Hudson’s Bay Co. will become the first large Canadian retailer to disclose the overseas factories it uses to make its private-label garments, a move that will make the company more accountable for the safety and rights of factory workers in developing countries.

Workers rights activists supported the company’s decision, saying that it will pressure rivals such as Walmart Canada and Loblaw to follow suit.

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Meanwhile, Loblaw, owner of the Joe Fresh brand of clothing, said it had signed a retailer pledge to stop using cotton produced in Uzbekistan because the Central Asian country routinely forces thousands of adults and children to join in its autumn cotton harvest.

The garment sector has faced increased scrutiny since April, when the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh killed more than 1,129 workers making clothing for Loblaw and other western retailers.

Hudson’s Bay had previously refused to disclose the names of the 750 factories, in countries such as China and Bangladesh, where its clothing is made. It argued the factory names were valuable corporate intelligence and disclosing them could put the company at a competitive disadvantage.

But several large brands, including sportswear companies Nike and Adidas and retailer H&M, disclose their factory lists and say they have not suffered because of it.

Tiffany Bourré, a Hudson’s Bay spokeswoman, confirmed the company is working on a factory disclosure policy, but said it is too early to give details.

Bourré said the company’s executives may also apply a disclosure policy for private-label garments sold in the U.S. by luxury retailer Saks.

“We’re still closing the Saks deal,” Bourré told the Star. “We don’t yet officially own them. When we do, then I’ll move forward with that and I’ll have something to share.”

Bob Jeffcott, a policy analyst with Toronto-based Maquila Solidarity Network, which monitors safety and workers rights conditions in developing countries, said the Hudson’s Bay policy would be a “significant step.”

“When disasters occur like Rana Plaza, or when we get reports of labour rights abuses, factory disclosure allows us to find which companies are linked, and we can go to the companies to try to get problems fixed,” Jeffcott said. “It also shows an openness by the retailer that they won’t try to hide something.”

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Loblaw spokesman Bob Chant said the grocery giant is considering whether to release the names and locations of its garment factories, “but it’s not something we’re acting on at this time.”

Chant said Loblaw has made moves to improve worker safety at its factories in Bangladesh and elsewhere.

“As part of the audit process, we now investigate building structural integrity,” he said. “We didn’t do that before.”

Chant said Loblaw has audited the 40 factories it uses in Bangladesh and no significant structural deficiencies were found. The company also signed The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, an agreement that will see 1,200 factories audited, with the western retailers promising to pay for safety upgrades at factories where wages are the lowest in the world, starting at about $39 a month.

“While transparency may contribute to the effort, what we have done in Bangladesh with the accord is equally important,” Chant said. “We’re working with workers there, making sure they keep their jobs.”

Chant said Loblaw is also pledging to find out whether its suppliers are using cotton from Uzbekistan. If suppliers do use that country’s cotton, Loblaw will insist that they stop.

Uzbekistan expects to harvest 3.35 million tonnes of cotton this fall and its citizens will be forced to pick the crop. Public-sector employees and children alike are threatened with physical violence, the loss of jobs and even their pensions if they refuse.

“We will get there on these issues,” Chant said. “You don’t flip a switch and overnight everything changes.”

While Loblaw is a member of the Bangladesh accord, Hudson’s Bay is a member of a competing group of companies called The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. That group is paying for inspections and offering loans for safety upgrades, but it has not promised to cover all improvements.

Walmart, which has said it uses 279 factories in Bangladesh, does not disclose the factories it hires, although it is also a member of the alliance and lists factories that have been banned from producing Walmart merchandise after failing audit scores.

Only weeks ago, former Canadian Olympian Bruce Kidd told the Star that it was inappropriate for Hudson’s Bay to keep secret the names of the factories it hires. Kidd’s comments came a few months before the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, with Hudson’s Bay saying all of its Olympic-themed clothes produced for consumers were made in China.

Hudson’s Bay acknowledged in corporate filings that 68 per cent of its audited suppliers in 2012 had workers-rights-related “issues to work on” at their factories.

“Factory disclosure alone doesn’t eliminate the possibility of shenanigans,” said Scott Nova, chief executive of the Worker Rights Consortium.

“It’s going to be important for the Hudson’s Bay policy to extend to its subcontractors, to every factory where their clothing is sewn. And they will have to make clear to suppliers and factories that there will be no tolerance for poor conditions at subcontractors.

“Right now, the brands and retailers put so much pressure on factories, on time and price, that it gives the factories a strong incentive to subcontract,” Nova said. “So doing the right thing here does mean slower delivery and potentially higher costs.”

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