‘RCC is capable and skilled enough to take over the responsibilities of the Alliance and Accord, and the ILO would also do the same’Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday urged buyers to increase the prices of Bangladeshi readymade garments (RMG) in the destination countriesSpeaking as the chief guest at a program on Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC), the minister said that even though the RMG factory work environment has been modernized, the quality of factory facilities upgraded, and labourers’ wages raised, the prices of the finished goods were not increased in the international market, reports BSS.He was speaking at a discussion called “Capacity Building of Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC): Sharing Process and Way Forward” organized by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.On May 14, 2017, the government in association with the International LabourOrganisation (ILO) and funding from Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, launched the Remediation Coordination Cell to manage the remediation process for the country’s garment factories in anticipation of the expiration of the Accord and Alliance arrangements.Most of the factories in Bangladesh are going to turn into green factories while problems related to child labourers have been eliminated, the Labour Law has been amended, and initiatives have been taken to increase wages through the commission,” he added.Saying that the tenure of Alliance and Accord has already ended, Tofail said they have given six months interim time as per the directives of the High Court: “The time would not be extended further and so they have to go back in December.”RCC is capable and skilled enough to take over the responsibilities of the Alliance and Accord, and the ILO would also do the same,” said the commerce minister.State Minister for Labour M MujibulHaque chaired the discussion while FBCCI President Shafiul Islam Mahiuddin, US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, Labour Secretary Afroza Khan, and BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman also spoke at the program.MujibulHaque said a total of 2,559 factories identified by the Accord and Alliance have already been renovated fully, and Alliance’s Bangladesh Chief John F Moriarty has announced much earlier that Bangladesh is role model for factory safety.
