Opportunities and Limitations of the Accord : Need for a Worker Organizing Model

After Rana Plaza, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (“Accord”) and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, emerged as two international safety and inspections agreements. While these agreements were historic in that there had not been a unified effort by global brands to address safety issues, they were not a radical departure from the existing framework of corporate social responsibility programs by global brands. I discuss how the Accord functions more like a business service agreement than a labor agreement, is narrowly tailored to structural safety concerns and fails to address additional safety concerns impacting a female majority workforce, maintains the business model of garment production that keep wages low and discourages organizing and does not fundamentally change the socio-economic relationships between worker, owner and global brands. I argue that without a broader labor rights focus to these safety programs, binding global brands through agreement to follow and be liable for labor rights in their business practices, and change their business model, the impact of the Accord and similar agreements will remain limited