accord. Informal discussions with brands have highlighted a growing emphasis on the conditions garment workers are subjected to, he says, noting that brands are continuously looking for new places to source from — particularly after supply chains were impacted by Covid-19 disruptions and new US laws prohibiting the use of Xinjiang cotton.
Mandatory due diligence legislation, which is already in place in Germany, requires large companies to make sure social and environmental standards are observed in their supply chain. Similar laws are likely to be introduced in other neighbouring European countries, forcing brands to rethink their current supply chain models. “[These laws and legislations] only add to the further need for brands to have assurances in place, to have grievance mechanisms in place in their supply chains,” Oldenziel argues. “We think that there’s an opportunity for the Pakistan garment and textile industry to attract more business and to retain the business that they currently have.”
Current improvements to factories across Bangladesh have made it a more attractive place for brands to align themselves with, he says. “There are a lot of opportunities for countries to attract more business, and we believe we can help the industry in Pakistan to benefit from that by introducing the Accord and helping the industry become more safe and sustainable.”
“It's very clear that the industry’s attitude and approach to safety has changed,” says Boessiger of UNI Global Union. Factory owners in Bangladesh say the Accord identified flaws and has helped create better working environments to meet global standards. For example, Denim Expert’s Mostafiz Uddin says his factory was able to correct issues by working with the Accord, which carried out boiler safety inspections, fire safety checks, structural checks, as well as provide training to staff such as labour management training. He adds that the pressure to uphold these standards remains: “The brands also have their independent checking, quarterly and annually, so the pressure is still there especially from brands and retailers to [uphold] this safety; and I think it should be there.”
Governments, manufacturers and the Accord team need to work together to transform the local garment industry. He argues that the Accord would not have been as impactful had the government not supported the programme. Manufacturers in garment hotspots such as Bangladesh and Pakistan have the opportunity to rebrand and influence how they are seen by retailers. The Accord has encouraged Uddin to be more transparent and showcase certification to brands and retailers, alerting them to the health and safety standards of his workplace, which he says is attractive to brands who want to align themselves with good manufacturers that have good working conditions.
The effect the Bangladesh Accord has had on the garment industry is unambiguous, says Center for Global Workers’ Rights’s Mark Anner. “Workers are much safer now than at any time prior to the horrific Rana Plaza building collapse,” he says. Yet, nearly a decade on since its inception, workers safety across other international countries remains a pressing issue for the industry.
Although many hail the transformative nature of the Accord, work is still needed in order to create systemic change for garment workers. “As new factories emerge, they need to be inspected; and existing factories need continued oversight and follow up,” says Anner. “Brands continuously need to ensure their purchasing practices — most especially their prices — fully cover the cost of building safety,” he argues.
The potential to broaden the scope of the Accord is not completely off limits. The International Accord has developed an internal group that is exploring the possibilities of the Accord expanding to cover other human rights due diligence responsibilities. “There is also a commitment in the International Accord to look at other human rights diligence responsibilities… We will need to see whether there’s a need, and whether it is an added value, for the Accord to play a role,” says Oldenziel.
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