Alliance now to give 4 months\\\' wages

The Alliance Thursday announced that workers of factories that would face suspension of their operations due to its assessment work would get compensation benefit for four months. Earlier the benefit was for two months.
In May, the Alliance -- in a 50-50 partnership with factory owners -- began giving funds directly to workers displaced as a result of factory closures and paid wages to more than 1,000 displaced workers to date.
The Alliance in a statement Thursday last said it will give compensation benefits, in the form of wages, to workers displaced as a result of factory remediation. The extended facility was made effective immediately.
 "Ensuring that no garment worker has to put herself at risk to earn a living is our top priority, we believe protecting and supporting workers must go hand in hand," said Ellen Tauscher, Alliance Independent Chair and former US Congresswoman. "We are committed to ensuring that as factory safety improvements are made, workers are not expected to pay the price."
On the other hand, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, another EU- based initiative of more than 170 brands, retailers and trade unions, is yet to come up with such a commitment despite frequent request of apparel leaders and the government, informed sources said.
Asked whether the workers of previously closed factories will get the extended benefit, M Rabin, managing director of Alliance said, if owners  are ready to pay, Alliance will also pay.  
However, the group has finished its visual assessment of 601 factories by July 10 deadline that started from March last.
 "Alliance inspection found 1.45 per cent garment factory building risky while 10 to 12 per cent have structural flaws that don't need partial or permanent closure but remediation," Mr Rabin said explaining its structural assessment findings.
 "So far three factories were permanently and four were partially closed while the official panel is yet to give its decision regarding the rest two," he said. He added that they are yet to get engineers' reports on the factories that were assessed at the end.
Replying to a question, he said corrective action plan for about 240 units has been given while another 240 are in the process of getting it while all units are expected to get their CAP by October next.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Regarding fire and electrical safety, he said the Alliance engineers have identified 10 major challenges including improper  electric wire connections, insufficient exit facilities and lack of smoke detectors, for ensuring fire safety in the country's readymade garment industry.
The other challenges are inadequate flammable liquid management, insufficient hose system and water flow condition and absence of adequate boiler rooms, aisles, assembly points and housekeeping arrangements.
The remediation work would start from August while it has been started in the Walmart-audited factories since December last, he said adding remediation would take 12 weeks to one year's time.
Remediation is time-consuming and also costly as many of the safety equipments like fire door and sprinkler are not produced in the country and are needed to be imported, he said.
He hoped that the remediation work would be speeded up with the government budgetary measures including duty waiver for safety equipments and pre-fabricated building materials.
However, the Alliance has provided funds for remediation to three owners while it is actively considering it for nine more owners in this regard, he replied.