Badrul Ahsan :
Apparel makers are set to seek government’s intervention in removing anomalies in the Accord’s plan implementation for a safe RMG industry in Bangladesh
The readymade garment industry does not want the Accord, a platform for global apparel brands based in the Netherlands, to expand the tenure of a 5-year agreement signed between global brand and retailers and trade unions aiming to build an healthier atmosphere in Bangladesh’s RMG industry.
The tenure of the agreement inked on May 15, 2013 will expire in June, 2018.
According to a recent development, the Accord is now planning to extend its tenure by another three years and it expects to expand its nature and area of inspection and other activities in Bangladesh, especially promotion of freedom of the associations.
The Accord also intends to expand its areas of work to the sectors other than the RMG industry.
The country’s apparel makers at a recent meeting strongly opposed such unilateral extension of the Accord’s tenure.
In the meeting, leaders of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) decided to convene an emergency general meeting by this month to mobilise opinion from the member factories and seek the government’s intervention in this regard.
“Almost all in the meeting have opposed the unilateral extension of the Accord,” BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hasan Khan told The New Nation.
“We don’t want continuation of the Accord for an indefinite period and, at the same time, want an acceptable body to take the charge of ongoing safety activities,” he added.
He said the BGMEA will soon send a letter to the government for its intervention and pursue for an amicable solution.
The letter will also point to the difficulties the sector has been facing while implementing the safety requirements as prescribed by the Accord. It will also contain possible problems those might be surfaced if the ‘Accord’s version 2’ is implemented.
Industry insiders say the new agreement puts greater emphasis on the rights of workers to organise and join a union.
It includes enhanced protections for workers of the factories closed or relocated due to the implementation of the agreement.
“We will also request the government for taking necessary measures to strengthen the remediation coordination cell so that all accept it,” the BGMEA leader said.
President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, also a former president of BGMEA, said the freedom of association has been ensured by the Constitution of the country, while Bangladesh has ratified the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on this issue.
“This is not going to work as the implementing stakeholders — Bangladesh government and apparel makers — are not included in the process,” he said, adding that they don’t have the right to impose any unilateral decision.
Explaining the measures taken by the industry and the government, he said that all the remediation will be done within the set timeframe of 2018.
