The Japanese garment factories, which are housed inside Bangladesh’s export processing zones (EPZs), should enjoy cash incentives against exports to emerging destinations, said Naoki Ito, newly appointed Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, yesterday.  The apparel companies, which are outside of EPZs, enjoy 4 percent cash incentive on export to non-traditional markets but the Japanese companies are not getting this benefit, he said. Ito was addressing a group of businesspeople from both Bangladesh and Japan at an extraordinary general meeting of the Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI) at the Lakeshore hotel in Dhaka. The government has introduced 4 percent cash incentive against export of apparel items to new markets in 2009 to face the fallout of the global financial recession in 2007. In this case, Bangladesh considers all destinations as emerging markets, except the European Union, the USA and Canada. Moreover, the ambassador suggested Bangladesh sign free trade agreements with major trading partners including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This will enable Bangladesh to continue to enjoy preferential trade privileges even after graduation from the status of least developed country in 2024, he said. Ito also said a lot of Japanese companies were headed for Bangladesh for investment and business. “The investment climate and business environment needs to improve, particularly, those issues and challenges of the existing companies needs to be addressed,” he said. “The existing companies needs to be taken good care of by the government and the people of Bangladesh,” Naoki also said. If the business climate in Bangladesh improves, the number of Japanese companies will increase here. Currently, some 305 Japanese companies are in operation in Bangladesh and more are in the pipeline, he said. Some of the companies have been facing difficulties and delays in approval procedures for importing necessary cars, machinery, air conditioners and, in the EPZ, old machines, he said narrating a recent visit to Chittagong EPZ. Sometimes the authorities seek very high taxes from the Japanese companies although the tax should be paid in accordance with the sales prices of goods, he said. If these kinds of things continue, the pace of Japanese companies coming here will not be as fast as it was planned, Naoki also said. Yuji Ando, president of the JBCCI, said every month the number of Japanese companies in Bangladesh has been increasing and it would continue to grow. Some 70.3 percent of Japanese companies operating in Bangladesh have plans to expand their business here in the next two years, he said. As of November last year, the amount of investment made by private Japanese companies in Bangladesh was $326 million, excluding Japan Tobacco’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Akij Group’s cigarette business. In recent years, Japan has also turned into a big market for Bangladesh’s garment sector. Japan is the only country among the Asian nations where $1 billion-worth garment items are shipped from Bangladesh. The indication is that the potential of apparel export to Japan this year is about $1.3 billion from Bangladesh. Akhtaruzzaman, an adviser to the JBCCI, and Tareq Rafi Bhuiyan, secretary general, also spoke. 

Women workers are more vulnerable than their male counterparts to losing their jobs due to automation in five key sectors in Bangladesh, according to a study. It said women in low-wage occupations with less education are likely to be impacted more due to high risk of automation in readymade garment and textile, furniture, agro-processing, leather and footwear and tourism and hospitality sectors at the beginning of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). “In the five key sectors, two in five jobs are at risk,” said the study titled “Future Skills: Finding Emerging Skills to Tackle the Challenges of Automation in Bangladesh” conducted recently by Access to Information (a2i) programme under ICT Division. The aim of the research was to assess the present situation on occupational role and skills in the key sectors at the advent of 4IR. To extend insights beyond main occupations and sectors at risk of automation, several socio-demographic indicators have been analysed to further understand how workplace automation affects different segments of the workforce. Also in these sectors, young workers aged between 18 and 24 are more susceptible to having an occupation in relation to adult workers, although age-based disparity is considerably lower than the gaps by sex, the study has revealed. Education levels produce different odds of occupying a high-risk job. Workers with primary education are more at risk of losing jobs than those having secondary school education, the study said. “Higher education and training helps develop competency needed for complicated tasks requiring advanced level of perception and manipulation as well as creative and social intelligence,” it added. Low level and low quality postsecondary and tertiary education and training as well as low educational attainment level among the workforce are matters of concern. However, a recent study released by US-based research firm McKinsey in October 2018 forecast that many garment manufacturing countries might incur a substantial loss of business and employment reduction due to automation. Over 50 per cent of imported readymade garments would be manufactured by 2025 near Europe and the USA, away from Asia, according to about 25 per cent of global sourcing executives who were surveyed. Asad-Uz-Zaman, policy specialist at a2i, told the FE that the RMG sector along with some other sectors is facing the risk of automation as employers are cutting jobs on a small scale. He also underscored the need for market-driven skills and proper training for women workers. Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) president Osama Taseer in a statement said advanced economics are seriously concerned that automation and robots powered by artificial intelligence will axe many occupations and wipe out skills from the workplace. The RMG industry which accounts for 84 per cent of export earnings and employs directly 32.52 per cent of total employed population in the industrial sector and 6.58 per cent of total employed population in Bangladesh is undergoing structural changes encompassing automation and higher productivity, he added. Due to this automation process, the DCCI chief said, many skills will become obsolete and many jobs will disappear within a short time. He also put emphasis on re-skills and up-skills to prepare the workforce for future jobs, focusing on big data analytics, drone and robot operators, large sorting and planting machine operators, mechanical engineering, artificial intelligence network experts, technology-driven services, computer-aided process and enterprise resources planning experts.

Twenty-one global brands and buyers have so far signed a collaborative deal that seeks to ensure living wage for garment, textile and footwear workers, including those in Bangladesh. The brands are Arcadia, Asos, Bestseller, H&M, C&A, Cotton on, Esprit, Inditex, Kmart, NBrown, Lidl, Primark, Pentland, Debenhams, PVH, G-Star Raw, Tesco, Tchibo, New Look, Next and Zalando. The agreement called ‘ACT’ (action, collaboration and transformation) was made between corporate signatories and IndustriAll Global Union in 2016. It aims to establish freedom of association and achieve living wage for workers through collective bargaining at industries linked to purchasing practices. To achieve its target, sources said, ACT has recently started consultations with Bangladesh to explore the potential for future engagement. ACT delegates had follow-up meetings with national stakeholders in Cambodia and Turkey while initial country consultations were held in Myanmar. It sat with Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) sector leaders and local IndustriAll-affiliated rights groups on November 27 to discuss the deal and relevant issues. Bangladesh Apparel Workers Federation president Towhidur Rahman, also IndustriAll Bangladesh Council former secretary general, said multiple RMG federations and IGU-affiliated units attended the meeting. Workers need a living wage and it is entrepreneurs, who would implement it, need the ability to pay, he added. Brands should have a written commitment to this end that they would properly raise their products’ prices in ensuring living wage, he added. Sammilita Garments Sramik Federation president Nazma Akter said no specific decision came from the latest meeting as it was just an initial discussion on ACT. She, however, laid stress on unionism in factories to bargain, transparency in buyers’ purchasing behaviour and other practices, fair price of products to make suppliers pay a living wage. “As nearly 300 brands and retailers source apparel from Bangladesh, at least 200 buyers should come under ACT to make it successful,” she said, citing the number of Accord signatories. Accord, a platform of more than 200 brands and retailers mainly based in European Union, was formed after the Rana Plaza collapse to improve garment factories’ safety in Bangladesh. Fire, electrical and structural safety in some 1,600 factories has been inspected since 2014 and more than 80 per cent of safety flaws fixed under Accord. Labour leaders, however, called for bringing more brands under the umbrella and they would bargain with their counterparts (factory owners) for living wage once a written commitment is made. When asked, International Labour Organization Bangladesh country director Tuomo Poutiainen said ACT promotes collective bargaining at industry and sartorial level. “Supported by many of the big garment buyers and global trade unions, this adds a welcome new element to the industry where collective bargaining has been very much lacking,” he noted. “Establishment of the collective bargaining process will also bring the parties more together, and hopefully pave new ways to cooperate in future.” “Brands and retailers will ensure that their purchasing practices facilitate the payment of a living wage,” according to the ACT memorandum of understanding available on its official website. ACT defines a living wage as “the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet the basic needs of themselves and their family, including some discretionary income”. “This should be earned during legal working hour limits and should not include overtime,” it adds. The ACT member brands also recognise a strong link between purchasing practices, working conditions and the payment of a living wage, it reads. Poor purchasing practices can have a negative impact on suppliers and workers in the global supply chain and can contribute to poor working conditions, unauthorised subcontracting, industry people said. Non-compliance also causes labour dispute and strike and wage which do not cover the basic needs of workers and their families in garment-producing countries. According to ACT, member brands would support substantial wage growth by incorporating higher wages into their purchasing prices and would support efforts to increase productivity and efficiency.