Health and safety activists push Levi’s to join an international accord!

Activism against Levi’s has been launched in an effort to persuade the corporation to ratify a global agreement for the health and safety of employees in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Bangladesh exports garments at a second-place global level to China. In 2013, the deadliest tragedy in the history of the clothing industry left 1,134 people dead and 2,500 wounded in Bangladesh.

More than 170 fashion firms signed a global agreement as a consequence, which added worker health and safety measures to electrical, fire, and structural inspections. Levi’s has not yet ratified the agreement, though, and Remake and the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation have teamed up to exert pressure on the firm to do so.

‘The newly enlarged international deal focuses beyond building safety, as Remake’s creator and CEO Ayesha Barenblat was cited as stating by ‘, The Guardian stated. Therefore, it serves as a true lifeline and a channel for employees to express any concerns about their wellness or working conditions.

‘We categorically refute the claimed efficacy of Levi’s own safety programme. The reason is because the garment workers themselves have stated through Covid-19 that their life and well-being have been seriously jeopardised and that they lack a direct channel to the brands’, according to Barenblat.

The campaigners have been making every effort to achieve their goal, from sending emails to delivering letters.  Workers have also accused Levi’s of abusing the agreement, bringing up concerns of forced overtime and heat fatigue.  All concerns from the campaign and claims of worker safety and health hazards were dismissed and refuted by Levi’s, who cited a number of internal initiatives and programmes.

‘We support the international agreement’s spirit and goal and welcome the strides it has taken. To help workers in Bangladesh or elsewhere, however, is not the only option. We think that our programmes’ checks and balances enable us to advance and allow us better agility to apply new knowledge and grow our systems in other nations (which we are currently doing),’ a Levi’s representative stated.