Readymade garment factories are now structurally safe but the workers inside the factory buildings are still unsafe, according to a report of the US senate committee published on March 5. The report came after factories went through considerable refurbishment with the support of international initiatives following the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. Workers in readymade garment factories in Bangladesh were facing increasing intimidation, termination and verbal, physical and sexual abuses as the environment for union organisers and activists deteriorated in the country, the study said. ‘Today, many of Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment factory buildings are structurally safer, but the workers inside are not,’ said the report titled ‘Seven Years after Rana Plaza, Significant Challenges Remain’ prepared by the US senate committee on foreign relations. The report found that labour rights declined precipitously in recent years in Bangladesh RMG sector as union organisers now struggle while the authorities continue to curb freedom to associate, organise, and demonstrate. Lack of access to justice, especially for women, contributes to a pervasive culture of abuse in the RMG factories, where perpetrators often act with impunity, the study identified. It said that workers who joined unions and encouraged others to do so were fired from jobs but factory owners had not been held accountable for unfair labour practices, as defined by the Bangladesh Labour Act. Citing the violence during the December 2018 and January 2019 workers’ protests over the minimum wage, the report said despite hopes that the Rana Plaza tragedy would motivate genuine labour rights reform in Bangladesh, the environment for union organisers and activists has only deteriorated. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Rubana Huq expressed her disagreement on many of the points the study highlighted and sent a reply to the US senate. The study also raised a question whether the private initiative RMG Sustainability Council would follow the safety standard of global initiative for ensuring factory safety in the country. In the wake of the devastating Rana Plaza collapse, and a 2012 fire at a garment factory that killed at least 112, two international initiatives — the European-based Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the American-based Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety — were created to improve factory building safety, ‘As both initiatives have concluded their operations, the government of Bangladesh must now assume full responsibility for ensuring factory safety and protection of labour rights. Today, many workers and workers advocates are concerned that standards for safety and rights could backslide, raising the spectre of more accidents in the future,’ the report reads. There were reportedly thousands of unregistered RMG factories operating in Bangladesh that do not meet safety standards but the government had fallen short in its responsibility to inspect and remediate the units the report said. The newly formed safety monitoring entity RSC would be governed by a board of directors that includes industry representatives, brands and trade unions but the credibility of this platform would be determined by several factors, particularly the balance of power on the board, the study viewed. The report also said that after the Rana Plaza tragedy, in June 2013, the US suspended Generalized System of Preferences for Bangladesh and provided a 16-point action plan on labour rights as a basis for reinstatement of GSP but Bangladesh had not been able to fully implement the action plan. The report recommended that the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation should launch an investigation into allegations of widespread abuse of RMG workers and a Commission of Inquiry on Bangladesh in response to alleged violations of the ILO Conventions respectively. Rubana Huq also questioned the methodology of the study saying that the report was based on the sample size of 181 workers and it was a skewed representation of the state of three million women. Regarding RSC, the BGMEA president said they are committed to the principle objectives of brand-led international initiatives. ‘In the executive summary, a reference has been made regarding labour rights having declined “precipitously”. This assumption must be quantified. Otherwise, random references and the danger of falling into a rhetorical situation may often belittle the objectivity of the report,’ Rubana said in her letter. Responding to the issue of labour unrest during December 2018 and January 2019 over the minimum wage, she said that BGMEA launched a joint investigation with IndustriAll in this regard. A total of 36 cases were filed against workers, of which 27 were filed by factory authorities, she said. BGMEA president in her letter to the senate said that among the cases, 11 were withdrawn and 16 were on the process of withdrawal.
