The challenges RMG faces

There is no denying that one year after Rana Plaza Tragedy, a wide gap still exists between the commitments made and the delivery of those promises. Families of the injured and dead in the building collapse are leading a life of uncertainty as the government, garment factory owners and international brands have failed to honour their commitments.
Despite various initiatives taken up at national and international levels, the victims and their families are still in a vulnerable state. With the passing of the first year, the need to fulfil those commitments has become urgent, according to a recent Centre for Development Studies (CPD) study. The country needs to formulate a long-term strategy for the welfare of the victims, so that the injured and families of the dead do not feel that their sacrifices were worthless, the study said.
The Rana Plaza Trust Fund, an initiative of the government, buyers and industrial trade unions, has failed to collect the targeted funds. Only a total of $15 million has been collected against a target of $40 million. The British retail giant Primark has been the main contributor until to date, with a total contribution of $12 million. In fact, both the government and Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers' and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have failed to fulfil their commitments.
Side by side, work on safety condition and worker rights in the apparel sector is yet to make any visible. Almost all the initiatives that the government is implementing under the national tripartite plan of action have remained half done.
However, there was significant improvement in some areas but any such change to be visible would take time as a number of initiatives were still being implemented. Poor safety condition in apparel factories came to light at national and international levels after the collapse of the Rana Plaza building, which housed five clothing factories.
The government, along with Accord, a platform of European Union (EU) retailers, and Alliance, a consortium of North American retailers, came forward with some measures to ensure structural integrity of and fire and electrical safety in apparel factory buildings. As part of the initiatives, the government with financial support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and some other donors launched a factory inspection programme.
In line with the GSP action plan and the EU sustainability compact that the EU countries reached with Bangladesh, the government in association with the ILO adopted a 25-point national action plan. Yet only seven conditions have been implemented half-way and there has been no progress on three of the conditions. Beginning the initiatives, the government and the manufacturers started work on all of the points but the work is yet to gather pace. Now it is evident that most of the commitments that the government made in the National Action Plan have remained unaddressed.
On its part, the government claimed that significant progress was made in terms of improving workplace safety in the apparel sector. The labour law has been amended and the registration process for labour unions has been simplified. The labour directorate has been changed to a department to recruit required number of factory inspectors to ensure an effective apparel factory inspection. The government claimed that remediation work in some factories had started where Accord, Alliance and the government had found faults during inspection. It said some big manufacturers have made significant changes in their factories but medium and small manufacturers need time to do so.
Readymade garments (RMG) analysts say the sector had made some improvement in terms of safety condition but more improvement was required. Progress in big factories is satisfactory but small units will take time as they need support from the government and retailers. Any visible improvement in the sector, however, seems to be too little as manufacturers failed to relocate any units from rented buildings, they say.
Meanwhile, the country's apparel manufacturers criticised the global retailers for not increasing prices of the products to help them improve workplace safety after the Rana Plaza tragedy. Relocation and remediation are the two main challenges for the manufacturers to make the RMG industry safer and henceforth, they need support from the government and retailers to do this.
Some 13 factories housed in four shared buildings in Dhaka and Chittagong have so far been closed due to structural faults which resulted dislocation of about 11 thousand workers. Although the manufacturers have taken initiative to ensure workplace safety, the buyers are pulling out their business from the factories housed in shared building, which is very much inhuman. It would not be logical for the buyers to stop orders to the factories housed in shared building as about 1.5 million workers are now working there.
The moot point is that although the national action plan had taken some initiatives at administrative level, some at the legislation and the policy level and some at the factory level, a few of the pledges have been met but most of the activities have lost momentum.
Certainly, the Rana Plaza disaster is a wake-up call for the garment sector as the forward march towards compliant RMG industry began on the sacrifices of 1,135 workers who lost their lives in the tragedy.
The manufacturers need to address the challenges of relocation and remediation in order to ensure full safety of their units. The government and the retailers must support them in this respect.
szkhan@dhaka.net