Readymade garment makers are unhappy with the actions of European buyers’ group regarding business termination as the initiative suspended all the factories of a group finding faults in one unit of the units. Recently, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has requested Accord on Fire and Building safety in Bangladesh, the EU buyers group, not to declare noncompliance all factories of a group due to fault in only one factory. The trade body also urged the Accord to review its decision on Smart Group as the buyers platform in May this year declared ineligible four factories of the group to produce for Accord signatory companies due to fault in one factory. Following the request from the BGMEA and Smart Group, the Accord suspended termination of the factories and asked to submit necessary documents to the platform for conducting verification inspection in the units. In a statement, Accord said that the Smart Jeans had fabricated the concrete strength test results which were needed to determine what structural retrofitting was necessary for remediation. ‘This egregious act of fraud resulted in the Accord implementing an expedited escalation process where Smart Group RMG factories have become terminated factories and ineligible to produce for Accord signatory companies,’ the platform said.  It also said that the Accord has conditionally suspended the termination of the Smart Group factories as the group has taken punitive actions on the persons responsible for the fraud. One of the BGMEA officials said that Accord can take punitive action against its supplier factories in which faults would be identified but they cannot take action against all the factories of a group due to fault in one factory. Not only Smart Group, the Accord applied termination to all factories of the Victory Group, Kems Group and all factories of the owners of Jaycee’s Apparels Ltd and Sincere Knit finding faults in a factory. The BGMEA leaders said that they were going to sit with the Accord on October 13 to discuss the issue as termination should not be applied to all factories of the group or same owner. BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu on Wednesday told New Age that Accord should not suspend business ties with a group if fault was found in one of its unit. ‘They [Accord] can not do that,’ he said. Babu said that they would sit with Accord on October 13 on the matter. ‘If they don’t listen, we will take legal action against them. Though, I hope that the matter will be resolved in the October 13 meeting,’ he said.After the Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, in April 2013, European retailers formed the Accord undertaking a five-year plan which set timelines and accountability for inspections and training and workers’ empowerment programmes. The initiative has so far inspected more than 1,600 RMG factories from where they procure products.

Growth in Bangladesh’s apparel export to the United States dropped below 1.0 per cent during the first eight months of the current calendar year over the corresponding period of 2015. According to sources in business circles, sluggish economic recovery in the country’s single-largest shipment destination-the US market-is largely to blame for the slowdown in the export growth. A growing competition by other exporters, particularly Vietnam, for the market share and denial of duty-free and quota-free access for Bangladeshi apparels are also seen as deterrents. Growth drops below 1.0pc. The country’s exports grew by 0.85 per cent to $3.71 billion while its one of the main competitors, Vietnam, posted a 3.04 per cent growth to $ 7.25 billion during January-August period of 2016. The trade scenario came clear from data of Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), a concern of the US Department of Commerce. Export earnings grew by 10.99 per cent in January and 8.52 per cent from January to February in 2016, the data revealed.   Exports of the country’s non-apparel items, including shrimp and plastic products, also declined. The turnover amounted to $142.17 million during the January-August period, accounting for a negative 6.88 per cent growth. On the other hand, Chinese apparel exports also witnessed a negative growth of 7.73 per cent to $ 18.28 billion during the same period of this year. Meanwhile, the RMG exports of India slightly maintained the growth by 0.06 per cent to $ 2.61 billion while Cambodia’s declined by 14.76 per cent to $ 1.43 billion during the same period. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said a downturn in the US demand for apparels might have slowed down the country’s import not only from Bangladesh but also from other countries. “As Vietnam’s growth is higher than that of Bangladesh, it might be that the former is taking more advantage from the China shift,” he said. Vietnam’s growth indicated US buyers strengthening their trade and investment relations with that country, he noted. The policy analyst, however, said Bangladesh is still in a good position in the context of overall US import situation. Faruque Hassan, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said prices of apparels are not increasing because of sluggish global demand for apparel products. Orders from China are shifting to Vietnam as the latter has developed its strength in producing non-cotton items which also helped it in earning more, he noted. Md Hatem, managing director of MB Knit Fashion, said efficiency is higher in Vietnam compared to Bangladesh’s. Though India, Vietnam and Bangladesh produce almost all the same products, Vietnam produces some value-added products, he opined. Meanwhile, unrelenting efforts of the government for resumption of the country’s suspended GSP facility on the US market have failed so far, as the American authorities made it conditional to further improvements in workplace safety and labour rights situation in the export industry.

Bangladesh’s garments industry, for good or worse, has been on the radar screen of policy regulators, North American and European trade union movements, international lenders, as well as global activists promoting sustainable and equitable growth. Harvard University and Bangladeshi scholars and professionals in the USA have taken a keen interest in the sustainability of this industry for many years and watched its progress with hope and trepidation since the Rana Plaza disaster three years ago, and are actively involved in a search for a pathway that is economically feasible for the young and growing industry.  At a recent conference at Harvard, it appears from the debates and discussions that the jury is still out on two important issues: a. Can Bangladesh afford to please all stakeholders and b. Should Bangladesh RMG first build a safe environment for its workers and then address the living wage issue, or work on these two fronts simultaneously?The Harvard Conference held on the last weekend of September in Cambridge, MA, had a very ambitious theme:  ‘Sustainable Models for the Bangladesh Apparel Industry’. Conference participants included government representatives from Bangladesh, USA, Canada, The Netherlands and the European Union as well as Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters. However, as was expected there were some heated exchanges between the RMG interest and government representatives on one side, and the motley group of labour leaders, scholars and “external” watchdogs who first raised the alarm on working conditions and labour practices in Bangladesh, on the other. The organiser of the conference, International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) and it’s dynamic Executive Director, Iqbal Yousuf, deserves credit for bringing these disparate groups to the same table, and keeping the focus on the prospects and promises of our garments industry as it tries to meet the goal of USD 50 billion set by the government and the higher standards demanded by the rest of the world. The key challenge that all parties agree on is, Bangladesh is walking a tightrope as the garments industry implements various safety practices and standards, and improves workers’ living conditions. Speakers voiced their concern about the lack of progress on unionisation of garments workers. Notwithstanding the protestations by Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister, Showkat Aziz Russell of the Amber Group, and Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam, the advocates for the labour union cited many instances of labour harassment, government’s lack of interest, and the uphill battle that the RMG labour unions faced to organise and register.In his keynote speech, Dr. Mashiur Rahman spoke out for the Bangladesh government’s efforts to prod the RMG sector to address various concerns voiced following the Rana Plaza accident. He, using data and statistics, highlighted the many achievements made in the last three years, particularly in hiring more inspectors and implementing the minimum wage laws. To quote, “Bangladesh exporters have done well—they have not only sustained export, they have shown improvement while others stayed constant or have had negative performance.” Amy McGann, Labour Officer of the US Department of State, echoed the sentiments of Dr. Rahman, and acknowledged that progress has been made in strengthening workers’ safety and safeguarding their rights. Nonetheless, when asked about the possible reinstatement of GSP privileges for the garments industry, there were no clear indications from many of the representative of US government. Evan Fox, a US diplomat at the American Embassy in Dhaka, expressed his optimism on the progress made in the various fronts. The discussions were organised around the four topics of the conference: 1. Supply chain compliance and the need for fair price strategy and shared responsibility; 2. Trade policy, workers’ rights and working condition – opportunities and challenges; 3. Environmental sustainable development strategy: A necessity, not an option; and 4. Bangladesh apparel industry – road map to achieve USD 50 billion by 2021. Angela Chan, Senior Vice President of the DXL Group in the USA, who works with the garments industry of Bangladesh provided a case study of how her group was able to raise the efficiency of DXL’s suppliers in Bangladesh by offering a long-term contract. Many others at the conference expressed the hope that the buyers, in addition to making demands on the suppliers, could offer some incentives, including price guarantees, long-term contracts, and loans to modernise.Dr. Hasnath raised the issue that China and Vietnam had worse trade union practices than Bangladesh, and were nonetheless given a “free pass”. The RMG owners are caught between the rock and a hard place. While world price of apparels are declining, the buyers are asking for improvements in workers’ safety and factory environment along with stronger trade unions. Isn’t it time for the rest of the world to live up to its responsibilities, too?In response to this, Yevgeniya Savchenko of the World Bank expressed confidence that once Bangladesh makes progress on garment safety and develops a sustainable model for growth, it can easily take market share away from China.The writer is an economist and writes regularly in this column on economic policy.

About 63 percent of the remediation works in the Alliance-affiliated garment factories have been completed until yesterday. The disclosure came in the third annual report of the Alliance, which was published yesterday. The Alliance, a platform of 29 North American retailers, was formed after the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013. The association has been inspecting 765 of the garment factories from which its members source to fix three specific flaws, including structural, electrical and fire. Currently, the Alliance is focusing on the most critical repairs, which also happen to be the costliest and most time-consuming for factories to achieve, such as installation of fire doors, reinforcement of structural beams and columns and installation of sprinkler systems. Some 55 percent of the high-priority remediation works are complete. “Significant remediation is now underway in all the active Alliance factories, and those unwilling or unable to comply are suspended and removed from our compliant factory list,” the report said. By July 2018, all Alliance factories will have to either complete their high-priority repairs or will be suspended from the Alliance’s list of suppliers, said Ellen Tauscher, independent chair of the Alliance. “Progress toward this goal has been significant, and achieving closer to the remainingissues most critical to life safety remains our primary focus.” More than three years have now passed since Alliance member companies launched one of the most ambitious and significant safety programmes in Bangladesh history, she said. Despite countless challenges, the reforms achieved to date are saving lives and building a safer garment sector in Bangladesh.“But our work is far from complete — we are pushing full steam ahead to ensure that our ambitious goals are achieved by the end of our five-year initiative.” Achieving safety in factories is more than completing repairs: it must be accompanied by comprehensive efforts to inform, engage and empower the women and men who earn their living in garment factories, said Alliance Country Director James F Moriarty in a teleconference with the reporters. “By approaching remediation and empowerment hand in hand, we are working to set the gold standard for garment factories throughout Bangladesh,” Moriarty said. The Alliance is also ramping up its programme to establish Worker Safety Committees — groups of workers trained and empowered to monitor on-site occupational safety and health issues, according to the third annual report. The programme was launched in April. The number of committees rose from 16 to 54 since April, and committees will be operational in a majority of Alliance factories by July 2018, according to the report. Some 40 factories have achieved substantial completion of their corrective action plans, while 97 have been suspended from the list of Alliance-compliant factories for failure to make sufficient remediation progress. Worker Safety Committees empowered to monitor on-site occupational safety and health issues have been established or are in formation in 54 factories. More than 1.2 million workers have been trained in basic fire safety, with nearly 800,000 receiving the interactive refresher course. About 23,000 security guards have been provided with fire safety leadership training. The Alliance Helpline has become a go-to resource for workers inside and outside Alliance factories, receiving an average of 4,200 calls per month and nearly 90,000 calls in total since the helpline was established, the report said. Maintaining safe factories require sustained commitment by the owners and the management, the report said.