Sabotage against garments industries
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Enayet Rasul
THE garments industries in Bangladesh which have been thriving and earning from exports well above the projections of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in recent years, has suddenly slumped in the current year. The growth appears to have declined drastically. Although this development was attributed to waning demand for apparels in the buying countries, a close examination would show up that orders from buyers lost by Bangladesh have gone to competitor countries.
Meanwhile, garments producers and exporters have been making serious charges of sabotage of their industries. They are saying that buyers' growing disinterest in them stems from various factors but the most pronounced one seem to be a kind of apprehension that Bangladesh has lost its stability to be able to produce and supply apparels without disruption like in the past. The buyers put the highest premium usually on unbroken peace in the exporting countries for the security and safety of their businesses. Export cargoes that do not arrive on time or arrive late can prove to be serious liabilities for businesses. Thus, the buyers are reluctant to maintain a high level of business relationship with a country which is portrayed as one where workers in its garments industries are seething with discontent and can trigger large scale rioting any time.
Only last Friday, a rampage was started by workers of a garment industry at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) which is considered to be a heavily protected area. Five garments industries were attacked and damaged by workers but largely aided by outsiders and the violence was centred on the rumoured death of a worker at the hands of the management of one of the attacked industries. The attackers also launched similar attacks against the branch of a foreign private bank, the offices of a glass industry and shopping arcades there without any rhyme or reason. They were just giving vent to their mood on the basis of a rumour. But this was not the first time that such orgies of wild and unconscionable behaviour took place in the premises of garments industries on the basis of what proved to be no more than rumours.
Who instigates such rumours and why? The president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) in their instant reactions to the press on last Friday's mayhem at the DEPZ, were quite candid in saying that the incident was an engineered one. They observed that attempts at deliberately creating unrest in the garments industries such as the latest one, were premeditated by some quarters and sought to be carried out by spreading a rumour to destroy the flourishing garments sector of Bangladesh.
Last year, the garments industries in Bangladesh were subjected to a sort of uprising by unruly workers. But from video footages and other tangible evidences, it was established then that workers played but a small role in the incidents. Newspapers carried photographs of young thugs or outsiders who descended suddenly on the garments industries to engage in the smashing, looting and rioting. True, they had some accomplices among the workers who were but few. No doubts the workers had their grievances but the same were not fierce and expressions of the same not spontaneous. Besides, the places of occurrence of the violence were mainly the export processing zones (EPZs) where the garments workers were considered to be best paid in the country. It was the strangers who involved themselves in these incidents who appeared to be the most unruly. They were activated as if through remote control from far away and started smashing and grabbing anything of the industries they could put their hands on. 400 garments industries were damaged in varying capacities in the incidents at that time.
Garments industries operated by foreigners were targeted and they threatened to pull out their investments from Bangladesh. Only very hard persuasion and repeated pledges of ensuring security led to their giving the workers here another chance. But the fallout of a negative perception about the garment sector in Bangladesh from these happenings could not be prevented. The apparel importers got it imprinted in their minds that stability in Bangladesh was slipping away. It was perhaps the starting point of their disenchantment with Bangladesh that has gradually caused a mind change among the importers and their placing orders in other countries while they told their old friends among Bangladeshi garments operators that demand was lagging in their countries. But the real reason was very probably erosion in buyers' confidence about the sustainability of the performance of the industries here from signals like periodic workers' unrest.
Thus, orders to Bangladeshi garments industries have declined by 35 per cent recently. Nearly 60 per cent of the industries in Bangladesh today do not have adequate work orders. And such an outcome and worse must have been the game plan of the conspirators : to fan troubles in the garments sector in Bangladesh for weakening and constricting it so that competitor countries could gain. BGMEA and BKMEA leaders have alluded to the high probability of the same. They underlined in statements to the press that external competitors and their internal agents were at the root of the planned troubles in the Bangladeshi garments industries. Allegations were made by them sometime ago that foreign funded non-government organisations (NGOs) were found providing cash hand outs and birayani (a tasteful local dish) to young thugs who were anything but workers bent on vandalising the garments industries.
Direct physical assaults on the industries is one aspect of their rising security problems. Fire incidents which look like acts of sabotage are also very worryingly noted. A devastating fire broke out in a garment factory at Dhaka two months ago. The South Korean owned factory had in its godown at that time huge quantities of apparels ready to be shipped to EU countries. The stocks were completely gutted in the fire, according to reports. The machineries were also charred. In all, the owner of the factory is claiming a loss of some Taka one billion in machineries and finished output.
This was not the first major fire incident in a garment factory in the present year. Several such incidents have took place in the Dhaka region in recent times. More conspicuously, 25 garments industries have been gutted down in the Chittagong region during the last six months. This figure is an unprecedented one and duly raises the question whether all of them were just separate mishaps or part of a planned sabotage against the readymade garment (RMG) sector.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) issued warnings and statements to the effect sometime ago that the frequent fire incidents in the recent time could be the result of deliberate human mischief. The motive could be large scale loss of capacities of the local RMG industries that would boost the prospects of foreign RMG suppliers.
Investigations which were launched last year found sufficient evidences of external involvement behind the large scale troubles in the garments industries. It is not known whether such an investigation was made in relation to the fire incidents. If not, then it should be immediately ordered and carried out very promptly and efficiently. Investigations should be conducted with equal vigour and immediacy to clearly identify the real external perpetrators of the workers' unrest and violence. Then, appropriate and uncompromising legal steps along with other strategies would need to be taken and adopted to pre-empt sabotage.
The government needs to take the warning from the RMG entrepreneurs very seriously indeed and absolutely ensure that the sort of physical security that owners of RMG industries are demanding, would be provided. The government cannot be easy-going in its attitude towards protecting' physically' the RMG industries because a lion's share of the country's wealth, some 76 per cent of its export earnings, are produced by these industries. Foreign currency earnings by the RMG sector is a major cushion for the country's foreign currency reserve. The reserve would nose-dive and consequently shatter the prevailing macro economic stability if the RMG sector meets a major debacle. Besides, the RMG sector directly employs about 2 million people while indirectly about 10 million people are its dependants or beneficiaries. Thus, no government can be unmindful about its duty to physically protect the RMG industries in a foolproof manner because vital national economic interests are involved.
Government must complete investigations comprehensively and effectively into various recent troubles in the garments industries, identify clearly the ones who engineered them and take the sternest uncompromising actions against them.
THE garments industries in Bangladesh which have been thriving and earning from exports well above the projections of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in recent years, has suddenly slumped in the current year. The growth appears to have declined drastically. Although this development was attributed to waning demand for apparels in the buying countries, a close examination would show up that orders from buyers lost by Bangladesh have gone to competitor countries.
Meanwhile, garments producers and exporters have been making serious charges of sabotage of their industries. They are saying that buyers' growing disinterest in them stems from various factors but the most pronounced one seem to be a kind of apprehension that Bangladesh has lost its stability to be able to produce and supply apparels without disruption like in the past. The buyers put the highest premium usually on unbroken peace in the exporting countries for the security and safety of their businesses. Export cargoes that do not arrive on time or arrive late can prove to be serious liabilities for businesses. Thus, the buyers are reluctant to maintain a high level of business relationship with a country which is portrayed as one where workers in its garments industries are seething with discontent and can trigger large scale rioting any time.
Only last Friday, a rampage was started by workers of a garment industry at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) which is considered to be a heavily protected area. Five garments industries were attacked and damaged by workers but largely aided by outsiders and the violence was centred on the rumoured death of a worker at the hands of the management of one of the attacked industries. The attackers also launched similar attacks against the branch of a foreign private bank, the offices of a glass industry and shopping arcades there without any rhyme or reason. They were just giving vent to their mood on the basis of a rumour. But this was not the first time that such orgies of wild and unconscionable behaviour took place in the premises of garments industries on the basis of what proved to be no more than rumours.
Who instigates such rumours and why? The president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) in their instant reactions to the press on last Friday's mayhem at the DEPZ, were quite candid in saying that the incident was an engineered one. They observed that attempts at deliberately creating unrest in the garments industries such as the latest one, were premeditated by some quarters and sought to be carried out by spreading a rumour to destroy the flourishing garments sector of Bangladesh.
Last year, the garments industries in Bangladesh were subjected to a sort of uprising by unruly workers. But from video footages and other tangible evidences, it was established then that workers played but a small role in the incidents. Newspapers carried photographs of young thugs or outsiders who descended suddenly on the garments industries to engage in the smashing, looting and rioting. True, they had some accomplices among the workers who were but few. No doubts the workers had their grievances but the same were not fierce and expressions of the same not spontaneous. Besides, the places of occurrence of the violence were mainly the export processing zones (EPZs) where the garments workers were considered to be best paid in the country. It was the strangers who involved themselves in these incidents who appeared to be the most unruly. They were activated as if through remote control from far away and started smashing and grabbing anything of the industries they could put their hands on. 400 garments industries were damaged in varying capacities in the incidents at that time.
Garments industries operated by foreigners were targeted and they threatened to pull out their investments from Bangladesh. Only very hard persuasion and repeated pledges of ensuring security led to their giving the workers here another chance. But the fallout of a negative perception about the garment sector in Bangladesh from these happenings could not be prevented. The apparel importers got it imprinted in their minds that stability in Bangladesh was slipping away. It was perhaps the starting point of their disenchantment with Bangladesh that has gradually caused a mind change among the importers and their placing orders in other countries while they told their old friends among Bangladeshi garments operators that demand was lagging in their countries. But the real reason was very probably erosion in buyers' confidence about the sustainability of the performance of the industries here from signals like periodic workers' unrest.
Thus, orders to Bangladeshi garments industries have declined by 35 per cent recently. Nearly 60 per cent of the industries in Bangladesh today do not have adequate work orders. And such an outcome and worse must have been the game plan of the conspirators : to fan troubles in the garments sector in Bangladesh for weakening and constricting it so that competitor countries could gain. BGMEA and BKMEA leaders have alluded to the high probability of the same. They underlined in statements to the press that external competitors and their internal agents were at the root of the planned troubles in the Bangladeshi garments industries. Allegations were made by them sometime ago that foreign funded non-government organisations (NGOs) were found providing cash hand outs and birayani (a tasteful local dish) to young thugs who were anything but workers bent on vandalising the garments industries.
Direct physical assaults on the industries is one aspect of their rising security problems. Fire incidents which look like acts of sabotage are also very worryingly noted. A devastating fire broke out in a garment factory at Dhaka two months ago. The South Korean owned factory had in its godown at that time huge quantities of apparels ready to be shipped to EU countries. The stocks were completely gutted in the fire, according to reports. The machineries were also charred. In all, the owner of the factory is claiming a loss of some Taka one billion in machineries and finished output.
This was not the first major fire incident in a garment factory in the present year. Several such incidents have took place in the Dhaka region in recent times. More conspicuously, 25 garments industries have been gutted down in the Chittagong region during the last six months. This figure is an unprecedented one and duly raises the question whether all of them were just separate mishaps or part of a planned sabotage against the readymade garment (RMG) sector.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) issued warnings and statements to the effect sometime ago that the frequent fire incidents in the recent time could be the result of deliberate human mischief. The motive could be large scale loss of capacities of the local RMG industries that would boost the prospects of foreign RMG suppliers.
Investigations which were launched last year found sufficient evidences of external involvement behind the large scale troubles in the garments industries. It is not known whether such an investigation was made in relation to the fire incidents. If not, then it should be immediately ordered and carried out very promptly and efficiently. Investigations should be conducted with equal vigour and immediacy to clearly identify the real external perpetrators of the workers' unrest and violence. Then, appropriate and uncompromising legal steps along with other strategies would need to be taken and adopted to pre-empt sabotage.
The government needs to take the warning from the RMG entrepreneurs very seriously indeed and absolutely ensure that the sort of physical security that owners of RMG industries are demanding, would be provided. The government cannot be easy-going in its attitude towards protecting' physically' the RMG industries because a lion's share of the country's wealth, some 76 per cent of its export earnings, are produced by these industries. Foreign currency earnings by the RMG sector is a major cushion for the country's foreign currency reserve. The reserve would nose-dive and consequently shatter the prevailing macro economic stability if the RMG sector meets a major debacle. Besides, the RMG sector directly employs about 2 million people while indirectly about 10 million people are its dependants or beneficiaries. Thus, no government can be unmindful about its duty to physically protect the RMG industries in a foolproof manner because vital national economic interests are involved.
Government must complete investigations comprehensively and effectively into various recent troubles in the garments industries, identify clearly the ones who engineered them and take the sternest uncompromising actions against them.