The country’s apparel sector got rare kudos from none other than the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), the anti-graft watchdog, for the progress it made in the implementation of the remedial measures. The measures, numbering 102, were initiated following the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013. A research paper released by the TIB a fortnight ago said there has been ‘remarkable’ progress in at least 77 per cent of the remedial initiatives of the government and other stakeholders and the sector now deserves global recognition. The words of appreciation coming from the TIB, which is a proven critic of wrongdoings and irregularities, financial or otherwise, at any place do not fully go in line with observations made by the Alliance recently on the basis of its inspection report. The latter has pointed out a few failures and cases of non-compliance. But it, too, has recognised the improvement in the workplace safety situation in the sector, noting that the number of fire accidents has come down remarkably in the past couple of years with no loss of life. However, there should be no room for complacency on the part of the apparel unit owners, the government and other stakeholders, including the workers. While making sincere efforts to implement the remaining remedial measures, all concerned do need to keep above everything the safety and security of workers, machinery and valuable assets. One cannot but ignore the fact that due recognition of the improvements made so far has not come from buyers and brands in the form of increased price for apparel products and cost-sharing in remedial initiatives. Moving away from the past practices, almost all apparel units are now paying wages to their workers in accordance with government’s wage board award and laws and rules that are now in place to safeguard the rights of workers to the maximum possible extent. Yet the wages and benefits that the workers are now receiving, are not still enough to meet their minimum basic needs. Industry owners generally put the blame for this on the buyers who offer unremunerative prices for their products. However, there are questions about the reasons that the owners usually cite while expressing their inability to pay wages higher than the existing ones to their workers. Had the buyers paid higher prices for the apparel products they source from Bangladesh following the progress so far made in areas of factory safety, the owners could, hopefully, share the same with the workers. Given the developments taking place in the global apparel industry, it is almost certain that Bangladesh would continue to play a leading role there, provided all stakeholders play their part well. The industry people are hoping to reach the $50 billion export target by 2021. But that would require extra efforts from all concerned to penetrate into new markets while protecting the existing ones. On the top of everything, the industry operators will have to address duly the compliance issues in order to avoid queries from outside.
