GSP suspension to help BD improve labour, safety standards: US

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Nizam Ahmed The recent suspension of GSP (generalised system of preference) facilities for Bangladesh in the United States (US) aims at helping the country improve its labour rights and safety standards, said a senior US spokesman. "But clearly, we want to get their (Bangladesh) economy improving. We want to help as they consolidate on democratic reforms," US State Department Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell told a daily news briefing in Washington DC on Friday. The US suspended GSP facilities for Bangladesh on Thursday in the wake of repeated industrial disasters in the country, where in the latest deadly building collapse 1,129 people were killed and many others maimed in April last. Mr Ventrell said the US action would create an opportunity for Bangladesh to take steps to improve labour rights and safety standards, according to a press statement issued from the US State Department. "Let me note that the United States believes this moment represents an opportunity for Bangladesh to take action to improve labour and safety standards," the statement quoted Mr Ventrell as saying.He was trying to convince a questioner that the GSP cancellation was not a harsh punishment on a poor country, rather it gave a further chance to address the pending issues for Bangladesh which had been repeatedly warned by the relevant quarters in the US to solve these labour and safety problems over the last six years. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), the main US labour group, first filed a petition to the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) asking that Bangladesh's trade benefits be revoked, as it failed to improve labour and safety standards. So the US will work with Bangladesh on the steps needed to potentially restore its GSP privileges, but that requires going through a process so that Bangladesh can make improvements, Mr Ventrell assured a questioner. "So we'll continue to work with them so that they can take additional substantive actions to improve workers' safety and help ensure that there's never again another fire or collapse like we saw in some of these horrific incidents," said the spokesperson who is also the director of the Press Office of the State Department. The Director of Press Office, however, stressed on improvement of the rights of workers including the rights to form trade unions and bargain different issues with the employers. "Just to say that we need to see improvement in worker and safety rights, including the right to freely associate and engage in collective bargaining," he said. The US believes that there are important economic opportunities to lift more people out of poverty into the middle class and there are great economic opportunities in Bangladesh. "But it has to be done in the context (of labour and safety standard)." Mr Ventrell said. Bangladesh government, garment manufacturers and exporters and relevant workers' groups criticised the US move as 'unfortunate' and observed that the action instead of ensuring labour rights would hamper their interests, because it may retard the pace of a growing economy of the country. However, the US move is not likely to hit the $20 billion garment sector of the country immediately as the main export product of Bangladesh does not enjoy GSP facilities in the US, rather pays more than $700 million a year against garments exports to the US worth $5.0 billion, according to trade analysts in Dhaka. Under the GSP facilities Bangladesh exported some 500 non-traditional items worth nearly $40 million to the US annually. But it is feared that the US move could prod the European Union (EU) and Canada to take similar action where Bangladesh as a least developed country also enjoys GSP facilities that is duty-free and quota-free access also for garments products along with other items. The EU imports garment products worth more than $12 billion annually from Bangladesh, which exports in aggregate more than 19 billion of apparels a year across the world as of last fiscal. Canada imported garment products worth some $1.2 billion from Bangladesh in 2012-13, according to data available at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Bangladesh is now the second largest garment exporters in the world after China. UNB adds: Responding to a question Ventrell said, "I am not sure if they (Bangladesh government) have been in direct contact with us since this announcement, but successfully addressing these underlying labor rights and workplace safety issues will help ensure that there's never again another fire or collapse like we saw in some of these horrific incidents."