The country’s apparel makers at a meeting Saturday strongly opposed the unilateral extension of the Accord by three more years by the global brands and trade unions. They decided to convene an emergency general meeting by this month to mobilise opinion from the member factories of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and seek the government’s intervention in this regard. The board members and former leaders of BGMEA unanimously took the decisions at the meeting that took stock of the latest development on the second phase of the Accord’s activities in the country’s readymade garment (RMG) sector. “Almost all in the meeting have opposed the unilateral extension of the Accord,” BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hasan Khan told the FE after the meeting. The Accord is expected to expand its nature and area of inspection and other activities, especially promotion of freedom of association. “We don’t want continuation of the Accord for an indefinite period and, at the same time, want an acceptable body to take the charge of ongoing safety activities,” he added. He said the BGMEA would send a letter to the government for its intervention. The letter would have mentions about the difficulties the sector has been facing while implementing the safety requirements as prescribed by the Accord. It would also contain possible problems those might to be surfaced if the ‘Accord’s version 2’ is implemented. According to the industry insiders, the new agreement puts greater emphasis on the rights of workers to organise and join a union, recognising workers’ empowerment is fundamental to assuring workplace safety. It includes enhanced protections for workers whose factories are closed or relocated due to the implementation of the agreement and also presents the possibility to expand the Accord to sectors other than the readymade garment industry, they added. “We will also request the government for taking necessary measures to strengthen the remediation coordination cell so that all accept it, which can take over the charge of all safety activities,” Mr Khan said. The second phase of Accord has expanded its inspection nature and area as it plans to inspect the backward linkage industry and footwear, another meeting source said, adding that it would also promote freedom of association. If they do not intend to stay in the country for a long time, how they would complete inspection of the additional 1,000 to 1,500 backward linkage factories within the proposed time, and interfere in trade union activities in the factories, he said. President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, who is a former president of BGMEA, said the freedom of association has been ensured by the constitution of the country while Bangladesh has ratified the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on this issue. “This is not going to work as the implementing stakeholders — Bangladesh government and apparel makers — are not included in the process,” he said, adding that they don’t have the right to impose any unilateral decision. BGMEA president Md Siddiqur Rahman presided over the meeting, attended by its board members and former presidents Anisur Rahman Sinha, Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin and Md Atiqul Islam. Discussion with all stakeholders would be necessary to explore whether the Accord’s tenure is needed to be extended or not, the BGMEA president said. Explaining the measures taken by the industry and the government, he said that all the remediation will be done within the set timeframe of 2018.
