Violence, it seems, has become a never-ending phenomenon in the country's export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector. It flares up every now and then in Dhaka or its adjoining areas or in the port city of Chittagong with RMG workers, allegedly, aided by the 'outsiders' vandalizing factories, blocking highways and setting fire to vehicles.
The RMG factory owners and their representative body, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have always claimed to be fair in their treatment to workers and blamed a section of outside 'instigators' for the troubles. That is one side of the version.
But what is about getting versions of the workers of the RMG units from where the troubles originate and then spill over to the adjoining areas? There is no way of receiving authentic versions from a single source in the trouble-hit factories since there are no legal trade union (TU) bodies in the RMG units.
For instance, there were troubles in a number of RMG units in the industrial belt in Gazipur district last Sunday. According to newspaper reports, several hundred workers of a garment factory demanding pay arrears and wage hike attacked the adjoining factories there. The agitated workers, allegedly, went on the rampage and set ablaze a factory, named, Mim Design.
Next day, addressing a hurriedly called press conference, the BGMEA leaders claimed that the factory in question had never defaulted on the payment of wages to its workers. They also smelt conspiracy behind the attack. No newspaper did carry, or cared to carry, the version of the workers.
At times, some labour outfits, posing as protectors of RMG workers' interests, hold negotiations with the BGMEA. But, legally speaking, they do not represent the RMG workers. So, it is hard to know from them the factors that often trigger violence in the RMG factories.
During the tripartite negotiations on the workers' wage structure in 2006 the so-called labour leaders who represented the RMG workers were not their lawful representatives. Sincere there is no registered workers' unions in the RMG factories none can lawfully represent the RMG workers and take part in negotiations on their behalf. Yet the government and the owners in 2006 sat with them and struck a deal on minimum wages!
Allegations have it that the RMG owners are unwilling to allow TU activities in their factory premises for fear of troubles. But they could hardly avoid troubles. Many tend to believe that the labour situation in the RMG sector would have been rather healthy in the presence of registered TUs. There has been hardly any trouble in other private sector industrial units having registered workers' unions.
In the absence any elected TU bodies in their units, the RMG owners, in case of any problem, do not know whom they should talk to. There is no denying that low wages and poor working conditions in a large number of RMG units make them vulnerable to frequent troubles. The elected workers' representatives could be very handy and effective media to tide over problems, if there was any.
What is worse is that outsiders, posing as labour leaders, are seen taking advantage of the situation. Somehow these leaders manage to get some of their followers infiltrate into different garment units and instigate troubles through the latter if the owners concerned fail to meet their undue pecuniary demands- illegal tolls.
The USA, the largest importer of Bangladesh apparels, has been consistently asking the government of Bangladesh to ensure introduction of registered workers' unions in the RMG factories. The US Trade Representative (USTR) office, according to a report published in this daily last Tuesday, during a meeting with Bangladesh mission officials in Washington last month had asked the present caretaker government to lift the ongoing ban on TU activities and improve labour rights situation in the RMG sector before it (USTR) holds hearing on Bangladesh's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility in October next. Bangladesh exports get duty-free access to the US market under the GSP facility.
The USTR wanted the government to ensure registration of workers union in RMG factories. It also wanted enforcement of the tripartite agreement on wages of the RMG workers in all the factories. More than 10 per cent of the factories, reportedly, are yet to implement the wage structure.
One cannot rule out more troubles in the coming weeks or before the Eidul-fitr if the factory owners fail to pay wages and festival bonus in time.
The decision of the knitwear manufacturers to pay an allowance, ranging between 15 to 20 per cent, to their workers in view of the soaring cost of living, obviously, would encourage the workers of the woven units to expect a similar hike. That would, no doubt, be a justified expectation. A monthly minimum wage of Tk 1662.50 for a worker at the entry point is too meagre to make a living these days, particularly when prices of essentials have increased between 50 to 100 per cent over a period of past 12 months.
So, before blaming outsiders and smelling conspiracy, the RMG owners need to go deep into the problems facing the RMG sector and solve those as early as possible.
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