Our nomination of Gap Inc. as an irresponsible company for its refusal to join the Bangladesh Safety Accord made the short list of nominees for the Public Eye Awards! Please support our campaign for corporate accountability in the apparel industry by voting for Gap.
The Public Eye Awards is a countermeasure that coincides with the World Economic Forum, to challenge the neoliberal policies of multinational corporations and raise awareness about solutions for a more socially and environmentally sustainable economy.
After a series of factory fires – and even after the Rana Plaza building collapse killed more than 1,100 workers – Gap still refused to join with unions in the legally-binding Bangladesh Safety Accord. The companies that have signed the Accord are making a contractual commitment to work with their suppliers and local and international trade unions to ensure that repairs are made and workers have the right to refuse dangerous work.
Gap, which previously sought to be a leader in factory monitoring, has criticized the Accord and instead teamed up with Walmart to corral a number of other North American companies into their own corporate-controlled program, which is unaccountable to workers in Bangladesh, and is hardly more than a facelift of the “corporate social responsibility” programs that have failed Bangladeshi workers in the past. Even now that 130 companies have joined the Accord and companies like Fruit of the Loom are signing onto both programs, Gap still refuses to listen to workers’ calls for real safety.
The Public Eye Awards, which will be held next week at the same time as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is a significant opportunity to raise the profile of our campaign for garment workers’ rights.
Please vote here and spread the word on facebook and twitter.
Vote Gap in the #PEAwards2014 for refusing to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord. http://t.co/l7m7B3NQCf
Thanks in advance for your vote!
Liana Foxvog
International Labor Rights Forum
