U.S. Congressman George Miller Travels to Bangladesh this Week to Inspect Garment Industry
WASHINGTON – A senior member of Congress is traveling to Bangladesh this week to personally inspect conditions in the world’s second largest garment industry that is experiencing a high rate of fatalities and injuries and to meet with workers, victims, and industry and government officials.
U.S. Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, is the first member of Congress to visit Bangladesh since more than 1,100 workers died and more than 2,500 were injured in the April 24th Rana Plaza building collapse that housed five garment factories, making it one of the worst industrial tragedies in world history.
Miller has been pressing major American companies whose products are made in Bangladesh to sign onto a new binding and enforceable building and fire safety accord that has been signed by more than 31 companies worldwide.
“This trip to Bangladesh is an important opportunity to examine the circumstances surrounding the tragic events that have taken so many lives and threaten the lives of so many others,” Miller said.
“I hope to learn more about three particular aspects of these tragedies and American involvement in this burgeoning industry – worker safety and health conditions and the impact of the recently inked fire and building safety agreement, garment workers’ rights to form unions without fear of retaliation or persecution, and whether Bangladesh is guaranteeing labor rights and acceptable working conditions that are expected if the United States is to maintain tariff relief provided under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a decision on which is expected imminently,” Miller said.
While more than 30 large retailers and brands based in Europe and Canada have signed onto an enforceable agreement to increase safety and workers’ rights at ready-made garment factories, only two American companies have joined this historic accord. Most large American companies like Wal-Mart and GAP have so far refused to sign on. Rep. Miller has a long history of working against the use of sweatshops and has been urging major brands and retailers to sign on to this accord. He has called on several companies, including Wal-Mart, GAP, JC Penney, Sears, and The Children’s Place, to sign on to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord.
Miller, who has a long history in Congress of fighting against sweatshop and child labor, recently penned a front-page editorial on Women’s Wear Daily to urge the fashion industry to come together and improve conditions in Bangladesh. Miller and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, have also urged the Obama administration to coordinate action to improve workers’ rights and working conditions in Bangladesh.
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