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Article

2 May 2013

Author:
Scott Nova, Worker Rights Consortium, and Liana Foxvog, SweatFree Communities

Commentary: To Make Factories Abroad Safe, Buyers Must Raise Prices

"Apparel companies claim they are regularly inspecting their factories...yet every deadly fire in recent years has happened at a factory that had been subject to...inspections. It is impossible to imagine a more dismal record of failure...A broad coalition of unions and labor rights organizations is pressing brands and retailers to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement, an initiative that contains...an obligation to raise prices to factories to fund the cost of essential safety renovations and repairs; inspections of all factories...with full public disclosure of the results;...and protection of workers’ rights to organize and fight for their own safety... – all legally enforceable...The public should not be fooled: unless global companies are willing to raise prices...and make...commitments that can be enforced, there will be more fires and more deaths...It would cost the brands and retailers less than 10 cents per garment to make their factories in [Bangladesh] safe and put an end to this horror."

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