North American retailers set five-year Bangladesh factory plan

Goals include developing common safety standards within three months, sharing inspection results, and getting factories to support the democratic election and operation of worker participation committees.

An independent board chairman, set to be named in the next few weeks, will oversee the plan. Four retailers and four others will also be on the board.

The plan, Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, was developed with assistance from former U.S. Senators George Mitchell and Olympia Snowe, who acted as independent facilitators at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The group has asked Mitchell and Snowe to verify the effectiveness of the program over at least the first two years.

Some companies are also set to offer a combined total of over $100 million in loans and access to capital to help factory owners improve safety.

The North American group’s plan is being backed by the American Apparel & Footwear Association, Canadian Apparel Federation, National Retail Federation, Retail Council of Canada, Retail Industry Leaders Association, and the United States Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel.

A larger number of mostly European retailers and brands backed a safety accord put together with the help of labor unions. The group behind that plan includes the world’s two biggest fashion retailers, Inditex SA (ITX.MC), owner of the Zara chain, and H&M (HMb.ST). A small number of North American companies such as PVH Corp (PVH.N) signed onto that accord.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Doug Palmer in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Article Appeared @http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-bangladesh-factories-northamerica-idUSBRE9690IR20130710

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