Anisul Islam Noor :
The foreigners have occupied 16 percent higher posts with handsome salary in garments sector of the country, a study report reveals.
Of them, 37.3 percent foreigners are working in production planning, 20 percent in merchandising, 11.9 percent in quality assurance and 8.2 percent in washing sector.
The data was found from the study document on clothing industries published recently by the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), by surveying 2,070 workers in 193 factories.
According to the research report, in the four years from 2012 to 2016, the employment generation The growth rate of employment in the four years has declined to 71.1 percent. The report said that the number of female workers in the overall readymade garment sector has also decreased.
It is said in the report that 89 percent members of the management board of the garment factories come from same family member. For men and women’s wages in the garment sector, there is an average discrimination of three percent.
The report said that big factories in technology use are ahead. Small factories are further lagged. Besides, women are lagging behind the men using technology. The trade union’s status is very poor, but the number of labor organizations is relatively high.
Speaking on the issue, Professor Rehman Sobhan said, we have to use the possibility of garments industry. But there is no unity between the workers and workers’ organizations and they are not able to highlight their demands.
There are more than 70 organizations in the garment sector. Due to the division between them, the demand is not being received, he said.
Referring to the need of conference convened by international buyers of the sector to utilize the possibility of garment sector, Rehman Sobhan said they would be encouraged to invest more in Bangladesh’s garment sector.
Debapriya Bhattacharya said, Bangladesh’s garments industries are now crossing a turning point to make history and painting new scenery for the country.
He said that structural changes have occurred, the technology brings the new era for the garments sector that already has created a new trend in the clothing industry.
But at the same time, it can be said that this change is bad. Social change has happened as much, not so economically. The social change cannot be retained if there is not desired economic change, he added.
BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman said about 4,000 highly educated people are coming out from Textile University every year in Bangladesh. But foreigners are working here because the demand for garments sector is high. They are also very much skilled, he said
