Edinburgh Woollen Mill signs Bangladesh Accord

Edinburgh Woollen Mill, owner of high street chains

Peacocks and Jane Norman, has become the latest apparel retailer to sign up to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord, following months of pressure from campaign groups.

The move comes eight months from the Tazreen Fashions factory fire in Dhaka which killed more than a hundred workers and seriously injured many more. After trade union TUC announced a day of action against the retailer, which would have led to the groups’ stores being disrupted with protests.

By signing the union-backed agreement, Edinburgh Woollen Mill and its subsidiaries have agreed to improve safety in the country’s textiles factories with independent safety inspections, to pay for any remedial work, and to guarantee workers’ wages while the works are carried out.

Commenting on the signing TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Edinburgh Woollen Mill’s decision is good news for workers in Bangladesh, good news for UK shoppers – who now know one more British retailer has done the right thing – and good news for the company itself.

“This shows that campaigning pays off and that companies and brands listen to consumers who are worried about how the clothes they buy are made. It shows too that unions can make a difference anywhere in the world, and that better lives for working people are possible – even in countries like Bangladesh where poverty pay and government corruption are endemic.”

They join 114 other corporate signatories of the accord from 19 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and it means that only a handful of names  including Bench, Republic, and Bank on the UK high street haven’t signed up to the Accord.