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In 2013, when Gap, Target, Walmart, and 23 other North American companies refused to join with unions in a legally-binding agreement to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh, they announced their own corporate-controlled alternative. Our report, which we researched and wrote together with the Worker Rights Consortium, Clean Clothes Campaign, and Maquila Solidarity Network, is the first independent investigation into the Alliance’s track record. It exposes a startling disconnect between the Alliance rating system and the actual conditions in the factories. Of 107 factories we examined that are labelled by the Alliance as „On Track,“ we found that:

57% have compromised fire exits

58% do not have a properly functioning fire alarm system

41% have uncorrected structural problems

These statistics are terrifying, and they have real world consequences. Our analysis revealed that there are 120,000 garment workers employed in the 62 factories that produce items for Walmart that do not have fully viable fire exits.