The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in a report mentioned with appreciation the contribution of the readymade garment (RMG) 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 organizations and global retailers, reports BSS. The apparel sector maintained its top position among the leading export sectors with 5.0 percent growth and over $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 percent 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 percent higher on year-on-year basis.

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.