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comment by wasoxygen

    In the weeks following the disaster, two coalitions representing major retailers joined forces and committed to making factories that supply them safer.

    One was the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, composed of mostly U.S. brands, such as Gap Inc., Walmart and Target. The other was the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, signed by 220 mainly European companies and trade unions.

    The groups set out to inspect all factories that supplied their members’ products, spotting deficiencies, evacuating those with serious structural concerns, and ending their business with the ones that did not comply with needed improvements.

    The Accord was a “game-changer” for how it combined transparency, giving workers a voice and enforcing safety requirements, said Aruna Kashyap, senior counsel for the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch. It made “brands put money behind lip service.”

Why would Gap or Walmart care about the welfare of workers in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh had a building code and a labor ministry in 2013. What incentives did inspectors have to promote safety?