In a joint letter to Loblaw Companies Limited on the eve of their Annual Meeting, the Workers’ Action Centre joined 22 trade unions, NGO’s and faith organizations to urge Loblaw Companies Limited to work together with trade unions and labour rights groups to put in place a comprehensive, transparent and effective fire and building safety program in Bangladesh, one in which workers have an active and informed role.
The groups are also urging Loblaw to publicly disclose all factory audit reports for their Bangladeshi supplier factories, including finds and corrective action taken, so that consumers and civil society organizations can assess the quality of these audits and whether progress is being made to achieve safe workplaces and decent working conditions.
According to Lynda Yanz, Executive Director of the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN), the letter demonstrates the high level of concern of Canadian civil society organizations from various sectors with the series of preventable tragedies in the Bangladeshi garment industry and their desire for sustainable solutions to the underlying problems that cause those tragedies.
“Workers lives should not be put at risk in order that we can buy cheap clothes,” says Yanz.
Joint letter to Loblaw urging action, May 1, 2013
MSN media release for joint Canadian letter – 2 May 2013