The International Labour Organization in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM) has launched capacity development training on effective workplace cooperation for workers’ representatives and mid-level managers in the ready-made garment sector. Some 2,700 workers and managers from 100 RMG factories would be incorporated into the training programme by the end of this year, said a statement of ILO yesterday. The training will be implemented in technical collaboration with BIM and in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), National Coordination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) and IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC). The capacity building activities will ensure that workers, employers and their representatives are better equipped to engage in meaningful dialogue and labour relations on workplace issues of mutual importance. The programme will see a series of two-day workshops take place, each bringing together an equal number of workers’ representatives and managers. Srinivas Reddy, ILO country director for Bangladesh, said: “The more the workers and employers engage in social dialogue the better for harmonious industrial relations and good workplace cooperation.” “This training will help develop skills that will benefit Bangladesh RMG sector and all who work in it.” Some 28 master trainers including seven management counsellors from BIM, who have been trained on effective workplace cooperation by ILO’s International Training Centre (ITC), will carry out the training. Five training modules developed by the ITC and translated into Bangla will be used to support the sessions. Similar training activities will be held in collaboration with the BGMEA and the BKMEA while ILO is also in contact with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to introduce parallel capacity development activities for workers and managers in factories in EPZ. The training activities are being carried out with the financial support of the governments of Norway and Denmark.
