GSP reinstatement looks elusive

Slow progress in hiring labour inspectors, shortcomings in the amended labour law and lack of action to bring the EPZ law into conformity with international standards remain as the major roadblock to the reinstatement of GSP benefits to the US market. Late last month, the US government conveyed to Bangladesh its conclusion that Bangladesh had not made sufficient progress to date under the Action Plan to warrant reinstatement of GSP benefits. “…as has been conveyed with specificity to the government of Bangladesh, a great deal remains to be done to implement some of the most important elements of the (GSP) Action Plan,” said Eric Biel, acting Associate Deputy Undersecretary for International Lbour Affairs at the US Department of Labour. He said this while making his statement at a hearing to examine the “prospects for democratic reconciliation and workers” rights in Bangladesh held at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington on Tuesday, according to a news agency. The plans for a larger, well-trained force of labor and fire and building safety inspectors are still in their initial stages, and the number of inspectors hired to date is relatively small, said Eric Biel. He observed that labour law amendments enacted in July 2013 do not address the concerns raised in the Action Plan, including severe restrictions on collective bargaining, in particular at the industry and sector levels, nor inadequate protections against employer interference in union activity. Eric Biel also said there also has not been enough progress in achieving justice for the 2012 murder of labor organiser Aminul Islam. In addition, he said, EPZs (Export Processing Zones) remain governed by a separate labour law providing inferior protections for workers in those zones about which both we and the ILO have long expressed deep concerns.