Introduction: The Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has emerged as the

biggest earner of foreign currency. The RMG sector has experienced an exponential growth since the 1980s. The sector contributes significantly to the GDP. It also provides employment to around 4.2 million Bangladeshis. An overwhelming number of workers in this sector are women. This has affected the social status of many women coming from low income families. Bangladesh-origin products met quality standards of customers in North America and Western Europe, and prices were satisfactory. Business flourished right from the start; many owners made back their entire capital investment within a year or two and thereafter continued to realize great profits. Some 85 percent of Bangladeshi production was sold to North American customers, and virtually overnight Bangladesh became the sixth largest supplier to the North American market. After just a few years, the ready-made garment industry employed more than 3.5 million people. According to some estimates, about 80 percent were women, which was never noticed previously in the industrial work force. Many of them were woefully underpaid and worked under harsh conditions. The net benefit to the Bangladeshi economy was only a fraction of export receipts, since virtually all materials used in garment manufacture were imported; practically all the value added in Bangladesh Labor Unrest is the Main Causes of Violence in Garments Industry Labor unrest: Labor unrest is a term used by employers or those generally in the business community to describe organizing and strike actions undertaken by labor unions, especially where labor disputes become violent or where industrial actions in which members of a workforce obstruct the normal process of business. Labor-force is an important element in economic activities. Labor unrest occurs when the labor-force is aggrieved with some decisions of the authority or their demands are not fulfilled, they organize themselves, come out to the street to protest the decision of the authority or pressurize the authority to fulfill their demand. Sometimes, they engage themselves in violence and vandalism. Problems surrounding RMG sector Though RMG sector in Bangladesh enjoyed a meteoric growth and is contributing a great to the national economy, this sector is facing a lot of problems. Acute shortage of power and gas, political instability, frequent hartals (strikes), poor port facility often hamper the
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production and export. Surpassing all these, labor unrest has become a chronic disease in this sector. At present, labor unrest has been labeled as a conflict of interest between the owners and workers. Generally labor unrest emerges when workers come to the street demanding some facilities (financial or other) which the owners are not ready to provide. Sometimes some rumors spread unrest among the labors. Conspiracy of home and abroad is also responsible. Sometimes it is found that workers of a factory attack intentionally another factory to damage the factory or hampers its growth as there is competition among the factories. Some NGOs financed by foreign donors are blamed to instigate the garment labors regarding their rights and privileges. The actual causes of labor unrest must be addressed and proper action must be taken to solve this problem. Government, owners and workers have to work hand to hand to come out the situation.

Introduction Labor-force is an important input in industrial production and this is truer in garment industry of Bangladesh. Mechanization and automation have not diminished the role of human element in industrial establishments. In fact, the role of workforce has become highly critical in garment industry. Nor have the economic reforms belittled the significance of labor. Human resource is taken to be an important factor to increase productivity, improve quality and reduce costs; all necessary to survive in the competitive world. But the basic needs of the labor force must be mitigated. The socio-economic condition of labor force of RMG industry of Bangladesh, in no way, can be said well. As most of them are uneducated and unskilled, they get very poor salary in contrast to ever-increasing expense of livelihood. Very often they do not get their salary, bonus and overtime bills in time. In many factories they are forced to work long hours in unhygienic condition. Maltreatment by the mid-level officers is their common fate. As there is no provision for trade unionism, they dont have any access to the policy-making process. In such a situation, they come to the street to raise their voice and involve themselves in vandalism and rampage. Despite having a significant achievement in national economy, labor unrest in this sector is diminishing all its credit. In order to survive in the quota-free competitive international market, addressing labor unrest has been a crying need. Labor Unrest in RMG sector of Bangladesh Labor unrest has been a common phenomenon in the RMG industry of Bangladesh. Workers are being embroiled in clashes frequently; they call strikes often to make their demand home. It causes enormous loss to the owners, cripples the economy and tarnishes the image of the country aboard. It also makes foreign buyers reluctant to render future orders. In addition the industry is losing competitive edge for this. In July 2009, due to massive labor unrest, Hameem Group, a leading garment manufacturing factory incurred a loss of around 100 crore taka and two workers died with resultant loss of 2000 jobs11. Causes of labor unrest are many. First and foremost is the long-standing grievance of the workers. The growth of RMG industry of Bangladesh much depends on hard work of the labor force. But unfortunately they are deprived of minimum facilities. They are to live a sub-standard life in city slums for years. The wage they get is low. Very often they do not get their salary, overtime bills and bonus in time. Their recruitment system is hiring and firing as they do not get any appointment letter and identity card of the factory and at any time they can be dismissed by owners for any reason. They dont know anything about their job contract. Being maltreated by owners and mid-level officers, working long hours in congested environment without sufficient rest, lack of nutritious foods, medicine, right to legitimate protest against ruthless exploitations etc are their daily destiny. They dont have any access to the decision making process. Factory building collapse, fire accident, stampede render many dead and injured. Nevertheless, if any worker protests against owners or management, he/she is threatened by various types of harassment such as dismissal, arrest or
11

Source: The Quarterly Wheel, OctDec 2010

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even physical assault by the hired hooligans of owners. Common causes of labor unrest in the RMG sector in Bangladesh are discussed briefly below. Most of the labor force of this sector are uneducated and unskilled and have come from rural area simply in search of livelihood. They have to work hard in return for a very poor salary. The detailed 4th wage structure for the garment workers is shown in the following table.

Clothing industry is one of the most labor-intensive sectors in the world. The industry is most labor-intensive sector in Bangladesh due to very less use of technology. This industry is the backbone of our export economy, which in turn is supported by more than 3 million workers. Being an integral part of the industry, labors deserve to get higher consideration by the manufacturers. Unfortunately, the manufacturers cannot take their matters into priority; resulted in present unrest. Frequent labor unrest in clothing manufacturing sector; strikes by labors & their unions; has become common in Bangladesh. Most obvious reason for the unrest is wages & increments up to a level, which could help them to live a minimal life. Is it legal demand of the labors or labor unions to raise their monthly wages from Tk.1600 (US$ 25) to Tk.5000 (US$ 70)? In fact with the high inflation in food and energy price, it is getting difficult for the workers to live with the present lowest monthly wage of Tk.1600. Most of the owners of the clothing factories can realize the reality, but they are unable to increase the wages as demanded by the labor unions. They are not making such a high profit to meet their demands. Could minimum wage announcement by Wage Board of Bangladesh solve the labor unrest in Bangladesh? I doubt because; if the Wage Board announces minimum wage more than present limit, then present clothing industry might get one big shock, which could lead the clothing industry of our country in the verge of destruction. There could be few possible outcomes, following implementation of the announcement. The first one is the premium organizations of the sector; namely BGMEA and BKMEA; can ask the government for monetary stimulus package to full fill higher wages. Other most likely consequent is permanent stoppage of the clothing factories. Apart from this, wage increment might lead to market inflation, especially in food. Therefore, we should go thorough diagnostic consideration to find out hidden problems, and possible solutions to save our billion dollar clothing industry: Bangladesh enjoys the lowest wages in clothing sector in the world, but cost of living has been increasing gradually; most likely at significantly higher rate in the world. Thus; demand of increasing monthly wages is obvious, creating labor unrest. The second factor is wages discrimination; e,g top-level employees draw more than 100 times monthly salaries than low-level employees, plus other companys benefits in the hierarchy. This in turn develops non-motivation among the fellow workers; create jealousness among them, consequently less productivity of worker by unrest in the production environment. A successful organizations practice few common formulas to reduce discrimination of salaries or wages. By reading the mind of the most employees and workers, a factory creates hierarchical organogram where wages discrimination is not visible. As; in those cases; some top and mid-level employees are more efficient in their respective job fields, so they deserve higher salaries. Thus, the owners keep personal contact with those employees, and pay them cash incentive secretly. Other reasons for the labors non-satisfaction may be other mismanagement of the industry, resulting in frequent unrest of workers; like fire security, fraction salary payment, zero payments for over time, no festival bonus, and lay off of factories without prior announcement. Some experts of the sector believe; internal political environment, national or international politics; like creating labor unions; industry waste or Jhoot trading issues etc, are also contributing in unrest. I like to recall about steady destruction of our labor market in mid-east countries. Compatriots of India and Pakistan using mass media has tried several times to destroy images of Bangladeshi workers, in order to keep their labor demands higher there. Visiting clothing factories personally experienced me that there are some distorted minded workers, especially boy workers (aged 17 to 25) in almost all clothing factories who miss lead other workers to strike to enjoy break and check their influences in the existing environment. Workers wage comes from the income, including expected profit, an individual factory earns. Our clothing sector is still disorganized even after more than three decades of the commencement. During this long run; this national industry loses its competitiveness in profit, despite of having no core competence. The reasons can be identified as due diligence of the government and industry owners towards our competitors; thereby international clothing buyers. As a result; the buyers

who are educationally sound and master in business strategy, are using our strengths; like cash incentive from government, GSP facilities from the USA and European Union; as our weaknesses. Consequently, the buyers are gaining in price bargaining of clothing orders! Clothing factories collect orders in two general ways- one is direct contact with the international clothing buyers, and the other is through middle men or buying houses. To work directly with buyers, the factory need efficient, well converse, and effectively communicative team in the top management-level. But most of the clothing factories failed to build up such a good team, thus those factories ask the middle-men/buying houses to work for them- which I describe as indirect way. The direct way of working with buyers is always better than working with the help of middle-men as the factories could save the commission of the middle-men. The commission accounts about 10% of total working value; ejection of which in turn could increase profit of the factories. Apart from this, the factories get ensured of the having regular working order from the respective buyers. Because of the mentioned weaknesses of Industry Owners; buyers are interested to place orders through their liaison offices or buying houses. Buying houses could read the buyers mind; regarding their demand of product quality, consistency and lead-time. As the middlemen are playing leading role in export by gaining commission; the profit margin or income of the industry falls. In addition, Power and gas crisis; hampering production; are among many other reasons, indirectly manipulating profit of clothing industries. Lack of managerial skills of the top-management in clothing factories causes in failing on-time shipment and thus rejection of orders from buyers, are one among many reasons which affect profit margin of the factories. High labor fluctuation does affect the productivity. The productivity of individual labor in clothing sector is one of the lowest in the world, as no concept of labor training exists here. This results into lack of workers motivational in the respective factories. The latter matter is the best example of managerial weakness. We can sum up the main reasons for minimal profit in the clothing industry as: 1)due diligence of our humble people to the buyers, 2) presence of commission of middlemen or buying agents, 3) shortage of power and gas utilities in the industry, 4) higher labor fluctuation, untrained labors, lower productivity of individual labor; resulted from managerial weakness; 5) seasonal natural disasters, 6) volatile and unpredictable backward linkage markets. Now question is: how the industry creates higher revenues; that means expected profit; to full fill higher wages demands? I already have pointed out some above-mentioned hurdles and appropriate measures against those hurdles must ensure higher revenues. One of the accurate measures is to develop potential in the sector, through restructuring the industry. At the factory level, the top and mid-level management need not to be well conversed and communicative only, with their respected buyers. But they should also gain expertise in understanding the needs and demands of their labors. And accordingly take initiative to satisfy them. It is comparatively better to have due-diligence with their workers than the buyers. We can restructure individual factorys hierarchical structure; including labors training and create an environment; making labors feel as they are part of the management. Such an approach may result in decreasing labor strife, increase productivity of each labor, thus higher turnover. Factory owners should avoid hard-line policy and have to have patient and listen to labors as well. To cover up with power and gas supply, the clothing industrys premium bodies like BGMEA, and BKMEA, should come up with actually regular demands of power and gas in the industry as well as proposed ways to fight the problems. As the crisis is a national problem; the BGMEA and BKMEA would have to come up with any alternative or innovative way. The sector is lagging behind in training of its stakeholders. There is no established training institute in the country to train their top-level, mid-level, and low-level managements. Training makes human resource efficient; makes business competitive, and creates core competences in complete supply chain. Industrial management knowledge is most important for top and mid-level employees while proper operations of machines by operators are crucial for operators

productivity. Regular basis training in Training Institutes can ensures both better industrial management environment and higher productivity. Higher productivity means high revenues, thus profits, which in turn could ensure better wages. Thus training significantly contributes to controlling Labor Unrest! In my summery, we need a common platform for owners and labors, where both parties raise their problems, and therefore find instant better solutions. The platform should be consisted not only with owners and labors representatives, but also experts from research organizations (like CPD, BIDS) should be included for better performance of the platform. Government with the consultation of respective stakeholders of the industry should create Textile and Clothing Police; like Bangladesh Railway Police to protect railway sector of the country; to tackle unrest in the sectors, if any. The clothing sector is not much less important for the nation than the Railway one! According to me, Identification of real garment workers and picketers during unrests is very difficult, as there is no way to create identity of each and individual worker. Therefore, registering their names and issuing them ID cards have become essential. Establishment of an organization to issue ID card is getting important for our T&C sectors future prospects and faster growth. Issuing ID cards or ID numbers to garment labors, would help in many aspects like food rationing, counting number of garments workers in the sector, finding out life details in case of labors death, or labor criminal activities. It could be a step ahead in organizing the Textile & Clothing sectors. Personally I dont believe that only wages issue creates labor unrest, and therefore increasing demanded wages will not help to stop frequent labor unrest in the industry. I believe that labor unrest is the final explosion created by uncountable mistakes, misbehavior, mismanagement, and over exploitation of labors by authority. I like to summarize my writing in the following table:

Reasons for Labor Unrest Low wages

Proposed Solutions Control food and power abnormal inflation; readjust wages Higher wages discrimination/gap in Restructure factory hierarchy organogram; organizational hierarchy provide incentive to deserving employees but keeping salary indiscriminate level Lack of compliance (no weekly day off, no Ensure social and environmental compliances in festival bonus, compulsory over-time, but the clothing-manufacturing sector. fraction payment or no payment) No responsible organizations who will listen A neutral organization to be formed (taking labors needs and demands members from BKMEA, BGMEA, labors unions, and government employee from labor ministry) who listen them. Death of any garment labors in the factory Train labors techniques how to save themselves; premises, could be by fire-smoke, electrified construct production plant accordingly; keep and labor pain for pregnant women contractual agreement with nearest doctors in the locality, in case of unable to ensure 24 hours doctor. Distorted minded boys/males labors create In case of recruiting boys/males, scrutinize them havoc of unrest to press their illegal demands properly. Local influential (could be mastans) trading of Needs to formulate garment police to tackle garment wastes/jhoot, sometimes creates such occurrences (like Railway Police to guard unwanted unrest in the clothing Bangladesh Railway) manufacturing areas. Some believe international politics willing In such cases, government and media could play creates labor unrest, thus intentionally spread vital role. They should go depth in the matter, the news of labor unrest in the industry to and thus broadcast real pictures (hidden cases) take unprivileged advantages.

Categorized | Business, RMG

Labor unrest in the RMG sectorreasons and remedies

Posted on 07 October 2010 The prevailing worsening situation in readymade garment (RMG) sector is not good for countrys feeble economy. RMG sector accounts for 76% of our total annual foreign exchange earnings. Once, Jute was the only foreign exchange earning item. But the golden age of Jute is now over. At present, the RMG is our only dependable export item. The textile sector has emerged as a backward sector to this RMG sector. Spinning, weaving, Knitting; dying, finishing etc have emerged as a backward linkage industry. These areas of the of the textile sector are contributing to the economy of the country. So, if the RMG sector suffers any crisis, the repercussion will be felt everywhere in the rickety economy. Now, there are 350 spinning mills operating in the country, which is catering to the demand of the RMG sector and thus saving huge amount of foreign exchange. At present, the capacity of the spinning mills is 1.6 billion metres. There are 180 dying-finishing mills in the country with a capacity of 120 million metres per year. The production capacity of the knitting mills is 41 billion metres. What is important here is that they are capable of meeting local demand. The total workforce engaged in this sector is about 2.5 million, of which 60 percent is women. The total production is being exported to foreign countries. The reasons and the remedies of the present crisis: All of a sudden, labour unrest has increased in our country. But, it will be unjustified to say that this labour unrest has grown overnight. It has a long history too. Labour unrest got impetus towards the end of the 4-party led coalition government and in the immediate past care taker government it reached its peak. We shall now turn to the reasons for labour unrest as well as its remedies. 1. The main reason of the RMG labour unrest was the demand for raising workers salary. In the year 1984, the RMG sector started flourishing when foreign buyers started coming to Bangladesh due to political unrest in Sri Lanka. And day by day, the RMG sector became the single largest sector of our countrys economy. During that time, there was no wage scale for the workers of this sector. No specific rules and regulations regarding the RMG sector were framed. Gradually, a pay scale came into being .The present government took an initiative for revising the existing wage structure against the backdrop of the labour unrest; and a new revised wage structure was declared by the Labour Minister concerned with Tk3,000 for the lowest grade for workers. An apprentice will now get an amount of taka 2500. The new wage structure has seven grades for general workers and four grades for staff. The percentage of increase is huge. Despite that some worker resorted to movement with the argument that the lowest amount for a workers salary should be at least Tk5000 and be effective from August, 2010. This is a reason why the labour unrest gaining wind despite the declaration of a revised wage. Now, the RMG owners are saying that they can not help but close down their factories if arson and anarchy continues further. So, what is the ultimate remedy of this crisis? Whatever may be the reason, the situation now remains subdued as the workers have started working and production is in full swing everywhere.

2. A few days earlier, leading politicians, distinguished citizens of the country made adverse comments regarding the RMG sector. They pointed out that the workers are leading an inhuman life as they were ill paid. With the poor salary given to them, they fail to get two square meals for sustaining their souls let alone the other bare necessities of life. The aspersions, however, added fuel to the already overcharged and highly volatile situation in the sector; and the turmoil took a new dimension. Though a revised wage structure is declared, peace is yet to come to the RMG sector. It is expected that the workers should be cautious about their role in the matter. For the greater interest of the country, the workers should reconsider their stand and change their negative attitude to the matter and try their best to maintain peace in this sector as it might further escalate and affect other sectors too. So, our export earnings will fall sharply if law and order situation deteriorates in the sector. 3. There should be a significant change in the mindset of the owners as well. Only a slogan like owners -workers are brothers will not bring any significant change. The owners should meet the justified demand of the workers and implement the agreed points as early as possible. We all know that with incurring losses no owner of a factory will continue with his business. But at the same time it should be borne in mind that the owners should also make money from their business. But the dilemma is that many of our RMG owners like to make huge profit and intend to become millionaire overnight. Such mentality should be given up. We should bear in mind that RMG owners are to meet minimum requirement of a labourer. 4. Political stability is a prerequisite for rapid industrial growth. At this moment, there is no anti-government movement by the opposition in the country. But the development in the Industry sector is almost zero. No significant FDI is pouring in. An uneasy political situation is prevailing in the country. It should be changed. 5. At present, industry sector is severely hit by the power and gas crisis. Many factories have suspended production for want of power and gas. In some cases, some factories are running their factories in the night instead of day. It is very unusual for both the owners as well as for the workers .This is why the total production has fallen0; the cost of production increases dramatically, earning has slimmed down. The government has to come forward with practical and pragmatic decisions to overcome the crisis. 6. The RMG owners as well as other entrepreneurs are counting losses because of high bank interest rates. Nowhere in the world entrepreneurs pay interest rate at 13 percent except for Bangladesh. In addition to that, the banks realise another 13 percent as service charge. To many entrepreneurs, the bank interest rate is too high to cope with; and ultimately leaving them in a vulnerable situation in a competitive market. It is expected that the bank interest rate should be reduced to 7 percent .The government should come forward to save the entrepreneurs form the exploitation of the banks. If it can be done, the total scenario will be changed and the RMG sector will be able to give the minimum benefits as expected by the workers. 7. The productivity of our worker is much lower compared to that of the workers of Korea, China, and Hong Kong. The gross production rate per hour of these countries is two times higher than that of our worker. So, we are to train our workers to increase their per hour productivity. If it can be done, our production will be increased to a great extent and we will be able to compete with our rivals.

8. The cost of production is increasing day by day as the price of raw material is rising. As the prices of essential raw materials are increasing beyond the control of the RMG owners, hence the pay increase is not possible. The price of essential raw materials must be kept under control. This has to be done by the government. It is a major reason for labor unrest. The government should focus on increasing the local production rather than depending on import. 9. We know that in the year 1983 Bangladesh exported $31.57 million worth of garments, which constituted 3.89 percent of our total export revenue. This figure increased drastically due to the several initiatives taken by the then government to $298.67 million in 1986-87, which constituted 27.74 percent of our total export revenue. In 2009-10, the RMG sector earned $12.35 billion, which accounted for 79.33 percent of our total export revenue. In 2008-09, the RMG contributed to 10 percent to the countrys GDP. The total investment in RMG sector and Textile sector is worth Tk406 billion. The total number of workers in these two sectors is 4.0 million, which is 65 percent of the people engaged in manufacturing sector. The livelihood of 20 million people is directly or indirectly dependant on these two sectors alone. Based on these two sectors, backward linkage sectors like banking, services sector, transport sector, have developed. So, the government must come forward to do all what is possible with a view to flourishing the unexplored potentials of the RMG sector. The writer is the founder of the Eastern University and former vice president of the FBCCI . Dated-5-09-2010 Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

RMG sector still in grip of violence

80 injured in clashes in Ashulia, Narayanganj, Chittagong a day after 'understanding'

Garment workers block the Fatulla-Narayanganj road in front of Shibu market in Fatulla yesterday demanding Tk 5,000 as minimum wage.Photo: STARStar Report

RMG workers continued demonstrations in Ashulia and Narayanganj yesterday even though labour representatives agreed to the new pay scale the previous day with a pledge to help maintain normal work environment in industrial areas. At least 80 people were injured as labourers clashed with police in Ashulia and Narayanganj for the third consecutive day. Production in several factories was suspended after the workers resorted to violent protests demanding a minimum wage of Tk 5,000 with effect from August 1. Meanwhile, workers of two garment units of Azim Group in Kalurghat BSCIC Industrial Area in Chittagong went on the rampage on Sunday night and yesterday bringing production to a halt, reports our staff correspondent from Chittagong. The labour representatives at a meeting with ministers, chamber leaders and garment owners on Sunday agreed to the new pay structure for garment sector and promised to help keep normal work environment in industrial areas. Agitating workers got involved in a series of clashes with police at Katherpool of Fatulla and adjoining areas in Narayanganj leaving 50 people injured. They demanded Tk 5,000 as minimum wage with effect from August 1 and immediate release of Montu Ghosh, adviser of Garment Sramik Trade Union Kendra and district CPB unit president.

They pelted the law enforcers with brickbats and attacked two garment factories, over 50 shops and houses on the post office road. They also damaged five vehicles, reports our Narayanganj correspondent. Ten policemen including Assistant Superintendent of Police Reazul Kabir, SI Shahidul Islam, constable Harun and Shahidul Islam were wounded in the clash. About 40 others including ATN Bangla Narayanganj correspondent Abdus Salam, BTV correspondent Mahfuzur Rahman, and garment workers Rehana, Zarina, Raja Mia, Kalam Mia, Asma, Sakila, Jobeda and Rehena Begum were also injured in the clashes. Police lobbed 50 teargas canisters to bring the situation under control. The angry labourers put barricades on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road in Shibu Market area shortly after 11:00am bringing the traffic to a halt for three hours. The authorities of nine export-oriented garment factories at Fatulla wrote to the deputy commissioner and the police super urging them to ensure proper security at the factories. Witnesses said, about 20,000 workers of Pall Mall, Mircrofibre, Liberty, Midland and Cadtrex Garments turned up at the factories. They demonstrated inside the factories instead of joining work. They hurled brickbats at police from the rooftops. Nearly 12,000 workers from different garment factories in Katherpool area took to the streets at around 10:30am defying police obstruction. The labourers and law enforcers got involved in chase and counter chase prompting the police to lob 50 teargas shells. Meantime, 30 RMG workers were injured in Ashulia after they clashed with police protesting the new pay hike, which they say is still too low, adds a correspondent from Ashulia. Five workers were arrested on the Bishmile-Jirabo road, the scene of violence. Police filed a case accusing 700 workers of vandalism on Sunday. Authorities of 12 garment factories in the area announced holiday yesterday fearing clash. The workers attacked three garment factories and made a fire in front of one of the factories. They also blocked the Bishmile-Jirabo road shortly after 10:00am. The labourers got involved in chase and counter chase with police when the law enforcers tried to restore vehicular movement on the road. They pelted the policemen with brick chips prompting them to fire rubber bullets and teargas canisters. Fire fighters doused the flame in front of the factory gate.

Meanwhile, production in two garment units -- Orchid Knitwear and Global Knitting in the port city -- was halted after the workers demonstrated in the morning demanding a pay hike. They agreed to join work as the factory authorities agreed to increase "piece-rate" after a meeting at about 2:00pm, said Md Moyeen Uddin, deputy secretary of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The workers of the two garment units had also staged demonstrations on Sunday night demanding a raise in wage. The workers attacked two factories of Azim Group and three other factories nearby. Police swung into action swiftly and brought the situation under control. RESTRICTION ON FOREIGNERS' INVOLVEMENT WITH TU The cabinet has decided not to allow any foreign national with tourist visa to get involved with trade unions in Bangladesh. The decision came at a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. The cabinet expressed concern over the recent labour unrest in the garment sector. Many foreign nationals with tourist visa have been involved with trade unions and are causing unrest in the sector for the interests of their nations, the meeting was told. "It will be strictly overseen from now on so that no foreign national can come to Bangladesh with tourist visa to get involved with trade unions. If they want to come here for this purpose, they must get visas under a special category from the Bangladesh government," a senior minister told The Daily Star wishing anonymity. The government has a list of foreign nationals, who came to Bangladesh with tourist visa and got involved with trade unions with the help of many NGOs, said sources close to the meeting. Many of them are staying in Bangladesh although their visas have already expired, added the sources

RISING incidents of violence continues to hit the apparel sector in the country. Over the last few weeks, agitation among the readymade garments (RMG) workers flared up in Ashulia, Savar, Gazipur and surrounding areas. Many garment units were burnt and damaged by the unruly mob resulting in colossal damage to properties. Some people were killed and hundreds injured in these incidences of vandalism. Two RMG units of famous Hameem Group were set ablaze. Why are these happening so frequently? Why are RMG units being targeted? Some experts say rising prices of essentials, unpaid salaries, government's inaction and absence of responsible trade unions are some of the reason responsible for the rising violence in the sector. There are many other reasons cited by them. Absence of good relations between workers and owners, misbehaviour of mid-level officials and deferred payments to workers are some other problems that dog the embattled sector. However, a number of RMG entrepreneurs claimed that administrative failures of the government, 'conspiracy' from outside and lax implementation of law and order were to blame for the violence. They demanded exemplary punishment to the 'real culprits' and introduction of industrial police to back bring normalcy to the sector. They said unrest must be stopped at any cost as the sector is considered one of the main pillars of the economy. Reports say recent unrest in sweater factories in Ashulia originated from anomalies in the count of sweater items made by workers and the records of some mid-level officials. Officials attempted to pay less by forging the actual production list of items

produced over the month. On the most recent violence that took place at Konabari in Gazipur, reports say hundreds of workers took to the streets when they heard that the police had arrested some workers of a particular garments factory for their alleged involvement in vandalism. The police fired several rounds of teargas shells and rubber bullets in Konabari to tame the demonstrating workers who reacted violently to the news of the arrests of workers. The unrest spread like forest fire to other factories. There are allegations that a vested group is behind the violence in the garments industry. Proper investigation into such allegations should reveal the truth. Very often, the agitating workers are being aided by some unknown outsiders. Who are they? Nobody knows for sure. Statistics say 147 of the 4,500 garment factories across the country had been affected from January to August 19 last year. In most cases, groups of outsiders vandalized the factories -sometimes in the presence of law enforcers -- in the name of workers. Addressing a recent meeting, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said there is no alternative to introducing participatory committee in every factory to avert violence. If every industry introduces participatory committee or bargaining association in line with the existing laws, there will be better interactions between workers and owners, which would help reduce problems regarding wages and working hours, he added. The minister also called for developing social corporate responsibility to ensure a win-win situation for workers and owners. Moreover, there is a need for recruiting more educated and trained people at mid-management level to solve problems.

The apparel sector, for the last couple of decades, have been the lifeline of Bangladesh's economy. At the last count, the sector accounted for nearly 80 per cent of export earnings. Consequently, it provides profits for the currently surging consumer class that drives the economy further forward and jobs for hundreds of thousands of semi-skilled workers, mostly women, who in turn provide livelihood for millions. Many studies during the fag end of Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) concluded that Bangladesh would suffer massive job losses and depletion of foreign exchange earnings as a result of enhanced competition in the international market. One of the studies revealed that the sector had not been able to bring about any substantial improvement and modernisation of its work force worth noticing. It was observed that many factories in Dhaka and Chittagong have neither canteen facilities nor daycare facilities for the children of their female workers in particular. Many of the factories do not have common room facilities for the workers. On the other hand, a mere 40 to 50 per cent of the workers of comparatively larger factories are issued with formal employment letters while nearly 70 per cent of workers in the entire RMG sector do not have any employment letter. However, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) opposed such views and contended that conditions had much improved from 2007 and onwards. However, there is no denying the fact that a widespread undercurrent of discontent does exist now amongst the workers. Unfortunately, there have been no concerted efforts

by all concerned, particularly the owners of the industry, in addressing an issue that is central to the current turmoil in the RMG sector. Alleged government's inertia in tackling such problem is also seen responsible. In terms of labour costs, Bangladesh is well positioned and compares favourably with other Asian countries. The per hour cost of labour in Bangladesh is $0.25, compared to $0.27 in Indonesia, $0.34 in Pakistan, $0.46 in Sri Lanka, $0.48 in China, and $0.57 in India. However, wages are currently being revised to bring them more in line with the escalating cost of living and expectations of workers, as a result of which labour costs will increase. But there is much more to productivity than the cost of labour. The challenges facing the Bangladesh garment industry are enormous. In order to thrive, the industry will need to get regular orders from international buyers. These buyers are primarily interested in three factors: price, lead time, and quality. But other factors are also important, such as financial capacity of manufacturers, labor compliance standards, customer base, vertical setup, design and product development capability, advanced production facilities, dependability, and long-term business relationship. Many exporters have reasons to believe in 'conspiracy theories' where the image of Bangladesh is being deliberately tarnished for some competitors' gains. Some media outlets abroad are frequently reporting on Bangladeshi garment sector's noncompliance with international standards, by selectively exhibiting the sick industries in and outside Dhaka. In fact, more than 70 per cent of the

factories are compliant, yet the media outlets are only showing the problem factories. The lead-time on delivery issues matters most in the RMG export trade. In the beginning, the lead-time was 120-150 days but in 2008, this was reduced to 40 to 60 days. China requires only 30 days due to their textile and other backward linkage facilities as well as export-friendly policy. There is a need to set up a central bonded warehouse for woven and grey fabrics in order to help the manufacturers collect the fabrics within seven days from the issuance of LCs and thus reduce lead-time. The country earned $14.110 billion in exports in fiscal 2007-08, registering growth of 15.87 percent over the previous fiscal year. Exports were boosted mainly by a rebound in readymade garment sales. Of the total export earnings, only woven and knitwear, the two sub-sectors of RMG, fetched $10.699 billion during the last fiscal year. In 2007-08, woven garments fetched $5.167 billion, registering growth of 10.94 percent over the same period of 2006-07. A relatively peaceful political environment, appreciation of currencies in many countries against the dollar and aggressive marketing drives helped the RMG sector maintain the export boom. In order to survive and flourish in the increasingly competitive global garment trade, reforms need to be undertaken and the main actors need to join forces to build a competitive RMG sector in Bangladesh. It is crucial for the different actors of the sector to hold dialogues amongst themselves with the purpose of identifying the main issues that constrain the industry and reaching agreement on activities that

need to be carried out in order to improve the sector's competitiveness.