The government needs to define a wage level that can help satisfy the basic needs of workers in the readymade garment industry and periodically review it to adjust it with the real prices, according to a new report. “Only through sufficient inspection and legal capacities decent payment can be enforced,” Nazma Akter, General Secretary and Executive Director of the AWAJ Foundation, told UNB quoting the report titled ‘The Workers’ Voice Report 2016′. The report that focused on the working conditions in Bangladesh’s RMG industry after Rana Plaza said the government has to make greater efforts to rigorously enforce the existing labour laws if Rana Plaza should be the turning point.The Workers’ Voice Report 2016, published this month, is the result of a joint project of Awaj Foundation and Consulting Service International Ltd. Nazma, also President of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, said the Workers’ Voice Report 2016 showed that the conditions of work in Bangladesh’s RMG industry continue to be unacceptable for most of the workers. The focus of the reforms after RanaPlaza was directed on factory safety, the report mentioned in its conclusion part.Nazma thinks the efforts made have not been enough to improve the overall working conditions.She said there is more initiative from all stakeholders needed to create a decent work environment. The report said it is important for them to understand that productivity and efficiency improvements can only be addressed in alliance with labour standards. “Here’s where solutions have to focus on. “It is important to bring all the stakeholders together and identify their responsibilities and roles in improving working conditions, the report mentioned. The government, employers, workers and international buyers need to jointly address the manifold challenges in eliminating work deficits, providing a more effective regulatory environment and establish institutionalised multi-stakeholder cooperation, the report reads. The survey revealed some challenging working conditions in the factories, which can only be addressed in a multi-stakeholder approach. There has been progress in some of the indicators in comparison to 2013, however, the much-invoked paradigm shift after RanaPlaza did not materialise, it said.With the gap between male and female workers laid bare in this study, gender equality analysed as a crosscutting objective has been identified as the primary challenge. Private governance based on voluntary external audits and internal codes of conduct has proven ineffective to substantially change the conditions in Bangladesh’s RMG factories.
