Govt to take actions against garment owners from Aug 1
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
The government will take actions from August 1 this year against the garment factory owners who will fail to implement various compliance issues like ensuring minimum wage and introduction of identity cards, appointment letters, regular payroll and service book, reports UNB.
This was decided at a meeting of the Committee on Social Compliance for RMG at Commerce Ministry Monday.
Presided over by Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, the meeting was attended, by committee members from different stakeholders of the garment sector.
The meeting also decided to start the orientation work for forming workers welfare committees for garment factories on July 1, 2008 to protect the interests of the workers as part of the social compliance.
The committees are expected to start their full work by this year.
The proposed welfare committees will be formed comprising representatives of the workers, employees, factory owners and government representatives. Such committees are now in operation in different export processing zones to protect the interests of the workers.
After the meeting, the Commerce Adviser told Journalists that the government, garment factory owners and workers are emphasising the importance of having correct information and statistics to ensure implementation of the social compliance.
Zillur said all concerned need to remain vigilant and work together so that the garment sector should not face any labour unrest.
He also urged all to enhance their efforts to accelerate the growth of the country's readymade garment (RMG) sector. "There is a need for a long-term plan to ensure the full implementation of the compliance issues for the welfare of the garment workers."
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Anwarul Alam Parvez claimed that as per as the social compliance is concerned the situation in Bangladesh garment sector has improved a lot.
"We think, about 99 per cent garment factories have implemented the main features of the social compliance... Government wage has been implemented in almost all the garments. Some 96 per cent garment factories have introduced ID cards," he said.
Replying to a question, he said the BGMEA has requested the government to take action against the garment owners who are yet to implement the minimum wage declared by the government. "We're ready to provide support to the government in this regard," he said.
There is a report that about 24 garment factories are yet to implement the minimum wage.
He, however, said that incidents of labour unrest in different factories of Chittagong are not related with the compliance issues.
This was decided at a meeting of the Committee on Social Compliance for RMG at Commerce Ministry Monday.
Presided over by Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, the meeting was attended, by committee members from different stakeholders of the garment sector.
The meeting also decided to start the orientation work for forming workers welfare committees for garment factories on July 1, 2008 to protect the interests of the workers as part of the social compliance.
The committees are expected to start their full work by this year.
The proposed welfare committees will be formed comprising representatives of the workers, employees, factory owners and government representatives. Such committees are now in operation in different export processing zones to protect the interests of the workers.
After the meeting, the Commerce Adviser told Journalists that the government, garment factory owners and workers are emphasising the importance of having correct information and statistics to ensure implementation of the social compliance.
Zillur said all concerned need to remain vigilant and work together so that the garment sector should not face any labour unrest.
He also urged all to enhance their efforts to accelerate the growth of the country's readymade garment (RMG) sector. "There is a need for a long-term plan to ensure the full implementation of the compliance issues for the welfare of the garment workers."
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Anwarul Alam Parvez claimed that as per as the social compliance is concerned the situation in Bangladesh garment sector has improved a lot.
"We think, about 99 per cent garment factories have implemented the main features of the social compliance... Government wage has been implemented in almost all the garments. Some 96 per cent garment factories have introduced ID cards," he said.
Replying to a question, he said the BGMEA has requested the government to take action against the garment owners who are yet to implement the minimum wage declared by the government. "We're ready to provide support to the government in this regard," he said.
There is a report that about 24 garment factories are yet to implement the minimum wage.
He, however, said that incidents of labour unrest in different factories of Chittagong are not related with the compliance issues.