Ken Neumann has lost his composure. His voice cracks. Stops. Long pause.

“To witness what I’ve witnessed is something that...”

Another pause.

“Something that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Neumann is recalling the moment three years ago when he stood amid the remains of the Rana Plaza, noting the scraps of clothing and labels among the levelled ruins of the garment factory. Human bones exposed. A femur. The stench. Particularly the stench, still present a year after the disaster that claimed more than 1,100 lives.

“To witness something like that first hand is not a simple matter,” he says plainly.

Neumann is the Canadian director of the United Steelworkers, which, on Thursday, launches its No More Operating in the Dark campaign, targeting generally Canadian apparel companies that have yet to introduce full supply chain transparency, and specifically Canadian Tire.

At the same time, an international coalition of nine labour rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Toronto-based Maquila Solidarity Network, will release its Follow the Thread report, which scorecards companies against a new transparency pledge that, in its fullest form, commits companies to regular disclosure of factories by name and address, as well as subcontractor and parent company information.

Let’s remember this: the Dhaka garment workers knew the factory was unsafe.

And yet, as the Follow the Thread report states, “virtually no public information was available concerning apparel companies that were sourcing from the factories involved. The only way to identify these apparel companies and advocate for accountability was to interview survivors and rummage through the rubble afterward to find brand labels.”

“Companies are gravitating to countries not only with cheap labour but also ones in which government regulation is not really functioning or is not as thorough as it should be,” says Bob Jeffcott, policy analyst with the Maquila Solidarity Network. “A major lesson of this is that we need transparent reporting in order that companies actually do expose themselves to outside scrutiny to other organizations and institutions.”

What the coalition aims to do is gain consistency in supply chain reporting. To that end 72 apparel brands were contacted, from Abercrombie & Fitch to Woolworths. Do they report on the names and locations of supplier factories, both cut-make-and-trim operations and subcontractors, and if not, will they, and if so, when and with what frequency?

Transparency disclosure long predates the Rana Plaza tragedy. Those with long memories will recall the U.S. college campus anti-sweatshop initiative. And Jeffcott makes the clear point that the momentum is there. “When we first started a campaign for factory disclosure, people in the industry and in government told us that no company in its right mind would disclose information on its supplier factories,” he says.

But now look at a company like H&M, which commits to the quarterly publication of the names and addresses of supplier factories and vendors. “There’s momentum toward transparency, but some companies still feel that if they hide in the weeds they won’t be noticed,” says Jeffcott. “In Canada progress on disclosure has been slower than in Europe and the United States, possibly because the brands aren’t as well known.”

For the Steelworkers, Canadian Tire is a standout in this regard, and not in a good way. The company, which retails such clothing brands as Denver Hayes and sportswear through its Mark’s and Sport Chek stores, publishes no supplier factory information and has made no commitment to do so in the future.

When asked for its reasoning as to why it is not on board with the transparency pledge initiative, the company responded by email. “Through our Supplier Code of Business Conduct we clearly outline our expectations for ethical business dealings and aim to ensure that our values are not only understood, but shared by the vendors with whom we work around the globe.” The company monitors factories through third-party auditing firms.

“Canadian Tire and Mark’s and Sport Chek need to step up to the plate and let people know where those facilities are so they can be checked to make sure that they are in safe conditions,” says Neumann.

In February, Loblaw started posting the names of its supplier factories, with a commitment to update the list of manufacturers twice annually. Nike discloses its factory locations. So does Adidas.

There’s no question that positive steps were taken in the wake of the Rana Plaza tragedy, which marks its fourth anniversary on Monday. The creation of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which hopes to extend its remit beyond its 2018 deadline, is one. (Loblaw is a signatory to the accord, as are H&M and Adidas.) The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety is another. That alliance includes Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart and Gap.

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Last November, in response to a report critical of the alliance’s progress on factory safety, a Gap spokesperson said the company was not satisfied with the pace of improvements. The operations of some factories have been suspended.

The fear is that consumers will stop paying attention to the issue. “I think a lot of companies have gone back to sleep,” says Jeffcott.

If the coalition can get brand giants working from the same premise, it will be a huge win. “In the past when we would contact an individual company they would say we only have 10 per cent of the production in that factory, we don’t have much leverage,” he says. “But if you can leverage four or five buyers from the same factory they can actually achieve something.”

jenwells@thestar.ca

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