The decision for creation of Central Fund for the readymade garment (RMG) sector, though belated, is an important milestone in the country’s labour welfare programmes. The government, in keeping with the amended Labour Law 2013, has announced the modalities of generating the fund and its utilisation, to be made effective from the first day of the ensuing fiscal year (FY) — July 01, 2016. The disclosure came at the first meeting of the board of the fund, formed last month for determination of contributions from the export-oriented garment factories and realisation procedures and provisions for utilisation of the money for welfare of RMG workers. The government, according to the decision, will start collecting 0.03 per cent of free-on-board (FoB) prices from the readymade garment factory owners from July 01 for depositing the money in the Central Fund formed for the export-oriented RMG sector. The labour rules that came into effect in September, 2015 stipulates that the export-oriented factories have to contribute 0.03 per cent of their FoB prices to the fund while the contributions from the government and the buyers are voluntary. The money will be deposited equally in the two accounts — one will be beneficiary account and the other, contingency account. Grants for workers or their family members will be taken from the beneficiary account while the amount deposited in the contingency account will be used to meet the dues of workers of any closed factory if its owner is unable to pay the workers. The premium of group insurance and health insurance would be paid from the contingency account. From the beneficiary account workers would get up to Tk 3.0 hundred thousand for death or permanent disability due to accident in work place and up to Tk 2.0 hundred thousand for illness. For a mammoth export-oriented sector like the RMG employing around four million workers, it is indeed surprising that it took so long to put in place a workers’ welfare scheme that can really take care of the workers in bad times. No wonder, it is the enactment of the labour law that made it mandatory for the export-oriented units to part with a minuscule of their earnings towards generating the fund. It is, however, not known whether any other export-oriented sector has announced its plans in line with the RMG sector. Providing such welfare schemes is by all means indispensable to the operation of any industrial sector. While it may not always be possible for an individual unit to create funds for the well-being of its workers, a sectoral arrangement to be overseen and implemented by the respective industry association can be a befitting way of doing so. Now that the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has pioneered the move, it is expected that other industry associations will be forthcoming in following suit. Besides creating an example for labour welfare, this move will go a long way towards gradually bringing the whole range of labour issues, so long shelved or addressed only partly, under active consideration of all concerned.
