The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday said readymade garments (RMG) sector has achieved an overall 77 per cent progress during 2013-2016 following some remedial initiatives aimed at establishing good governance in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. TIB termed the achievement by the sector satisfactory and suggested that implementation of the initiatives be continued. A follow-up study by TIB found that several industry stakeholders took a total of 102 initiatives of varying dimensions against 54 out of 63 types of governance challenges. Of the 102 initiatives, 41 per cent were implemented completely, 36 per cent witnessed satisfactory progress, 10 per cent reported slow progress and 13 per cent remained unaddressed. TIB’s findings coincided with the third anniversary of the biggest industrial disaster in the sector’s history, following which the authorities took the 106 initiatives in the RMG sector. The findings of the study titled, “Governance in Readymade Garment (RMG) Sector: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward”, was revealed at the TIB office at Dhanmondi in the capital. TIB Programme Manager Manzur E Huda presented the findings at a press conference where TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Deputy Executive Director Prof Sumaiya Khair, Director (Policy Research) Mohammad Rafiqul Hasan and Assistant Programme Manager, Nazmul Huda Mina were also present. To remove the impediments to governance in the RMG sector after the deadly building collapse that killed at least 1,100 workers, the study notes that the government till now has taken various initiatives - the Cabinet, in principle, approved the EPZ Labour Bill 2016, an EPZ Labour Court was formed, and the Labour Policy 2015 was announced.
About 92 per cent of RMG factories are providing salaries to their workers on the basis of the guidelines of the Minimum Wage Board, and most compliant factories have distributed identity cards to their workers with emergency numbers.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman said that the progress brought about in the sector within the space of three years is satisfactory, but it must continue in the same vein, with no room for complacency. “Bringing infrastructural, ethical and legal progresses are not enough to sustain the progress,” Dr Iftekhar said, insisting that realistic implementation of progress is a must to establish governance and ensure transparency in the RMG sector in the real sense. Many challenges still remain in the sector, the TIB chief warned, which need to be addressed. He said that despite the buyers’ assurance that the price of RMG products will increase, the price of Bangladeshi RMG reduced by 41 per cent in the US market.
Regarding the proposed Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Labour Act 2016, the Cabinet had already given its nod for enacting the law in Parliament. Commenting on trade unions in every factory, a TIB official said that progress is very slow and only 125 trade unions were registered till 2015. Also, Tk 5000 to Tk 20,000 was charged for the registration of trade unions, which is illegal. The study proposes a set of recommendations to address the challenges of the RMG sector. These include forming a separate Ministry on RMG sector, taking steps to ensure technical compliance in factories, which are not members of BGMEA or BKMEA, accelerating the formation of Workers’ Welfare Fund and bringing the perpetrators of the Rana Plaza disaster to justice under the Speedy Trial Tribunal.