Ensuring RMG workers’ rights still a far cry

Four years after the Rana Plaza disaster, human bones can still be found in the rubble and the survivors are yet to get full compensation. Above all, the core problem—ensuring workers' rights—has still remained largely unaddressed. An industry stakeholder said the Rana Plaza collapse resulted in two international standard audit-focused initiatives that brought to light some of the issues behind Bangladesh’s success story in the readymade garments sector (RMG).  While infrastructure, fire safety and working conditions have improved in many factories, the establishment of a healthy employer-worker relationship remains a far
cry in this sector. The formation of trade unions and platforms to raise workers’ demands are looked upon with suspicion by the owners and employers, although foreign buyers of Bangladesh’s readymade garments want them for the betterment of the sector.
But garments factory owners—even though they welcome the compliance initiatives of Accord and Alliance—are largely sceptical about the intention of such foreign buyers. They maintain that such compliance is likely to enhance production costs, but purchasers are reluctant to pay higher prices.
Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), told The Independent that ensuring workers’ rights was not quite as plain as black and white. “It’s a complex issue comprising many factors,” he added.
He said foreign buyers, after all, look at their profit margins. If they were to be put under pressure to buy Bangladeshi products at a higher price, they would go to countries like Ethiopia to get a price advantage.
“We have to understand that even our neighbouring India will get a price advantage if we force the foreign buyers to buy the products at higher prices. India has been making adequate preparations to capture our market for the last couple of years.”
He said that to have a proper perspective about what is going on in the sector, facts and data were needed. “It’s true that after the Rana Plaza incident, many of those facts and data have been documented. Yet, the data about the total number of RMG workers is still not available.”
Khan said the BGMEA had been working to create a biometric database for the last eight months. “As of now, registration of 11 lakh garment workers has been done.”
About the formation of trade unions, he said as of now, the registration of a total of 591 trade unions in RMG sector had been completed, of which only 260 were active. “Forming trade unions is not the important thing. The important thing is to make them active in realising rightful demands.”
Khan observed that most workers were not interested in trade unions in the first place. “If they were, after signing up as a member of a trade union in one factory, they would not migrate to another,” he said.
Nazma Akter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, told The Independent that there was deep mistrust between RMG workers and factory owners over trade unionism.
“The workers, too, are not aware of their rights under the country’s laws; nor are the union leaders. They do not have enough knowledge about the registration procedure either. This lack of knowledge makes collective bargaining a lot more difficult than it should be,” she added.
Talking to The Independent, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, the secretary-general of the Bangladesh Trade Union Sangstha (BTUS), said if the relationship between a garments employer and employee is not established on the basis of respect, then the issue of ensuring social dialogue will not be easy.
“The entrepreneurs don’t adequately value the workers. The workers still don’t feel that they are a part of the organisation they work for. Besides low wages, the issue of treatment from the owners make the workers feel low about themselves.”
“You cannot call this a healthy working environment. In a proper work environment, the relationship is built upon mutual trust among employers and workers. This is absent here,” he said.
Labour leader Kamrul Islam said, after the Rana Plaza incident, discussions were held and promises were made to conduct thorough physical and mental health check-ups of garment workers in different factories.
“Unfortunately, very few garment factories have actually conducted thorough health check-ups of RMG workers. Like other promises, it remains unfulfilled.”
About the survivors of Rana Plaza accident, he said though many discussions and programmes had been held on giving proper compensation to the victims, the measures taken to implement such steps had been inadequate.
“A study published by the ActionAid a month ago gave a picture of the situation,” he said.
The ActionAid study, titled ‘Unforgettable and Unforgivable: Rana Plaza’ and released last month, showed 57.6 per cent of the survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse were engaged in various types of wage and self-employment, while 42.4 per cent claimed they were jobless.
“Those numbers don’t say that a lot has been done for the Rana Plaza victims,” said Kamrul Islam.

 

 

Ensuring RMG workers rights still a far cry

Four years after the Rana Plaza disaster, human bones can still be found in the rubble and the survivors are yet to get full compensation. Above all, the core problemensuring workers rightshas still remained largely unaddressed. An industry stakeholder said the Rana Plaza collapse resulted in two international standard audit-focused initiatives that brought to light some of the issues behind Bangladeshs success story in the readymade garments sector (RMG). While infrastructure, fire safety and working conditions have improved in many factories, the establishment of a healthy employer-worker relationship remains a far cry in this sector. The formation of trade unions and platforms to raise workers demands are looked upon with suspicion by the owners and employers, although foreign buyers of Bangladeshs readymade garments want them for the betterment of the sector. But garments factory ownerseven though they welcome the compliance initiatives of Accord and Allianceare largely sceptical about the intention of such foreign buyers. They maintain that such compliance is likely to enhance production costs, but purchasers are reluctant to pay higher prices. Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told The Independent that ensuring workers rights was not quite as plain as black and white. Its a complex issue comprising many factors, he added. He said foreign buyers, after all, look at their profit margins. If they were to be put under pressure to buy Bangladeshi products at a higher price, they would go to countries like Ethiopia to get a price advantage. We have to understand that even our neighbouring India will get a price advantage if we force the foreign buyers to buy the products at higher prices. India has been making adequate preparations to capture our market for the last couple of years. He said that to have a proper perspective about what is going on in the sector, facts and data were needed. Its true that after the Rana Plaza incident, many of those facts and data have been documented. Yet, the data about the total number of RMG workers is still not available. Khan said the BGMEA had been working to create a biometric database for the last eight months. As of now, registration of 11 lakh garment workers has been done. About the formation of trade unions, he said as of now, the registration of a total of 591 trade unions in RMG sector had been completed, of which only 260 were active. Forming trade unions is not the important thing. The important thing is to make them active in realising rightful demands. Khan observed that most workers were not interested in trade unions in the first place. If they were, after signing up as a member of a trade union in one factory, they would not migrate to another, he said. Nazma Akter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, told The Independent that there was deep mistrust between RMG workers and factory owners over trade unionism. The workers, too, are not aware of their rights under the countrys laws; nor are the union leaders. They do not have enough knowledge about the registration procedure either. This lack of knowledge makes collective bargaining a lot more difficult than it should be, she added. Talking to The Independent, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, the secretary-general of the Bangladesh Trade Union Sangstha (BTUS), said if the relationship between a garments employer and employee is not established on the basis of respect, then the issue of ensuring social dialogue will not be easy. The entrepreneurs dont adequately value the workers. The workers still dont feel that they are a part of the organisation they work for. Besides low wages, the issue of treatment from the owners make the workers feel low about themselves. You cannot call this a healthy working environment. In a proper work environment, the relationship is built upon mutual trust among employers and workers. This is absent here, he said. Labour leader Kamrul Islam said, after the Rana Plaza incident, discussions were held and promises were made to conduct thorough physical and mental health check-ups of garment workers in different factories. Unfortunately, very few garment factories have actually conducted thorough health check-ups of RMG workers. Like other promises, it remains unfulfilled. About the survivors of Rana Plaza accident, he said though many discussions and programmes had been held on giving proper compensation to the victims, the measures taken to implement such steps had been inadequate. A study published by the ActionAid a month ago gave a picture of the situation, he said. The ActionAid study, titled Unforgettable and Unforgivable: Rana Plaza and released last month, showed 57.6 per cent of the survivors of the Rana Plaza collapse were engaged in various types of wage and self-employment, while 42.4 per cent claimed they were jobless. Those numbers dont say that a lot has been done for the Rana Plaza victims, said Kamrul Islam.