Australian fashion giants under fire two years after Bangladeshi factory accident

Australian fashion giants Just Group and Best & Less are under fire for refusing to sign a legally binding pact that protects Bangladesh’s garment workers, two years after the country’s worst industrial accident.

The pair are the last of Australia’s top 10 fashion companies to have resisted calls to join the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, developed by unions, non-profits and industry following the Rana Plaza factory collapse on April 24, 2013, that killed 1129 people.

Oxfam said the Just Group’s decision to sign the comparatively weaker Alliance for Bangladesh Work Safety was “disappointing” and was now being targeted in its social media “heartbreakers” campaign.