Global buyers should share the responsibility along with the local suppliers and the government for improving workplace conditions and workers’ wage, said experts at a discussion on Thursday. A paper presented by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed said although there was substantial rise in the garment workers’ wage, but it was still low compared with that of the competing countries. ‘So there is still a scope for increasing the wage for the garment workers,’ she said while presenting the paper at the BIDS auditorium on the occasion of the organisation’s almanac 2014-15. She said that the garment workers’ wage was Tk 930 in 1994 which was increased to Tk 1,662 in 2006, Tk 3000 in 2010 and in the latest revise the wage was raised to Tk 5,300 in 2013. Nazneen showed 75 per cent to 88 per cent of the product value is taken away by retailers and buyers. ‘For example, the retail price of a Polo shirt is $23 where the Bangladeshi suppliers get only $2.5. Now, such high margin of profit cannot be explained with the design, branding and the marketing by the buyers,’ she said. She said the local suppliers and the government are responsible for poor price and unstable orders. ‘And this affects the working conditions of the workers. Better working condition requires further investment where such issues constrain the possibilities. So, for the Bangladesh garment industry a relation of manufacturers, workers, buyers and government is needed,’ she said. In another presentation, BIDS research director Binayak Sen said that the size of middle-income group of the country would constitute 33 per cent of the total population by 2030. He said that the definition of middle class was set considering per day earning of $2 to $3 as per the PPP 2005. He said that as per the definition, the size of the middle class was 9 per cent from 1992-2000 which grew to 20 per cent by 2010. ‘If the trend continues, it will be 33 per cent of the total population by 2030,’ he said. He said as the middle-income class is getting bigger; it has an impact on the poverty reduction rate of the country. A presentation on the migration pattern of Bangladeshis by BIDS research fellow Abul Basher showed people of the Rangpur division face the highest constrains in migration. It showed Rangpur people is 74 per cent less likely to migrate compared with Dhaka’s while the ratio is 39 per cent for Barisal and 63 per cent for Rajshahi. The people of Chittagong division is 134 per cent more likely to migrate compared to that of Dhaka and the rate is 88 per cent for the people of Sylhet division, he said. ‘So if the government wants to send people outside with its own effort, then it should focus on the poor areas and poor people,’ he said. A paper by BIDS senior research fellow Mohammad Yunus on municipality financing of the government showed that 90 per cent holding tax under the municipalities were not paid because of inefficiency and corruption. ‘The moment government announces a new municipality the holding tax comes into effect, but the other facilities of this upgradation do not become available for the residents of that area. So, people are reluctant to pay the holding tax,’ he said. A municipality can impose 27 per cent tax as per the Model Tax Schedule 2003. AMA Nasiruddin, a former secretary, however said the political commitment for upgradation to municipality is a big problem. ‘The politicians promise the people they will make his locality a municipality and they do so. But, such decision creates problem as it lacks proper study,’ he said. Referring to the paper on garment workers’ wage and working conditions, former interim government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association should play an important role in the bargaining capacity issue. ‘Unfortunately, the BGMEA has become a semi political entity. They should have played a role in restructuring the entire bargaining capacity issue,’ he said. Economist Wahiduddin Mahmud said as the buyers are in the upper hand in taking big chunks from the garment sector, the competitiveness issue comes under question. ‘I think we need to analyse that,’ he said. State minister for planning MA Mannan and BIDS director general Khan Ahmed Sayeed Murshid also spoke, among others, on the occasion.
