The state's overt bias towards the moneyed, protecting the garment factory owners, citing emergency power rules, discipline and damage to private property, would hardly benefit the overall condition of the industry or improve its competitiveness in the long run. It is foolish, shameful and imprudent, from a regime that intends to establish the rule of law and equitable justice, especially when it is the owners who are the principal offenders and violators of law and not the workers.

Tanim Ahmed

THE conspiracy theory of external forces instigating garment workers into agitation resurfaced recently as thousands took to the streets at Mirpur in the capital. Such theories, almost always spun off by owners of readymade garment factories, indicate that they are in a state of denial about severe problems vis-à-vis compensation and facilities for workers. The demands of the workers agitating at Mirpur were rightful, rational and indeed justified, as they had been on previous occasions. They demanded such basic provisions as payment of wages within the first week of every month, regular payment of overtime and institution of weekly holiday. Workers have had to stage mass demonstrations before demanding festival allowances and festival leaves. That the management of certain factories settled these issues in the past only in the face of workers' unrest, through mediation by third parties and in the presence of law enforcer only point to the extent of workers' exploitation. More often than not, workers do not even demand payment of overtime with monthly ages; they just want assurance that they will be paid for working overtime. A large number of companies enforce workdays much longer than the standard eight hours, as stipulated by labour laws.

Regrettably, a significant number of readymade garment factories do not even pay the minimum wage of Tk 1, 662.50, let alone overtime bills. In June 2007 the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association released the report of a survey, amid much fanfare, claiming almost 83 per cent of its member factories go by the minimum wage stipulation. However, subsequent surveys by labour rights and research organisations revealed a dramatically different scenario. Karmojibi Nari, a women and labour rights organisation, carried a survey, also in June, and found out that out of the 55 factories surveyed in and around Dhaka only three had wage structures similar to or higher than the stipulated scale. Another survey by the Garment Sramik Oikya Forum, the findings of which were reported in the Bangla daily Prothom Alo, revealed that only 10 per cent of the factories in Mirpur and Pallabi areas abided by the minimum wage structure. Among factories at Adabor and Mohammadpur the proportion was an even lower five per cent.

These findings are naturally disputed and contested by the owners association on the ground of 'unrepresentative' sample size, as its own survey included some 2,420 factories. According to a recent survey of 1,000 factories across Bangladesh, the minimum wage was fully implemented by only 28 per cent of the factories. But minimum wage is only part of the labour rights and just one of the ten points of the tripartite agreement that was struck by the owners, workers and the government following the violent demonstrations by garment workers in May 2006. The ten-point agreement stipulated that owners pay wages within the first week of the months along with overtime. It also stipulated that factories would have one weekly holiday, ensure good working conditions besides the provision of maternity leave, identity cards and appointment letters.

According to the survey on 1,000 factories, based on focus group discussions with employees of those establishments, 75.7 per cent do not provide appointment letters; 42.2 per cent factories do not provide identity cards; 3.3 per cent still do not have a weekly holiday while in another 21.9 per cent it is irregularly given. Also, 44.4 per cent do not observe government holidays and 42.2 per cent do not provide any earned leave. The provision of a fully paid maternity leave of three months is still a far cry. As for working hours, 90.4 per cent factories have more than 8-hour workdays but only 29.4 per cent pay proper overtime, while 68.1 per cent of the factories do not pay wages by the first week of the month.

Among the major apparel manufacturers of the world, Bangladesh has one of the lowest wage structures. The garment workers in Bangladesh are paid less than their counterparts in China, India, Pakistan and Nepal. Even countries like Togo and Benin have a higher wage structure than their Bangladeshi counterparts.

An obvious result of such exploitation is that Bangladeshi manufacturers have failed to move up the value addition chain for which they require skilled human resources for which better working environment and better compensation packages are imperative. In this respect worker retention must be stable and at a tolerable level, which the factory management must ensure before trying to train its workforce and move on to value added and higher end products in the apparel industry. Despite being in the field Bangladeshi manufacturers still rely on a handful of items that are typically low-end, high-volume, low-cost items like trousers, T-shirts and shirts. The terms of trade for such items are bound to remain adverse as any other new entrant in the market would start off with these products.

To help the garment exporters and allow them to remain competitive despite the ever deteriorating terms of trade, successive governments, including the current military-controlled interim regime, have ensured that the value of taka against dollar remains devalued at such levels so as to lure foreign buyers. In the process, however, it has resulted in a strong backlash by way of costlier imports which in recent times have soared due to the increasing international prices of fuel and food. That burden is borne by the general masses as every citizen has had to suffer from the price spiral of the two imported items. In other words then, the entire country, even their employees, contribute to their profit by paying ever more for fuel or food. Besides, the government has also provided these exporters with a number of tangible and intangible benefits including back-to-back letters of credit and cash incentives. The owners and manufacturers have on their part showed a sense of utmost irresponsibility by not investing time and money in higher and more value-added products or ensuring a reasonable compensation package for workers on their own volition. Instead the manufacturers and exporters association continue to lament their state and demand even more cooperation from the government.

The owners on their part seldom consider the input of labour as part of the production cost. The prices of machinery, cost of land and the establishment, yarn and cloth and other accessories are, however, factored in to assess profitability. The only input – and perhaps the most valuable part of the entire process that adds most value to the entire production of apparels – within Bangladesh is ignored. That it is ignored is evident from the statement of garment factory owners often claiming that after paying the minimum wages in full there is nothing left as profit. Consciously or not, they prove that labour exploitation equals profit.

   The recent protests saw an ominous emergence of a rumour that the body of a worker at a certain garment factory was being concealed by the management. According to reports, such rumours were spread by through cell phones among workers already out on the streets that created further frenzy among the workers. It was not for the first time that such rumours have surfaced and proven wrong. The possibility of outside forces instigating the workers to create unrest and tarnish the image of the industry cannot be ruled out entirely. The suggestion of instigation becomes all the more plausible when trends suggest that labour unrest directly benefits the competing countries. As companies fail to deliver within time, having to cope with workers' discontent, foreign buyers switch to manufacturers in other countries. The rumour of a non-existent dead body understandably fanning the fury of garment workers already on the streets has become ominously recurring.

Firstly, it must be pointed out that the potency of a conspiracy or instigation from outside forces hinges on the working environment of individual factories. If there is substantial labour discontent due to non-payment of wages or absence of other basic provisions, which there is, the situation becomes all the more ripe for conspirators to succeed. Secondly, silly rumours of dead bodies being concealed by certain factory authorities would not hold if there were credible labour unions in the garment industry, which also happens to be one of the points in the tripartite agreement. Credible labour unions, which the owners actively discourage by either summary dismissals or other means, would also provide the owners with an effective avenue to carry out negotiations in case of mass protest or discontent.

Trade unions, as has been pointed out by different quarters, are necessary for healthy industrial relations that would help the industry survive and take it forward into becoming a truly global player. As workers become more aware of their rights and privileges, the requirement for their unions will become all the more pressing and evident, which the factory management would do well to initiate by themselves for their own sake as well as the country's sake. Given that the garment sector fetches three-fourths of the country's export earnings, all quarters including the owners and the government should come forward to ensure its sustainability which must begin with workers' welfare as they are the principal actors.

Instead the law enforcers lodged cases last week against workers and heads of certain non-governmental organisations, who are essentially labour leaders, for instigating workers and violating the state of emergency. By doing so another potential avenue for negotiations has been closed off, since many of these non-governmental organisations act as proxy labour unions in the absence of formal ones. Indeed the garment workers' representative on the committee that negotiated the minimum wage was also such a person from a non-governmental organisation but essentially a labour leader.

To conclude with a harrowing statistic, in about 15 years over 300 garment workers have burned to death with over 2,000 injured, some whom were crippled for life. In most cases the reason had been either that the main entrance was locked or that there was no fire exit. Till date not a single garment factory owner has been prosecuted by the state for this abject negligence. The state's overt bias towards the moneyed, protecting the garment factory owners, citing emergency power rules, discipline and damage to private property, would hardly benefit the overall condition of the industry or improve its competitiveness in the long run. It is foolish, shameful and imprudent, from a regime that intends to establish the rule of law and equitable justice, especially when it is the owners who are the principal offenders and violators of law and not the workers.

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