RMG factory owners have decided to keep factories at Ashulia
industrial belt shut on Wednesday amid a fresh wave of labour unrest.
Their platform BGMEA said that the decision was made keeping security
concerns in view.
Earlier on Tuesday, RMG workers in Savar and Ashulia demonstrated for
fast implementation of the minimum wage and clashed with police which
left more than 100 injured.
Authorities of almost 150 factories closed down their units following the clash.
Former BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedi told journalists that a
meeting on Tuesday decided to keep factories at Ashulia closed due to
security concerns.
“The last two days saw unrest. It was the same today (Tuesday). So we
decided to keep factories closed on Wednesday,” said former BGMEA
president Abdus Salam Murshedi, speaking to journalists.
Murshedy, Convener of BGMEA’s Ashulia Zone wing, said discussion with
labour leaders were going on in a bid to end the crisis.
There are 250 factories in Ashulia manufacturing 18 to 20 percent of
the garment exported from Bangladesh, according to Murshedi.
The BGMEA issued a statement to this end but its president said it was
not the trade body’s decision.
“This is not the BGMEA’s decision. Those who have factories at Ashulia
decided on it after a meeting,” BGMEA President Atikul Islam told
journalists.
Islam also has factories at Ashulia.
RMG workers at Gazipur also had taken to the streets since Sunday
demanding fast implementation of the minimum wage.
Quite a few factories have closed down in the last two days in Gazipur
due to the unrest.
The government had formed a wage board in June this year to revise the
RMG workers current minimum wage at Tk 3,000.
On Nov 4, the wage board scaled up the minimum pay to Tk 5,300 in its
recommendation.
The proposed minimum wage of Tk 5,300 includes a basic salary of Tk
3,200, house rent of Tk 1,280, medical allowance of Tk 320, conveyance
allowance of Tk 200, and a food subsidy of Tk 300.
Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju had said on Monday that the
minimum wage would be announced by Nov 21.
Meanwhile, an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) from UK says
Bangladesh should take lessons of the Rana Plaza disaster and take
“concrete actions to improve working conditions” in the ready-made
garment industry.
Or else, the APPG report says, Bangladesh may lose out on future
investments in what is easily the country’s fastest growing export
industry, already worth nearly $ 20 billion and capable of much more.
Conservative MP Anne Main is the chairperson of the APPG and it has
several lawmakers of South Asian origin in the APPG. Rushanara Ali of
Bangladesh origin is among them.
Some of the salient recommendations of the APPG are as follows:
Brands (western importers) must invest in up-skilling their supply
chain by providing worker training, improving management techniques,
and addressing working practises on the factory floor. The APPG
observed several such successful initiatives in Bangladesh which could
be shared as best practice;
Factory owners and brands must encourage greater worker representation
and participatory structures within factories to facilitate
cooperative industrial relations, building upon best practices
observed by the APPG;
All stakeholders, especially brands and the Bangladesh Department of
Inspection for Factories and Establishments, in the RMG industry share
best practices and must coordinate audit efforts and health and safety
standards;
Brands must prioritise dialogue with workers, possibly as part of a
robust social auditing process which includes a risk based approach
and due diligence;
Western governments must support the International Labour
Organisation’s (ILO) bid for launching the Better Work Programme in
Bangladesh;
The APPG report says that the current Bangladesh government and the
incoming government after the next election must establish a
comprehensive and long term strategic plan to overcome the
infrastructural challenges facing the RMG sector, including
bottlenecks in transport and energy supply.
The APPG supports Bangladesh’s National Tripartite Action Plan on Fire
and Structural Integrity (NTAB) and urges the government to ensure its
objectives are met. Some of the APPG suggestions are as follows:
Western governments are urged to use their influence to encourage the
government of Bangladesh to address labour rights, minimum wage
levels, legislative enforcement, and the full implementation of the
NTAB.
Bangladesh government sets up direct lines of communication with
businesses and worker representatives to facilitate dialogue. An
individual with direct ministerial responsibility should be set up to
address concerns arising from this vital economic sector;
Brands co-ordinate and channel their messages through an official and
recognisable trade body in order to prevent communication overload as
the APPG appreciates that government capacity in Bangladesh is
understandably stretched;
The Bangladesh government establishes a disaster relief and fire
emergency plan, under direct ministerial responsibility with adequate
designated funding;
The APPG report says that the RMG industry has been a crucial part of
Bangladesh’s economic success story since the 1990s.
“It has the potential to play a leading role towards Bangladesh’s
ambition to become a middle income country by 2021,” the report
concludes, but if it is modernised in all possible ways.-bdnews4.com
