Stichting Bangladesh Accord Foundation, the labour ministry and the chief inspector at the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments have been given four weeks to respond to the rule. The new agreement, signed on June 21 this year, was scheduled to go into effect after the expiry of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh in May 2018. The three-year agreement builds on the achievements of the first Bangladesh accord signed in May 2013 in response to the Rana Plaza building collapse that claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers and injured 2,500 more. On Wednesday, Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League President Lima Ferdous filed the writ petition challenging the new agreement. The accord expanded worker protections, aiming to ensure that factories give severance pay to employees when they shut or relocate for safety reasons.

Source: bd News24 October 15, 2017 18:45 UTC