The President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) openly blamed 'a vested quarter' for Saturday's violent labour unrest at Ashulia which left about a 100 people injured and the shutdown of over 70 factories in the neighbourhood. This is a serious allegation and deserves investigation to establish the whole truth sooner rather than later, for such incidents have been happening far too often, and in factories that are known for fairly good practices as well, according to some insiders.
The fact is ,'economic sabotage' can, and does happen, here and everywhere around the globe. The suspicion is therefore not to be dismissed. But it is also true that most garment workers get short shrift in terms of wages and working conditions. Bangladesh has earned a reputation for having the world's lowest paid labour by dint of which it gains a competitive edge in the global RMG market. But it would be unfair to say that Bangladesh has a monopoly in this tendency to pay as little as possible to workers if it can get away with it. There are many other offenders in the world. According to the Vienna-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), posted on their website - incidently on the same day that thousands of RMG workers at Ashulia industrial belt went on the rampage - garment factory workers globally are indeed 'the world's most poorly paid.'
ITUC, which represents 176 million workers in 156 countries and territories, and has 312 national affiliates, also said that the cause of frequent violence can be traced to poor wages and working conditions and unwillingness of the owners to honour wage agreements. All this bad feeling is compounded in most cases by the absence of trade unions in garment factories. Be that as it may, the BGMEA chief has again stressed the need for 'increased security to protect billions of dollars of investment.' This should be considered in right earnest, as should be the need for better, trust-based, management-worker relations in this booming sector.
This time round the violence reportedly started when workers of Nasa group, one of the country's top five RMG exporters, went berserk on hearing that the manufacturers have proposed an enhancement of their current minimum wage ( Taka 1662.50 per month) by only about 300 taka, whereas the union demand was nothing less than Taka 5000. The government's minimum wage board seems to have been dragging its feet regarding the issue although there have been no end to meetings with the stakeholders. The discontent spread like a contagion with ten factories and 15 vehicles getting vandalized during the clash between the workers and law enforcing agencies. Last year six garment workers were reported killed in action by police or company security guards during similar display of dissatisfaction over wages. The wages that workers are offered must be enough to help them keep body and soul together. Surely a few more cents spent on the workers would not take too big a chunk away from investors' profits in Bangladesh and elsewhere?
The fact is ,'economic sabotage' can, and does happen, here and everywhere around the globe. The suspicion is therefore not to be dismissed. But it is also true that most garment workers get short shrift in terms of wages and working conditions. Bangladesh has earned a reputation for having the world's lowest paid labour by dint of which it gains a competitive edge in the global RMG market. But it would be unfair to say that Bangladesh has a monopoly in this tendency to pay as little as possible to workers if it can get away with it. There are many other offenders in the world. According to the Vienna-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), posted on their website - incidently on the same day that thousands of RMG workers at Ashulia industrial belt went on the rampage - garment factory workers globally are indeed 'the world's most poorly paid.'
ITUC, which represents 176 million workers in 156 countries and territories, and has 312 national affiliates, also said that the cause of frequent violence can be traced to poor wages and working conditions and unwillingness of the owners to honour wage agreements. All this bad feeling is compounded in most cases by the absence of trade unions in garment factories. Be that as it may, the BGMEA chief has again stressed the need for 'increased security to protect billions of dollars of investment.' This should be considered in right earnest, as should be the need for better, trust-based, management-worker relations in this booming sector.
This time round the violence reportedly started when workers of Nasa group, one of the country's top five RMG exporters, went berserk on hearing that the manufacturers have proposed an enhancement of their current minimum wage ( Taka 1662.50 per month) by only about 300 taka, whereas the union demand was nothing less than Taka 5000. The government's minimum wage board seems to have been dragging its feet regarding the issue although there have been no end to meetings with the stakeholders. The discontent spread like a contagion with ten factories and 15 vehicles getting vandalized during the clash between the workers and law enforcing agencies. Last year six garment workers were reported killed in action by police or company security guards during similar display of dissatisfaction over wages. The wages that workers are offered must be enough to help them keep body and soul together. Surely a few more cents spent on the workers would not take too big a chunk away from investors' profits in Bangladesh and elsewhere?
Source: The Financial Express on June 22 2010
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