Some 50,000 readymade garment (RMG) workers lost their jobs over the last one year as nearly 50 apparel units were shut down because of work order cancellation by the international buyers on ground of compliance deficiency, a study said.
Revealing the follow-up study, the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said on Monday there is an allegation that many buyers posted their audit reports with false information on internet without informing apparel owners and coordination authority, leading to the work order cancellation.
"And the cancellation causes suspension of production. We've information that some 20 to 50 apparel factories having some 50,000 workers have been suspended since the Rana Plaza tragedy," TIB Deputy Programme Manager (Research and Policy) Dr. Sharif Ahmed Chowdhury said while presenting the report.
The TIB launched the follow-up report titled 'Governance Challenges in the Ready-made Garments Sector: Pledges and Progress' in a city hotel on the day.
The study on the existing challenges in the industry said the buyers' forum formed to implement compliance recommended shutting down of 13 factories with 11,500 workers, housed at shared buildings and scrapping work orders worth US$110 million with 57 factories.
But the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) certified those buildings as safe to manufacture cloths and not vulnerable, the study said.
"If the trend continues, more factories will be shut and there is a jobless risk for about 0.1 million workers in the future, which is not a good sign," Mr. Chowdhury said.
The study, however, termed the initiatives taken by various stakeholders to improve workplace safety and workers' rights in the industry satisfactory, saying that 31 per cent of 102 initiatives were implemented completely.
The study found that several industry stakeholders took a total of 102 initiatives of varying dimensions against 54 out of 63 types of governance challenges identified by the TIB in its earlier report released on October 31 last year.
Of the 102 initiatives, 31 per cent were implemented completely, 60 per cent witnessed varying degrees of progress while 9 per cent remained unaddressed, the new report said.
Talking about the issue, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman hailed the progress, saying that the government, garment owners and buyers should pay serious attention to implementation of the remaining measures for the wellbeing of the country's highest foreign currency earning sector.
"But there is a lack of coordination among the initiatives and there is also no special authority to bring those under a long-term planning for sustainability," he said.
Demanding a lead ministry for the sector of US$ 21 billion, he proposed that a Garments Sector Governance Authority can be set up to coordinate governance initiatives of multiple actors and to ensure their transparent and accountable delivery against commitments till the ministry is formed.
The TIB Executive Director, however, said these positive initiatives have only laid the necessary foundations which are far from sufficient to yield a sustainable change. "Protracted delay in bringing to justice those responsible for multiple tragedies in the sector has caused disappointments," he added.
Chairperson of TIB's Board of Trustee Advocate Sultana Kamal said it is urgent to take necessary steps to protect the rights of workers while the government and garment factory owners should play a strong role in protecting the long-term and basic interests of the workers.
"Lack of coordination of efforts by various actors has undermined the prospect of more visible and concrete progress," she said.
On the issue of compensation to the families of Rana Plaza victims and survivors, she was critical over the lengthy process for the payment of compensation money.
Calling upon garment owners, buyers and the government to bring further acceleration of the process, she said it is very unfortunate that only Primark out of 28 retailers, for whom workers of the Rana Plaza were making cloths, agreed to clear the compensation money.
"Updated list of expenditure of the Prime Minister's Relief Fund needs to be made public every month to ensure transparency, which will encourage more people to donate," she said.
She said the areas which haven't made any progress are formation of lead ministry for the garment sector, formulation of guidelines in respect to the activities of trade unions and federations and creation of workers' welfare fund.
