Wal-Mart won’t sign Bangladesh building safety agreement
Wal-Mart Stores said it won’t accept an agreement “at this time” to improve fire and building safety in Bangladesh that is supported by labor monitoring groups and was signed by several retailers this week.
Instead, in the wake of the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse, the world’s largest retailer announced that it would undertake public safety inspections at all of its suppliers’ authorized factories in Bangladesh. Labor groups say that measure falls short of what is necessary to ensure worker safety.
The reviews of all 279 supplier factories will be completed within six months, and the names and inspection results will be released to the public, the Arkansas-based company said Tuesday in a statement. Wal-Mart said it expects the costs of “appropriate remediation and ongoing safety investments to be appropriately reflected in its costs of goods purchased.”
Kevin Gardner, a company spokesman, declined to comment on how the costs of increased monitoring would affect prices paid by consumers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wal-mart-to-conduct-safety-inspections-at-all-279-bangladesh-supplier-factories/2013/05/14/c90598e2-bce7-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html
Others that did sign on
International retailers rushed Monday to embrace a labor-backed factory safety proposal for Bangladesh, as unions called on industry to sign on by Wednesday.
H&M, the largest producer of clothing in Bangladesh, said Monday that it will sign the building and fire safety agreement backed by the coalition of labor groups known as IndustriALL.
Inditex, the parent company of retailer Zara, also agreed to sign the agreement, the company confirmed Monday. Dutch retailer C&A and Britain's Primark Stores — which had suppliers in the garment factory building that collapsed April 24 in Bangladesh — agreed on Monday to sign on.
The agreement has taken on new urgency after the collapse killed 1,127 garment workers. The rescue effort ended Monday, making the death toll the official count.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/05/13/hm-sign-bangladesh-labor-agreement/2154991/
WalMart will do its own inspections....LOL
= new reply since forum marked as read
They won't sign this agreement?
Can't they sign the agreement and also do their own inspections? To make double sure of safety.
...and accepting the owner's explanation for the fence around the building. "Oh, that's to keep people out. So many want a job here." 
Walmart will play the same game. As long as they aren't forced to take on any responsibility they won't care about conditions. Free market = slave market.
made me start looking at the tags of my favorite hats. You're right on the conscience angle. All my favorites were made in china. That's no great shakes either. When we get manufacturing back to america, I'll probably be dead of old age, but nice dream anyway. Man what a screwed up world.
food coop has a lot of the 'free trade' items, coffee beans ect. Can't mind, manufacturing is all but dead in this country by governmental, business choice. Yep you've really put it in my mind to check, closely.
.....all that would do is create more work for the workers, not the big wigs refusing to sign the agreement.
