Global rights group, Clean Clothes Campaign has accused RMG Sustainability Council (RSC) of failing to honor its commitment to recruit a boiler inspector. However, as per Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) claims, RSC remains committed to boiler safety inspection program first initiated as a pilot in 2018.

Accord brands and unions have agreed with the BGMEA to roll-out of the boiler safety program at the start of the RSC's establishment, the association said. The association said, RSC has also committed to recruit an independent chief safety officer as mentioned in the Transition Agreement. However, BGMEA falsely claimed that the RSC is founded on the core principle that its governance structure brings together all critical stakeholders in one single platform with equal voice and authority, said the rights group.

In reality, of the RSC's 18 governing board directors, 12 are representatives of financially-vested companies while workers' representatives make up only a third of its members. Moreover, the BGMEA claimed that RSC remains fully committed to a high level of transparency as practiced under the Accord.

In reality, unlike the Accord, the RSC's website, six months after the organization's inception, provides none of the following information: factory-specific remediation data, aggregate reports, nor minutes of its board meetings, it said.

Responding to these allegations, Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA, said, the association cannot afford to have unsubstantiated commitments to build safety in Bangladesh, especially when the industry is key to its survival.

Huq also denied stopping the pilot program for boiler safety and said the government has laid out inspection standards and engineers ready to engage with RSC on boiler inspections.