Today is May Day 2014. This year, the May Day has an added significance for Bangladesh. In the aftermath of Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions tragedies, Global attention has been focused on the issues of labour rights, workplace safety and better minimum wages in Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG) industry.
These issues are being sought to be addressed in a more coordinated manner than before. All the stakeholders are now engaged in creating better working conditions for the workers in the US$20 billion dollar RMG industry of the country.
The need for allowing formation of trade unions in Bangladesh's RMG factories was not felt strongly before. The foreign end-users of the country's apparels as well as trade union bodies and other rights groups abroad have lately been quite pro-active on this issue. As a sequel to this, the process of trade union formation in the apparel factories has just begun. But then, a recent study by a workers' rights group, Solidarity Centre, gives a grim picture.
The study titled Organising Trade Unions in the RMG Sector 2010-14 says only seven out of a total of 126 registered trade unions (TUs) in the RMG industry, are actively working to promote the rights of workers. Two trade unions received registration in 2011 and 2012; while the number increased to 81 last year, it has come down to 43 this year. Alonzo Glenn Suson, executive director of the Solidarity Centre, said around 20 per cent of the workers engaged with TU activities, has found it difficult to operate due to alleged torture and intimidation by some sections of factory officials.
According to official sources, at least 1,063 incidents of industrial unrest took place from January 2010 to June 2013. Most of these incidents could have been avoided had there been the practice of bipartite dialogue at the factory level and tripartite dialogue at the national level.
On its part, the government has expressed its strong commitment to ensure the legitimate rights of the workers. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the officials to strictly follow regulations to ensure workers' rights. She has asked the authorities concerned to incorporate the rights, relating to formation of Workers' Welfare Associations in the form of trade unions, in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs). "You have to ensure their training, wages, proper working conditions, safety and security," she said while addressing the officials and employees of the ministry of labour and employment at the Secretariat last month.
On its part, the government took the initiative for raising the wages of the garment workers by 82 per cent in 2010. Within three years, their wages were increased by 77 per cent, setting the minimum wages at Tk 5,300, in addition to facilities for other allowances and fringe benefits.
The labour law was earlier revised to make it befitting for promoting workers' welfare. Institutional measures were taken for improving the relations between the workers and employers. The number of women workers is increasing day by day. So, their security issue has also become important. Every worker should have minimum housing facility. The government has assured all concerned that it would extend all possible cooperation, if any factory wants to introduce ration for their workers.
Furthermore, Bangladesh has made a move to help upgrade labour productivity in the country. A National Skill Development Council has been constituted to enhance the productive efficiency of the human resources. The curricula of different training and academic programmes are being prepared in coordination with the ministries and divisions. The government has also taken a long-term project for establishing a garments village at Baosia of Gazaria upazila under Munshiganj district. It is purported to reducing the number of the non-compliant garment factories.
It, however, needs to be emphasised here that mere hikes in wages and other fringe benefits for the workers will not serve the purpose of sustainable growth of the economy. The level of skill and efficiency of labour force matters most for competitive survival of any industry in the global market-place. Wages have to be linked, in one way or other, to productivity. If that is made so, profitable operations of the industrial enterprises will be ensured on a sustained footing. That will help attract more investments and create new employment opportunities for income generation. Without this, the aspiration of the nation to move on to a higher growth trajectory and to become a middle income country by 2021 will remain a pious wish.
Meanwhile, a tripartite National Working Plan, comprising the representatives of workers, factory owners and the ministry of labour, has been prepared with the support of International Labour Organisation (ILO) to check accidents and fire incidents in factories including those in the RMG sector.
The government is also working for enacting necessary laws for protection of the domestic helps and promotion of their welfare. Here, a lot will depend on the efficiency of the enforcement machinery.
It is now time for the government to create conditions so that all kinds of factories remain compliant with the standard requirements for ensuring workers' safety while providing decent wages to them. No less a person than Franklin D Roosevelt said: "No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country (the US). By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living."
Workers in the 38 categories of hazardous professions like ship-breaking, cylinder making factories, butchery, chemical industry, bidi-cigarette manufacturing factories, handling goods in ports and ships and working as drivers' aides for buses, trucks or human haulers are yet to draw attention of the authorities concerned. What is about farm labourers? Those who toil hard to ensure food security of the nation must not be left in the lurch with none to care about their wages, healthcare needs and educational facilities for their children. Middlemen or big farmers must not be allowed to exploit them.
According to the Labour Force Survey of 2010, some 88 per cent of Bangladesh's 54 million labour force was engaged in economic activities that are informal in nature. Some 45 per cent of total employment was in agriculture, where real wages and average labour productivity are not commensurate to the requirements for sustained growth of the economy. A major development challenge, which also coincides with the most fundamental aspect of the employment challenge, is the need to shift labour from agriculture and other low-productivity, low-income informal activities to formal manufacturing activities.
The growth of the RMG sector has provided Bangladesh a great opportunity to reduce the employment share of agriculture and increase that of formal manufacturing, largely on the basis of the economy's comparative advantage.
Abundant supply of low-wage workers, primarily female workers, has been a major factor underlying the growth of the RMG sector. As rising wages increase the unit cost of RMG in competitor countries such as China, India and Sri Lanka, the international demand has been shifting to lower cost sources including Bangladesh. Indeed, the labour cost advantage of Bangladesh is the most important reason for sustaining this competitive edge. This labour cost advantage, however, does not necessarily support the contention of some RMG producers that the current wages are appropriate or that the employment conditions cannot be improved because these will increase the cost of production excessively.
Most countries have minimum employment standards as a part of a social protection policy that allows for insurance and other allowances to deal with accidents, illness, maternity, child-care and employment termination. May Day today is the most appropriate occasion to highlight the need for taking care of the rights of millions of workers, now engaged in all sectors and sub-sectors of the Bangladesh economy.
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