Bangladesh Advanced

8/10/2019 Bangladesh Advanced

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bangladesh-advanced 1/5 NEWS LESSONS / Bangladesh factory owners threaten inspection agencies with legal action / Advanced

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S I T E© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014

Bangladesh factory owners threaten inspection agencies with legal action

Level 3 l Advanced

Key words1

Find the information2

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

Find the following information in the text as quickly as possible.

1. __________________ is money that someone receives because something bad has happened to them.

2. An __________________ is a thorough repair to a machine or a building.

3. An __________________ is a formal agreement between countries or groups.

4. If you __________________ to do something, you say politely that you will not do it.

5. A __________________ arrangement is one that only exists for a limited period of time.

6. __________________ is a situation in which something cannot continue because of a problem.

7. If a person is __________________, they are forced to leave their work or their home.

8. If you __________________ money, you keep it to use later for a particular purpose.

9. An __________________ is someone who uses money to start businesses and make business deals.

10. A __________________ is a piece of clothing. This formal word is used especially when talking about the

production and sale of clothes.

1. How much has the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety set aside to help pay factory workers?

2. How many international brands are backing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh?

3. How many factories has the Accord identied as needing signicant repair work?

4. What is the capital of Bangladesh?5. How much compensation is the owner of Softex Cotton demanding?

6. How many people died in the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex?

overhaul displaced decline disruption accord

temporary compensation set aside entrepreneur garment



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Level 3 l Advanced

Bangladesh factory owners threaten

inspection agencies with legal action

Factory owners demand compensation amid

closures for safety checks and repair work in wake

of Rana Plaza disaster

Sarah Butler

26 May, 2014

1 An international agreement to improve safetyin Bangladesh’s clothing factories is facing thethreat of legal action as factory owners demandcompensation for the cost of closures and repairwork. With some repair programmes expectedto take months, factory owners say they cannotshoulder the costs of paying staff while factoriesare closed, alongside the expense of some majorworks needed to ensure buildings are safe. Thebuilding overhauls are being carried out in thewake of the collapse of the Rana Plaza complexin the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, in 2013, inwhich 1,138 people were killed.

2 The problems come as hundreds of Bangladeshiclothing factories per month are inspected for re-

safety and structural problems under the Accordon Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, whichis backed by over 170 international brands,including Primark and Marks & Spencer, andinternational trade unions, including IndustriALL.

3 The owner of one Dhaka-based factory, SoftexCotton, has threatened legal action against the Accord after his factory was closed down due tostructural problems, prompting a demand for areported $100m in compensation.

4 Another factory owner, who declined to benamed, said that once a factory closed its

doors, even for a few months, it would loseorders and close permanently: “There is nosuch thing as temporary closure,” he said. Thefactory owner said that the Accord agreementhad “pussyfooted” around the issue of who paidfor factory closures amid efforts to get as manybrands as possible to sign up to a deal in thewake of the Rana Plaza disaster. He said therewas no clear process in place to handle thecosts involved.

5 Jenny Holdcroft, policy director for IndustriALL,which has been closely involved in the Accord,

said that the agreement ensured that factorieswould not lose orders during closure becausebrands had committed to maintain orders withsuppliers for two years.

6 While 12 factories have been identied so far bythe Accord as needing signicant work, Holdcroftsaid many of those only needed partial closurein order to reduce stress on the building soproduction could continue on other oors. The Accord also legally binds brands to ensure thatworkers are paid during factory closures. Shesaid the detail on who would make paymentshad been left open in order to ensure that allthose factory owners who could afford to pay forrepairs and compensation for workers made thenecessary contribution.

7 “This was always going to be a topic ofnegotiation. Brands don’t want to commit topaying so that rich factory owners who have justpocketed the prots and not been spending ontheir factories for years continue to do so. Therewas obviously going to be disruption. If therewas no disruption, there would be no change,”she said. A spokesman for the Accord saidnegotiations over payments and even legal actionwould not hold up its work to improve safetyin factories.

8 However, pressure on the Accord to contribute to

the payment of displaced workers has ratchetedup after a rival factory-safety group backed by USretailers including Walmart and Gap, the Alliancefor Bangladesh Worker Safety, set aside $5m tohelp pay factory workers for up to two monthswhile work is carried out on the buildings it hasidentied as needing improvement. It has, so far,identied ve factories in four buildings whereproduction needed to be suspended.

9 “The Alliance is sharing the workers’ salaryalong with entrepreneurs so now there is a bigconfusion. We had a big meeting with the Accordto make them understand they have to come

forward or how will we help our workers?”said Shaidullah Azim, a director of theBangladeshi Garment Manufacturers andExporters Association.

© Guardian News and Media 2014

First published in The Guardian, 26/05/14



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Level 3 l Advanced

Comprehension check3

Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. Why is the international agreement to improve safety in Bangladesh’s clothing factories facing legal action?

a. because factory owners do not want safety to be improved

b. because factory owners want compensation for the time their factories are closed while repairs are

carried out

c. because factory owners do not want their factories to be inspected for re-safety and structural problems

2. Why are some factory owners objecting to the Accord?

a. because they believe they will lose orders while the repairs are being carried out and will have to

close down

b. because they believe the companies that buy their products should cover the costs of the repairs

c. because they have committed to maintain orders for two years

3. What led to the programme to improve re-safety and ensure buildings are safe?

a. the Accord on Fire Safety and Building Safety in Bangladesh

b. the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety

c. the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex

4. How will workers benet from the Accord?

a. They will continue to receive payment while their factories are closed.

b. They will receive compensation for losing their jobs.

c. They will be transferred to other factories while their factories are closed.

Find the word4

Find the following words and phrases in the text.1. a verb meaning deal with or accept something difcult (para 1)

2. a four-word phrase meaning happening after an event or as a result of it (para 1)

3. a verb meaning avoid saying or doing anything denite because you are nervous and do not know what to do

(para 4)

4. a preposition meaning during or in the middle of (para 4)

5. a verb meaning limit what someone is allowed to do by making them obey a rule or agreement (para 6)

6. a verb meaning take money for yourself that does not belong to you, especially when you are responsible for

looking after it (para 7)

7. a two-word phrasal verb meaning increase by small amounts over a period of time (para 8)

8. a two-word phrasal verb meaning offer help or information (para 9)



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Level 3 l Advanced

1. shoulder a. legal action

2. prompt b. repairs

3. threaten c. costs

4. sign up to d. money

5. pay for e. a demand for something

6. set aside f. a deal

1. Factory owners in Bangladesh are demanding compensation for the cost of ___________________ while repairs

are carried out. [CLOSE]

2. Hundreds of factories are being inspected for re-safety and ___________________ problems. [STRUCTURE]

3. IndustriALL has been ___________________ involved in the negotiations. [CLOSE]

4. Many factories will only need a ___________________ closure. [PART]

5. The Accord is legally ___________________. [BIND]

6. If there were no ___________________, there would be no change. [DISRUPT]

Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column.

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence.

Would you be prepared to pay more for your clothes in order to improve re-safety and structural

safety in clothing factories in Bangladesh? Why? Why not?

Verb + noun collocations5

Word-building6

Discussion7



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Level 3 l Advanced

KEY

1 Key words

1. compensation

2. overhaul

3. accord

4. decline

5. temporary

6. disruption7. displaced

8. set aside

9. entrepreneur

10. garment

2 Find the information

1. $5 million

2. over 170

3. 124. Dhaka

5. $100 million

6. 1,138

3 Comprehension check

1. b

2. a

3. c

4. a

4 Find the word

1. shoulder

2. in the wake of

3. pussyfoot

4. amid

5. bind

6. pocket7. ratchet up

8. come forward

5 Verb + noun collocations

1. c

2. e

3. a

4. f

5. b6. d

6 Word-building

1. closure(s); closing

2. structural

3. closely

4. partial

5. binding

6. disruption

Bangladesh Advanced

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