Most apparel units meet 90pc compliance

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FE Report
The country's 2,936 out of 3,235 running apparel factories have so far addressed an average of 90 per cent compliance issues, including implementation of minimum wages, sources said.
"Some 720 out of 800 apparel factories affiliated with the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), fulfilled more than 90 per cent of compliance issues," said Fazlul Hoque, president of BKMEA.
On the other hand, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters (BGMEA) Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez said: "Out of their 2435 running factories only 219 or about 9.0 per cent could not yet implement the recommendations of minimum wages board."
When asked presidents of both the associations expressed the hope that all the factories affiliated with their associations will implement major criteria of the buyers' compliance, especially the payment of minimum wages before the fresh deadline expires by the end of August.
A senior government official of the Compliance Monitoring Cell (CMC) acknowledged the claims of BGMEA and BKMEA presidents regarding the implementation of compliance issues.
"We have information that the associations and the owners of apparel units are whole-heartedly working to implement the compliance issues," he said.
Meanwhile, the CMC official said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a project styled 'Preparatory Assistance for Promoting Poor Trade (PAPPT)' to help implementation of the compliance issues.
"The UNDP has already appointed two consultants and provided logistics to support us," he further said.
Answering a question, the presidents of BGMEA and BKMEA said they will not any more request the government to extend the deadline.
Major criteria of the buyers' compliance include implementation of the minimum wages, payment for overtime and maternity, festival and annual leave, weakly holiday and emergency exit arrangement with extinguisher.
However, sources said non-implementation of compliance in country's the apparel units might affect orders from the buyers of Europe and America.