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.

About 45,000 rural women have achieved self-reliance in the northern districts through mini garments, embroidering, spangling saree and ornamental stitching on female clothes in recent years.The prospective ventures have been expanding fast attracting more unemployed, poor and distressed rural women in earning through working at home or smaller enterprises locally to attain self-reliance for better life.As result of growing success, the mini garments, embroidery and needlework have been getting a shape of growing cottage industry attracting local entrepreneurs to change the rural macro-economy in the northern districts.Many of the rural women, who initiated the venture few years back, have launched smaller enterprises now after getting necessary training and assistance from different government and non-government organisations and local traders.According to the sources in different NGOs, 45,000 unemployed rural housewives, divorcees, young girls, adolescents, students and widows of some 10,000 households are now engaged with the profession to achieve self-reliance.With the assistance of RDRS Bangladesh, 2,400 unemployed and distressed women, victims of repression and violence, divorcees, widows and physically challenged women have so far achieved self-reliance through mini garments and needlework at homes.Entrepreneur of spangling industry Chand Mia said he has expanded the venture generating employment for 400 poor families in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur through creating expert embroidery and ornamental stitching artisans.He supplies simple saree, various spangles, anti- pipe, dhania puthi, tire puthi, pet-pipe, phooljori, laljori, sadajori, dhole spangle, stitching inputs, yarns and threads to women to make those more attractive through ornamental stitching, embroidery etc”After finishing needlework, each of the saree is being sold in Dhaka markets at Taka 8,000 to Taka 25,000 while the saree made by more skillful hand is sold at higher price of up to Taka 40,000 in the aristocrat markets in the capital,” he said.Similarly, over 900 women of all ages have changed their fortune through embroidery, ‘jari’, ‘puthi’ and spangling works on saree, three-pieces, scarf and other female clothes in seven villages under Sadar upazila of Thakurgaon in recent years.Widow Sufi Begum, students Chompa Begum and Sadeka of Shibganj village there narrated as how they won poverty through earning conducting needlework on saree and other female clothes at leisure periods.Local entrepreneur Mamuni Begum said she supplies inputs to 480 women of all ages of these villages and they earn excellent wages every week through ornamental stitching, embroidery and spangling on saree those are being at Dhaka.

Bangladesh is today considered a power house in the apparel sector. The overall performance of apparel exports in the last year compared to the previous years has not been that different. The growth rate has been around 9.0 per cent over the previous year, which is slightly lower than the past five years’ average of around 12 per cent. This drop can be attributed to several factors, including for Rana Plaza tragedy, political instability, energy crisis and discriminatory treatment by some major global buyers. In April 2012, the world’s leading strategy consulting firm McKinsey & Co released a study titled Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments Landscape: The Challenge of Growth. McKinsey forecast that the Bangladesh apparel sector could reach $30 billion by 2015 and $50 billion by 2021. It noted: “While China is starting to lose its attractiveness in this realm, the sourcing caravan is moving on to the next hotspot.” In the latest report of Apparel CPO Survey 2013, McKinsey repeated that in the aftermath of Rana Plaza, the RMG sector still held a competitive position. Thus, the reports suggest that Bangladesh is likely to be the best destination that has the ability to grab the lion share of the global RMG market presently held by China. There is much evidence to demonstrate that Bangladesh’s garment exports can continue to grow. The garment industry grew at an annual average rate of 16.9 per cent since the MFA (Multi-Fibre Agreement) was abolished in 2005. This period includes the opening up of world garments trade to full competition, as well as the global economic crisis of 2008. There is more room to grow. Japan is now actively seeking to diversify its garments import base away from a focus on China to “China plus.” Chinese investors themselves are seeking to source from Bangladesh, given rising wages in China. Growing diversification away from garments of large countries like India and China gives Bangladesh an opportunity to not only increase world market share in garments, but also to find markets in these countries. And despite recent increases, wages in Bangladesh remain very competitive. There is a lot of room for the garment sector in Bangladesh to grow and capture an increasing share of the world market. Bangladesh’s share of world garments trade has risen gradually to 5.0 per cent. Vietnam has been catching up and is now close to Bangladesh, with a market share of almost 5.0 per cent. If Bangladesh can address the key constraints hindering exports, it could take some of the market being gradually vacated by China: capturing 20 per cent of China’s garment export markets would more than double Bangladesh’s total exports and absorb almost all the new entrants into the labour force over the next decade. If Bangladesh fails to act in time, other competitors could march ahead and take the markets China is vacating. China is currently either vacating some price competitive product segments or investing abroad in more competitive locations, offering great opportunities for Bangladesh. Bangladesh could potentially become an important player in manufacturing based on a strong comparative advantage in labour-intensive industries, with wages half those in India and less than one third of those in China or Indonesia. This comparative advantage, matched with a large population, has translated into very strong price competitiveness in the garment sector and possibly could, with the right policies, translate into competitive positions in other manufacturing industries. China losing ground in RMG: Opportunity for Bangladesh Future export growth will likely rely, first, on capturing new markets and increasing market share in existing markets, with existing products. Bangladesh’s exports have grown strongly and doubled in world market share between 1995 and 2012, owing to the success in garments, catering largely to the EU and USA. Garments can continue to grow, in existing and newer markets. Newer products will emerge more slowly. Thus, more rapid export growth will initially rely on capturing higher market shares in Bangladesh’s existing strength, i.e., basic garments – both in current markets, and penetrating newer and dynamic markets such as Japan, China, ASEAN and India. Bangladesh is lagging behind in some areas, but is capable of making substantial improvement. However, India has a superior advantage of grabbing a share from China, while Myanmar is strategically poised having unchartered waters for China to make a move and shift. In addition, countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are also ready and capable of taking a portion of the cake. Last but not least, starting from some of the African nations to even some developed nations with slow economic growth are in the race to grab a portion of the large chunk that China controls. Thus, the next question is: Can Bangladesh be number one RMG exporter in the world beating China?

Let us assess the capabilities to become world no 1:

Bangladesh has a strategic advantage in terms of wages. But India and Myanmar are breathing over its shoulder. One must clearly understand that price is the deciding factor for selecting a sourcing destination. This is truer when one observes that the purchasing intent for consumer goods is falling in major destinations and commodities, such as apparel, are considered highly price elastic. Lest we get overshadowed by price alone, we should be reminded that fashion still dominates the brand purse and supersedes generics. India, Myanmar and Cambodia have enough capacity to build their industries even further. Bangladesh should consider concentrating on productivity and capacity utilisation to start with. A 10 per cent hike in productivity in the next 6-7 years will result in a net increase of $5.5 billion on top of the predicted $48 billion. In addition, enhancing capacity at the lower-tier manufacturing units will add another $1.5 billion. Thus, concentrating on these should be able to push exports to $55 billion. The above scenario can also help to increase workers’ wages by at least 20 per cent by 2021. Bangladesh should start working on value addition with fabric designs, which takes away a substantial portion of its competitive advantage. Centres focusing on collection of fashion apparel and fabric from various destinations must be set up to participate in setting fashion trends. This can easily enhance returns by 5-10 per cent in the immediate future. Bangladesh can further take advantage by setting up of Bangladesh Export Processing Zones in selected countries. One may think of Myanmar as a starting point because of its geographic proximity and strategic alliance with China. However, major production hubs should be near the major markets with a view to further cutting costs in the form of freight and time. This is a multidimensional strategy and requires elaborate discussion. Bangladesh must continue to work on improving infrastructure, ensuring power and eco-compliance, and maintaining a world class working environment by creating eco-friendly RMG factory according to United States Green Building Council (USGBC). The ‘Made in Bangladesh’ tag has made inroads at the highest rank of global society. The above analysis shows that we should be able to achieve the status of no.1 exporter if we work on areas such as productivity, capacity utilisation, and categorisation of manufacturing units, creating new markets, and creation and placement of home-grown talents as skilled workforce through introducing need-based education and skill training at the decision-making level.

The new edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published a cartoon on Bangladesh, depicting some garment workers sewing t-shirts with the slogan “Je suis Charlie.”  In the cartoon, some garment workers, wearing ripped dresses, are seen sewing t-shirts containing the slogan Je suis Charlie.” “Je suis Charlie-I am Charlie” emerged as a message of support for the magazine following the attack on 7 January, which left eight journalists, including its editor, dead in addition to four others. The caption of the cartoon on Bangladesh read: “Pendant ce temps, au Bangladesh,” which means “See, what is happening in Bangladesh, on the other hand.” The cartoon probably contained the message that the selling of those t-shirts with the slogan “Je suis Charlie” has widely been increased as the slogan emerged as a message of support and the Bangladesh factories are making a good business over it. A worker, busy in sewing a t-shirt, has been seen saying: “De tout coeur avec vous,” which means “We are with you.” The new edition of the magazine has gone on sale, with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad on its cover. Long queues have formed at newsstands in France for the latest edition of the satirical magazine on Wednesday. Five million copies are being printed – a week after Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at its offices and five others in subsequent attacks in Paris. It is believed earlier cartoons of the Prophet provoked the attack on the magazine. The cartoon shows the Prophet weeping while holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) Referring to last week’s shocking events, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country was at war with extremism and terrorism – but not with Muslims. He was speaking on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies were held for seven of the victims in France and Israel. France has deployed 10,000 troops at various sites across the country – including synagogues, mosques and airports – in response to the attacks.

The new edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published a cartoon on Bangladesh, depicting some sewing t-shirts with the slogan “Je suis Charlie”, said a report published in BBC Bangla. In the cartoon, some garment workers, wearing ripped dresses, are seen sewing t-shirts containing the slogan Je suis Charlie.  “Je suis Charlie-I am Charlie” emerged as a message of support for the magazine following the attack on 7 January, which left eight journalists, including its editor, dead in addition to four others. The caption of the cartoon on Bangladesh read: “Pendant ce temps, au Bangladesh,” which means “See, what is happening in Bangladesh, on the other hand.” The cartoon probably contained the message that the selling of those t-shirts with the slogan “Je suis Charlie” has widely been increased as the slogan emerged as a message of support and the Bangladesh factories are making a good business over it. A worker, busy in sewing a t-shirt, has been seen saying: “De tout coeur avec vous,” which means “We are with you.” The new edition of the magazine has gone on sale, with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad on its cover. Long queues have formed at newsstands in France for the latest edition of the satirical magazine on Wednesday. Five million copies are being printed – a week after Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at its offices and five others in subsequent attacks in Paris. It is believed earlier cartoons of the Prophet provoked the attack on the magazine. The cartoon shows the Prophet weeping while holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) Referring to last week’s shocking events, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country was at war with extremism and terrorism – but not with Muslims. Meanwhile, Muslims marched in Middle East cities yesterday to protest the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, as Qatar warned the image would “fuel hatred”. The largest rally was in Jordan, where around 2,500 protesters took to the streets of the capital Amman amid tightened security, while demonstrations also took place in east Jerusalem and Khartoum.