A high-powered delegation from the Office of US Trade Representative or USTR that visited Chittagong yesterday sought to know trade union practices in factories housed in the Export Processing Zones.The management of the Chittagong EPZ (CEPZ) briefed the delegation on its electoral process as well.However, the team did not visit any factory inside the CEPZ, said Khorshed Alam, general manager of CEPZ.The team is reviewing the workplace safety progress in Bangladesh as the country has been lobbying with the US to reinstate the generalised system of preferences status, which was scrapped in June 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse, citing serious shortcomings in workplace safety and labour rights.In the EPZs, trade union is not allowed, as the existing workers’ welfare associations (WWAs) are seen as a way to address any dispute between workers and management.The team was also briefed by the inspectors on the election process of WWAs in factories under Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority.The delegation members were satisfied with the WWA activities as these are working as trade unions to address workers’ issues. We highlighted WWAs’ activities to the delegation in a presentation as well,” said Alam.Launching trade unions in the factories housed in the EPZs was one of the 16 conditions of the action plan, an American guideline for Bangladesh to regain the GSP status.The USTR team also visited ARK Sea Food Ltd at Sagorika in the port city to see the working conditions in the shrimp factory.On Saturday, the team reviewed Bangladesh’s progress in workplace safety measures in the garment sector in Dhaka, which is tied to restoration of the trade privilege.Michael J Delaney, assistant USTR for South and Central Asia and head of the eight-member team, held meetings with three secretaries — foreign, commerce and labour in Dhaka — to review the measures taken by the government under the action plan.Bangladesh fulfilled almost all the conditions and submitted the progress reports to USTR twice, but the Obama administration did not renew the status, although the trade privilege was given to 122 other countries last month. Of the major conditions, the Bangladesh government amended the labour law of 2006 in parliament in July 2013, two months after the Rana Plaza building collapse.The government also appointed 235 factory inspectors to fulfil another condition and appointed 218 new fire fighters and 51 building inspectors to fortify workplace safety.So far, three factory inspection agencies — Accord, a platform of 200 retailers and brands, mostly European; Alliance, a platform of 26 North American retailers and brands; and a government sponsored inspection agency under the tripartite national agreement — completed the inspection of 3,407 out of 3,668 garment factories. Of the inspected factories, only 34 were closed due to structural flaws.All three inspection agencies were formed after the Rana Plaza building collapse to check flaws in structural, electrical and fire safety in the apparel units.
