Most RMG factories fail to make bio-metric database on workers

Most of the readymade garment (RMG) factories are yet to introduce workers' bio-metric database system even after ten months of a move initiated by the BGMEA in this regard. Industry insiders attribute this to mounting pressure for meeting different safety-related measures and lack of finance.
The insiders claimed the RMG sector is now facing tremendous pressure both from local and international arena to introduce a number of safety measures to ensure safe workplaces in the factories especially after the deadliest incidents of Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza building collapse.
The one-after-another tragic incidents killed more than 1,200 garment workers only in a year. This also tarnished the image of the country's largest foreign currency earning sector.
Immediately after the two incidents, on May 20 last, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) had instructed its member-factories initially at Ashulia to prepare a biometric database of their workers by August 30 last year.
But till now, only 300 factories have registered with the BGMEA for the service while full-fledged work is going on in 250 factories covering a total of 1,50,000 workers, according to the BGMEA.
The BGMEA currently has 5,500 member factories, of which 3,500 are in operation.
The bio-metric database is a system that would preserve basic information about a worker's identification including family details, record about the worker's service details including factory and employer, dates of his or her joining or leaving the job and the reasons and also the details of his/her skill.
According to the BGMEA, each worker will be given an identification document. It will help him or her to negotiate with his/her employers about their legal rights, including wages.
The importance of a workers' central database was felt most after the Tazreen fire and the Rana Plaza collapse as its absence and proper identification of victims took a long time. Many are still missing and the status of compensation delivery for the affected and their dependants has not been up to expectation.
Manufacturers are in panic and also worried following factory inspection programmes undertaken by the Accord and the Alliance. The inspection might result in ensuring many safety measures while it might recommend permanent or temporary shutdown of factories, industry circles said.
"All the safety requirements involve a lot of money which discourage the manufacturers to introduce the database at this moment," BGMEA vice president Md Shahidullah Azim told the FE.
There is a huge pressure for ensuring safety in the factories, he said adding that cost of doing business has also gone up significantly following the hike in wages and other utility services.
Moreover, the recent political activities have seriously disrupted the supply chain casting a negative impact on the business, Mr Azim said.
Due to all these reasons, manufacturers don't have enough money to take the service, he said. The government's move to establish a database is also a reason for less interest among the factory owners.  
However, sources said, many small factories don't have any IT cell and skilled manpower and it is difficult to convince them as they are not familiar with the system.
BGMEA leaders, however, said it is a difficult task to incorporate all the workers under a database and so it would take time.
The database is being prepared in association with Tiger IT and Systech Digital Ltd by taking finger prints of workers, and will cost a factory owner around Tk 75,000 to Tk 0.2 million on the basis of their manpower.
Recently, the BGMEA decided that the factory owner could pay the amount in four installments.