Badrul Ahsan :The government’s reluctance to bring the subcontracting garment factories under a regulatory framework is causing violation of paying minimum wages and other benefits to the workers, officials and industry insiders said.Such subcontracting are neither members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) nor the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).Both the apparel trade bodies have repeatedly declined to take responsibility of these units saying they are not affiliated with them.After the Tazreen fire incident, the Commerce Ministry has drafted a policy to bring such factories under a regulation, but it could not finalise it in two years.According to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), about 800 factories, out of 3,500 now in operation, are neither members of the BGMEA, nor the BKMEA.Owners of these factories are doing business for long ignoring any of compliance issues in their factories, although the government and the BGMEA and the BKMEA are in pressure for implementing proper working environment in the apparel factories.The majority of these units is small and medium enterprises and is doing subcontracting jobs for big factories, officials said.On the other hand, these non-member units still remain outside the purview of fire, electrical and structural safety assessment of the three initiatives – Accord, Alliance and National initiative, they added.The USTR delegation, which recently visited the garment factories in Bangladesh, also pressed the authorities for addressing the issue and said “Inspections of remaining RMG factories, including many operated by subcontractors to RMG-exporting firms, still need to be conducted.””We are working to bring discipline in these (subcontracting) industries. It will take time to finalise the policy,” Senior Secretary at the Commerce Ministry Hedayet Ullah Al Mamoon told the New Nation Tuesday.The government authority is working to document the units that are doing subcontracting, he added.The situation is worse in those factories, which are not members of any of the trade bodies BGMEA and BKMEA, officials said.The August DIFE factory inspection report revealed that 11 per cent of the factories, not affiliated with either BGMEA or BKMEA, did not follow the government’s wage structure, while the rate is only four and three per cent respectively in BGMEA and BKMEA-listed factories.Maternity leave and allowance were also absent in 26 per cent of the visited non-member units, it showed.DIFE Inspector General Syed Ahmed admitted that the performance of the non-member factories in terms of safety and other compliance issues as well as payment of wage and overtime bills was poor compared to the BGMEA and BKMEA member units.”DIFE has already sent the list of non-member factories to the BGMEA and the BKMEA to pursue them to be registered with the apparel apex bodies,” he said.BGMEA former vice-president Md Shahidullah Azim said if any member factory does subcontracting, it has to comply with the requirements, including proper inter-bond permission from the BGMEA, approval from the buyers or buying houses, mandatory group insurance coverage for its workers and regular payment of premiums.Officials and labour leaders said the majority of the units were doing subcontracting jobs for the big factories, which are members of either BGMEA or BKMEA.”So BGMEA or BKMEA can’t avoid their responsibility, as their member factories give work orders to these units,” Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League, said.
