Key information
Date: Wednesday 24th July 2013
Time: 10:00am
Motion detail
This Assembly notes with concern the tragedy of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, in which 1,100 garment workers died. This tragic event has thrown the spotlight onto UK clothing and retail companies to ensure people making their clothes are able to do so in safety and dignity. The tragedy highlights a number of problems with regulation and with working conditions.
We are aware that the pressure of consumer and political opinion in our country can help to influence progress in these areas, and we resolve to support initiatives that usefully help with this process.
To this end, the Assembly applauds the work of IndustriALL, the global union for garment workers, which has developed an Accord on Fire and Building Safety which has been signed by many major British retailers. However, many more have still to sign up to this Accord.
In December 2011, the Assembly passed a motion calling on the GLA family to explore affiliation to the Worker Rights Consortium in an effort to ensure that the GLA family were not complicit in the kind of exploitative practices that were a feature of the Rana Plaza factory collapse. While TfL responded to the motion, it appears that none of the functional bodies acted on the advice of the Assembly.
The Assembly therefore calls on the Mayor and the GLA family to ensure that the contractors from whom they source clothing are signatories to the IndustriALL Accord and can demonstrate a strong commitment to employee welfare.
Response to motion
2013-09-12-letter from Mayor to Chair re motions.pdf