Pakistan, the agreement in favor of workers in the textile sector is born (finally) and will be binding on the health and safety of workers

ROME – The new agreement is inspired by that of Bangladesh, signed after the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013, which has in fact transformed the country’s textile industry, finally securing, with critical restructuring interventions, over 1600 factories and 2.5 million male and female workers. More than 250 workers died in the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Karachi in 2012, the worst fire in the history of the global textile industry. As in Bangladesh, voluntary audit schemes in Pakistan have also failed: injuries and deaths in factories continue. That’s why a Binding agreement it is essential to secure the Pakistani textile industry. against the background of all this is the Clean clothes campaign(acronym CCC) – born in the Netherlands in 1989 – the largest alliance of trade unions and non-governmental organizations in the clothing sector: their campaigns focus on improving working conditions in the clothing sector.

Here are the terms of the signed Agreement:

– is legally binding on the brands;

– after carrying out comprehensive and transparent health and safety inspections to identify hazards, imposes restructuring plans with precise deadlines to eliminate them;

– ensures that suppliers have the resources to pay for the renovations;

– protects all workers in the brands’ supply chain;

– offers workers a confidential avenue to raise urgent health and safety issues and ensure rapid corrective action;

– documents its activities through extraordinary public transparency.

There are 187 signatory brands. The International Agreement has 187 signatory brands, of which at least half are supplied by Pakistan, thus including hundreds of factories and plants in the mechanism. After a ten-year campaign for factory safety conducted together with Pakistani workers, the trade unions and signatory organizations of the international agreement say they are satisfied with the announcement of this extension. Nasir Mansoor, secretary general of the National Federation of Trade Unions of Pakistanhe said, “After years of fighting for the Accord to be extended to Pakistan, our workers can finally fall under its monitoring and reporting mechanisms. If enough brands sign, workers will not have to fear for their lives.” when they go to work and will know who to turn to when their factory is unsafe. The strength of the Accord is that unions have the same power as companies in decision-making.”

“There will be more inspections and safety training.” Zehra Khan, secretary general of the Federation of Home WorkersHe added: “The Accord’s program will bring inspections, safety trainings and a grievance mechanism that will cover all health and safety issues, including gender-based violence, for Pakistani workers manufacturing for the signatory brands. Special care will need to be taken to ensure that female workers, who are often not officially registered and may be working from home, have the same access to this scheme as other workers.”

Deborah Lucchetti, “Clean Clothes”. “We are pleased that the innovative Agreement finally arrives in Pakistan, where it is needed more than ever. All the brands that source in Pakistan will promptly adhere to the agreement”, said Deborah Lucchetti, coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign. “Pakistan’s textile workers have been waiting for a result like this for ten years. We hope that in other important producing countries we don’t have to wait as long”.

The textile industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is the country in which the textile sector has the second largest number of jobs after agriculture, where about 9% of GDP and almost 70% of exports depend precisely on the fashion industry. Despite all this, there is a serious problem related to wages, which for workers are very low: 17,500 Pakistani rupees a month (equivalent to just under one hundred euros) must be enough to feed a family of seven. Textiles therefore represent the main segment of the Pakistani manufacturing sector. It has a workforce of 15 million people, about 30% of the total workforce and contributes 8.5% of the country’s GDP as well as 57% of its exports.