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Gap spearheads new alliance for Bangladeshi worker safety - It's a step forward, writes Marc Gunther, but the question remains – who is ultimately responsible for worker safety in Bangladesh?
As the US companies unveiled their alliance in Washington, student protesters gathered outside, chanting "Shame on Walmart" and decrying the plan as a "fake safety scheme." It's not. It's a serious plan, with some money behind it, that includes a commitment to transparency, and mechanisms to enable workers to speak out about unsafe conditions. It's not perfect – the alliance's glaring flaw is a lack of participation from unions – but the US companies hope to bring in Bangladeshi and international labour groups...