State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu on Tuesday said the security for the vehicles carrying readymade garments would be further increased as the countrywide indefinite transport blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance goes on, reports BSS. “A requisition in this regard will be sought from the Ministry of Home Affairs. We’re trying to ensure all- out security for the RMG sector. I myself am monitoring the situation,” he said while briefing reporters after the 27th meeting of the core committee on crisis management affairs at the secretariat. Chunnu called upon the owners of garment industries not to retrench workers and make delay in paying their wages on the pretext of blockade. The state minister further said a section of people undercover of labourers has been engaged in smearing propaganda over the RMG business discouraging foreign buyers. “Those who are involved in such foul play would be exposed.” Besides, Mujibul said, the interested garment businessmen would be provided with loan from the Bangladesh Bank at 2 percent interest rate for the construction of dormitories for their workers. Representatives of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and labour organisations were present at the meeting.

The International Labour Organisation in a report mentioned with appreciation the contribution of the readymade garment sector to the country’s recent robust economic growth. The RMG, which suffered a big jolt from a building collapse in 2013, already made significant headway with support from the ILO and other development organisations and global retailers. The apparel sector maintained its top position among the leading export sectors with 5.0 per cent growth and over $22 billion earnings during January-November period in 2014, according to Export Promotion Bureau. The ILO, in its report titled ‘World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2015’, released in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday, said Bangladesh had been able to maintain robust economic growth rates in recent years due to strong growth in exports driven by the garment industry. The report also attributed the growth to the remittance from overseas workers saying that Bangladesh economy had grown around 6.0 per cent for an extended period due to strong domestic demand fuelled by the remittance inflows. As of December 26, 2014 Bangladeshi people living overseas sent home $14.71 billion, which was 11.27 per cent higher on year-on-year basis. Besides the economic growth, the ILO report said that Bangladesh and many countries in the region reduced the extent of extreme poverty with effective antipoverty focus adopted in national development plans. The main focus of the latest ILO report, however, is the global job situation, which the ILO apprehends would be more critical in the coming years as unemployment would continue to rise. ‘By 2019, more than 212 million people will be out of work, up from the current 201 million,’ the report said. It said more than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global crisis in 2008 and our projections show that unemployment would continue to rise until the end of the decade. According to the report, two regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, accounted for three quarters of the world’s vulnerable employment. East Asia is among the regions that are likely to make the biggest dent in vulnerable employment, which is expected to be reduced in the region from 50.2 per cent in 2007 to 38.9 per cent in 2019. It said the employment situation had improved in the United States and Japan, but remained difficult in a number of advanced economies, particularly in Europe. The ILO report said the steep decline in oil and gas prices, if sustained, may improve the employment outlook somewhat in many advanced economies and several Asian countries according to some forecasts. By contrast, it will hit labour markets hard in major oil and gas producing countries, notably in Latin America, Africa and the Arab region.

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the platform of European retailers, is going to assess fire and electrical safety and structural integrity of 200 more factories. The Accord will hire engineering firms to inspect the additional factories that have been included on the list after completing the initial inspections in 1,106 factories in September, it said. The factories have been included as the Accord signatories started business with them after the period, an Accord official told New Age on Tuesday. After the Rana Plaza building collapse on April 24, 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, Western retailers and apparel brands, reacting to public outrage, began a major push to improve safety in the Bangladeshi factories liked with their business. The EU brands and retailers including H&M, Carrefour and Mango, as well as 14 American companies formed the Accord and the initiative started inspection since February last year that ended in September 2014. The Accord had identified more than 80,000 faults in its 1,106 inspected units and over 11,000 issues have so far been remediated. Accord chief safety inspector Brad Loewen told New Age that all of the factories which the Accord inspected were involved in direct business with Accord signatories. Replying to a question he said, ‘The Accord has always used third party inspectors to do the initial inspections with the Accord staff engineers doing all of the follow up inspections to verify that all findings are remediated.’ Another Accord official said the appointment of third party inspection farms would be completed shortly and the inspections in the additional units would start soon.

State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque on Tuesday asked garment factory owners not to terminate workers during the on-going political turmoil. The junior minister said that factory owners will have to be careful in dealing with issues like workers’ wages, increment and termination while the country is passing through a sensitive time of political unrest. He was speaking at a meeting of Crisis Management Committee comprised of representatives of the government, readymade garment factory owners, industrial police, rapid action battalion and trade unions. Mujibul asked the owners to implement 5 per cent increment for the workers as per provision of the wage board and said owners will have to be cautious to avoid any untoward incident in the sector during the present critical time. Coming down heavily on trade union federation, Mujibul said the government would review the activities of some federation and see whether the federation obtained registration through proper channel. ‘Some of the federation leaders are acting against the interest of the country and working like agents of foreigners. The government will resist any harmful activities in the name of trade union,’ the state minister said. In the meeting, factory owners urged the government and law enforcement agencies to ensure transportation of export goods and imported raw materials to keep the production in the factories normal. They informed that most of the garment factories that are members of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association have already implemented the 5 per cent increment since the announcement of the new wage structure a year ago. Labour secretary Mikail Shipar, BGMEA vice president Reaz Bin-Mahmood, former BKMEA vice president Mohammad Hatem, inspector general of the Depertment of Inspection for Factories and Establishments Syed Ahmed, among others, attended the meeting.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu yesterday said the security for the vehicles carrying readymade garments would be further increased as the countrywide indefinite transport blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance goes on, reports BSS. “A requisition in this regard will be sought from the Ministry of Home Affairs. We’re trying to ensure all-out security for the RMG sector. I myself am monitoring the situation,” he said while briefing reporters after the 27th meeting of the core committee on crisis management affairs at the secretariat. Chunnu called upon the owners of garment industries not to retrench workers and make delay in paying their wages on the pretext of blockade. The state minister further said a section of people undercover of labourers has been engaged in smearing propaganda over the RMG business discouraging foreign buyers. “Those who are involved in such foul play would be exposed.” Besides, Mujibul said, the interested garment businessmen would be provided with loan from the Bangladesh Bank at 2 per cent interest rate for the construction of dormitories for their workers. Representatives of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and labour organisations were present at the meeting.

The readymade garment (RMG) sector of the country has been praised for its contribution towards the country’s recent robust economic growth. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in a report made the appreciation, reports BSS. The RMG, which suffered a big jolt from a building collapse in 2013, already made significant headway with support from the ILO and other development organisations and global retailers. The apparel sector maintained its top position among the leading export sectors with 5.0 per cent growth and over US$22 billion earnings during January-November period in 2014, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The ILO, in its report titled “World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2015 (WESO)”, released in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday, said Bangladesh had been able to maintain robust economic growth rates in recent years due to strong growth in exports driven by the garment industry. The report also attributed the growth to the remittance from overseas workers saying that Bangladesh economy had grown around 6.0 per cent for an extended period due to strong domestic demand fuelled by the remittance inflows. As of December 26, 2014 Bangladeshi people living overseas sent home $14.71 billion, which was 11.27 per cent higher on year-on-year basis, it added. Besides the economic growth, the ILO report said that Bangladesh and many countries in the region reduced the extent of extreme poverty with effective antipoverty focus adopted in national development plans. The main focus of the latest ILO report, however, is the global job situation, which the ILO apprehends would be more critical in the coming years as unemployment would continue to rise. “By 2019, more than 212 million people will be out of work, up from the current 201 million,” the report said. It said more than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global crisis in 2008 and our projections show that unemployment would continue to rise until the end of the decade. According to the report, two regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, accounted for three quarters of the world’s vulnerable employment. East Asia is among the regions that are likely to make the biggest dent in vulnerable employment, which is expected to be reduced in the region from 50.2 per cent in 2007 to 38.9 per cent in 2019. It said the employment situation had improved in the United States and Japan, but remained difficult in a number of advanced economies, particularly in Europe. The ILO report said the steep decline in oil and gas prices, if sustained, may improve the employment outlook somewhat in many advanced economies and several Asian countries according to some forecasts. By contrast, it will hit labour markets hard in major oil and gas producing countries, notably in Latin America, Africa and the Arab region.

State Minister for Labour Mujibul Hoque Chunnu Tuesday called upon all concerned to remain alert against any possible untoward incidents in the country’s garment sector amid political turmoil. He suggested the factory owners refrain from taking any sort of decisions including termination of workers which might fuel fresh labour unrest in the sector. “Now the country is passing through a critical period. So, you should refrain from taking any unpleasant decisions so that the vested group can’t capitalize on it,” the minister said. The minister was speaking at the core committee’s  meeting on crisis management at his secretariat office in the city. Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar was also present there, which was attended by representatives from apparel makers, labour leaders, Industrial Police and Fire Service and Civil Defense. The minister suggested the apparel makers pay the workers timely with the annual five per cent increment. “If you terminate any worker, without any delay pay his/her due benefits according to the law,” he said. He also asked the law enforcing agencies to be alert so that some vested rights groups can not create any chaos in the garment sector. During the last 15 days, export was not hampered as shipments were sent to the ports with police escort, he noted.

The Accord will inspect 200 more garment factories that were added to its list after completion of its initial assessment in September last, sources said. On December 17 last, the Accord sought a proposal from the interested firms for carrying out fire, electrical and structural integrity assessment of 100 to 200 garment factories, they added.   Accord, the European Union-based group with over 190 members including H&M and Inditex, rolled out its initial safety inspection in February 2014 and completed assessment of some 1,103 factories in September last, they said. Factories that were added by signatory companies to the Accord’s factory list after August 15 last year remained outside initial inspection purview. The platform was formed to ensure workplace safety in the country’s apparel industry for a period of five years following the Tazreen and the Rana Plaza tragedies that killed more than 1,200 workers.   “We will hire engineering firms to inspect the additional newly-listed factories.  The selection process is near completion and these inspections will commence within the next couple of weeks,” Rob Wayss, executive director of the Accord told the FE. At present, the Accord has some 38 full-time permanent local engineers, he said. Besides, firms would be hired to do reviewing and approving of structural detailed engineering analyses (DEA), designs of fire alarm and sprinkler systems of inspected factories, to conduct  verification work at inspected factories and provide technical support to/field queries from the factory owners and brands in executing remediation, he explained. Replying to a question, he said all factories supplying to signatory companies must be disclosed by the companies to the Accord and will be inspected regardless whether it has a direct sourcing relationship or through a buyer/agent/authorized subcontract. After each factory is inspected for fire, electrical and structural safety, factory owners and signatory companies will develop a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), which will be published online after approval by the Accord. So far, about 750 CAPs have been finalised and the rest are in process of being finalised, the Accord ED added. According to its official website, some 541 CAPs were published after approval.   The Accord has a team of engineers who are monitoring progress and verifying implementation of CAPs through follow-up visits. The team has done follow-up inspection at over 200 factories, it said adding 73 CAPs were updated after follow-up inspection reports. After its initial assessment, the Accord said it had found more than 80,000 safety hazards in its assessed garment factories. The Accord inspections have also identified more substantial safety requirements, such as installing fire doors and automated fire alarm systems, establishing fire protected exits from factory buildings, and strengthening columns in the buildings. In its monthly update, the Accord said over 11,000 safety issues have been remediated and they would be  verified by the Accord engineers during their follow up inspections and will then be marked as complete in the CAPs on the Accord website.