One-fifth RMG units still outside assessment plan

One-fifth of the country's garment factories still remain outside the ongoing assessment programme, launched by Accord, Alliance and NTPA, putting overall safety compliance at stake, industry insiders said.

They claim that apparel-sector apex bodies were putting the blame on the government while the latter is dillydallying to bring these units under a regulation even nearly two years after the collapse of Rana Plaza.

According to Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), at least 800 out of 3,743 garment factories are neither members of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) nor Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).

Accord and Alliance have already assessed some 1,700 units while the rest of the factories ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 which remain outside the purview of Accord and Alliance inspection programmes are supposed to be assessed by a joint initiative of the government and International Labour Organisation (ILO) under National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA).

But only BGMEA and BKMEA member factories are being assessed by the government-ILO joint project, overlooking the safety issues in the non-member units, insiders said.

Without having affiliation with any of the two apex bodies, most of the 800 factories are involved in subcontracting. However, industry insiders claimed that the number of such factories could be much higher.

"At the moment, the factories outside BKMEA and BGMEA are not covered by NTPA," ILO Country Director Srinivas Reddy told the FE.

As part of the RMG programme, both the Labour Inspectorate and Fire Service had undergone an extensive capacity building which would ultimately allow them to undertake inspections of non-export related factories, Mr Reddy said.

Under the joint move, BUET assessed some 500 factories while the rest are expected to be assessed by TUV-SUD Bangladesh Pvt Ltd and Veritas Engineering and Consultant.

Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar admitted that non-member factories still remain outside NTPA's inspection purview due to some complexities, including shortage of funds required for assessment.

Now the government has no plan for those units, but it might take steps after its ongoing assessment programme that is expected to be completed by April next, he added.

DIFE Inspector General Syed Ahmed said at present, DIFE does not have the capacity including know-how, expertise and financial capability to assess garment factories, especially structural integrity.

There are allegations that big garment manufacturing units are engaged in subcontracting with non-compliant factories. Tazreen and Smart were among them.

Main buyers usually overlook third-party manufacturers, but the issue of subcontracting has now raised a serious concern following devastating incidents like Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen fire, industry insiders said.

Owners of big garment factories take direct manufacturing orders from buyers and in many cases, they shift their assigned tasks to third-party readymade garment units to manufacture apparel products mainly for timely shipments at relatively lower costs, they added. After the Tazreen fire incident, Walmart, the world's largest retailer, severed ties with its Bangladeshi counterpart for subcontracting with Tazreen, saying that it was not authorised by the retailer group.

BGMEA Vice President Md Shahidullah Azim said the responsibility lies with the government to bring them under the assessment programme as they are neither affiliated with BGMEA nor BKMEA.

"As they are not our members, we can't put pressure or force them to be compliant," he said, adding that ultimately they have to be compliant if they want to carry out business.

Additional Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said all the factories need to be assessed gradually.

Talking about membership, he opined that BGMEA and BKMEA have to take steps for the greater interest of apex bodies. "They can't ignore their responsibility as their member factories subcontract work to those (non-member) units," he said.

Explaining the reasons for not being affiliated either with BGMEA or BKMEA, industry insiders said these small units are reluctant to ensure workers' rights and compliance required for membership.

Akter Hossain, general manager of an Ashulia-based garment factory that does subcontract said, the CM offered to the factory is so scanty that it is not possible to ensure the safety and compliance requirements.

Moreover, the membership fee of apparel apex bodies is high, another midlevel official of a Mirpur-based factory said, adding, "As we don't export directly, it is not necessary for the factories like ours to become member of either BGMEA or BKMEA."

The official, preferring anonymity, said the factory located in a shared building employs 160 workers.  

In 2014, DIFE inspectors visited some 2,267 factories. Of the total factories, 1,387 were the members of BGMEA and 290 of BKMEA while the rest were not affiliated with any of the two associations.

According to DIFE and Industrial Police, the extent of irregularities, including non-payment of timely wage and overtime, issuance of appointment letter and identity card, group insurance coverage and non-compliance with the government-announced wage structure, maternity leave and other benefits, is much higher in non-member apparel units.

Mr Azim said BGMEA and BKMEA on different occasions requested the government to identify those units and compel them to follow the regulations.

The ministry of commerce (MoC) has taken a move to formulate a guideline for subcontracting factories, but it is yet to see the light, although more than one and half year has already elapsed, sources said.

The government is also in dilemma about those units as many don't have approval, they added.

DIFE IG said, "We can't force them to become member of any trade bodies as law doesn't allow it. And we also can't shut them down as they create employment for thousands of workers."

The New York University Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights in a recent report revealed that indirect sourcing-a non-transparent practice of subcontracting-is a root cause of safety risks and poor working conditions in Bangladesh.

The report examined a range of measures undertaken after the industrial disasters, none of which has yet addressed fundamental problems facing by the garment industry.

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