Wal-Mart to J.C. Penney Join Bangladesh Safety Talks

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. were among retailers sending representatives to a meeting near Frankfurt to discuss allying to improve worker safety in Bangladesh following the nation’s biggest industrial disaster.

The talks, organized by Germany’s international cooperation service known as GIZ, were aimed at winning support from the companies, labor unions and non-governmental groups for Bangladesh’s national action plan and for supplier assessments of fire and building risk, said Peter McAllister, a director of the Ethical Trading Initiative, who attended. A document covering the talks will be published May 15, he said.