Two years ago, the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 1,100 workers. The cause, it turned out, was factory managers forcing workers into the building despite major cracks in the factory’s walls.
It was a horrific tragedy. But little seems to have changed since then.
A new report “Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most’: Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories,” by the Human Rights Watch, an international non-government organisation, documents the rampant violations of workers’ rights that are still taking place.
Workers allege that “physical assault, verbal abuse — sometimes of a sexual nature — forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, and failure to pay wages and bonuses on time or in full” is still widespread.
To be fair, the government, taking cognisance of the widely reported incident, undertook steps to ensure greater monitoring of work place. It has also reportedly hired more inspectors. But this hasn’t helped.
Readymade garments is an important industry for Bangladesh, accounting for over 10 per cent of its GDP. The sector has grown at rapid pace, accounting for 80 per cent of the country’s export earnings and employing more than four million. But the problem is that the government has failed to enforce building and labour regulations.
According to Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, “If Bangladesh wants to avoid another Rana Plaza disaster, it needs to effectively enforce its labour law and ensure that garment workers enjoy the right to voice their concerns about safety and working conditions without fear of retaliation or dismissal”.
Although international garment brands and retailers do require suppliers to abide by their codes, monitoring is ineffective. Workers told Human Rights Watch that cases of abuses and violations are “simply not noticed, or are ignored by the monitors inspecting factories by or on behalf of buyers.”
One way to strengthen the workers position is to facilitate the formation of unions. This would increase the bargaining power of workers. But while there have been changes to some labour laws to ease the union registration process, less than 10 per cent of garment factories have unions.
Workers allege that those who try to form unions to address such issues “face threats, intimidation, dismissal, and sometimes physical assault at the hands of factory management or hired third parties.” Further, union leaders told Human Rights Watch that “they continue to be targeted by factory management, risking abuse by both managers and supervisors, or thugs acting at their behest.”
To prevent such violations from being repeated, the report urges international companies, those sourcing from Bangladesh to ensure that factory inspections “are effective in ensuring that their supplier factories comply with the companies’ codes of conduct and the Bangladesh labour law”, adding that these audits should be reviewed to make sure they can effectively detect and investigate actions that violate workers rights. Further, that these companies should also agree to supply chain transparency and regularly and publicly disclose all Bangladesh-based factories from which they source.
It was a horrific tragedy. But little seems to have changed since then.
A new report “Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most’: Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories,” by the Human Rights Watch, an international non-government organisation, documents the rampant violations of workers’ rights that are still taking place.
Workers allege that “physical assault, verbal abuse — sometimes of a sexual nature — forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, and failure to pay wages and bonuses on time or in full” is still widespread.
To be fair, the government, taking cognisance of the widely reported incident, undertook steps to ensure greater monitoring of work place. It has also reportedly hired more inspectors. But this hasn’t helped.
Readymade garments is an important industry for Bangladesh, accounting for over 10 per cent of its GDP. The sector has grown at rapid pace, accounting for 80 per cent of the country’s export earnings and employing more than four million. But the problem is that the government has failed to enforce building and labour regulations.
According to Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, “If Bangladesh wants to avoid another Rana Plaza disaster, it needs to effectively enforce its labour law and ensure that garment workers enjoy the right to voice their concerns about safety and working conditions without fear of retaliation or dismissal”.
Although international garment brands and retailers do require suppliers to abide by their codes, monitoring is ineffective. Workers told Human Rights Watch that cases of abuses and violations are “simply not noticed, or are ignored by the monitors inspecting factories by or on behalf of buyers.”
One way to strengthen the workers position is to facilitate the formation of unions. This would increase the bargaining power of workers. But while there have been changes to some labour laws to ease the union registration process, less than 10 per cent of garment factories have unions.
Workers allege that those who try to form unions to address such issues “face threats, intimidation, dismissal, and sometimes physical assault at the hands of factory management or hired third parties.” Further, union leaders told Human Rights Watch that “they continue to be targeted by factory management, risking abuse by both managers and supervisors, or thugs acting at their behest.”
To prevent such violations from being repeated, the report urges international companies, those sourcing from Bangladesh to ensure that factory inspections “are effective in ensuring that their supplier factories comply with the companies’ codes of conduct and the Bangladesh labour law”, adding that these audits should be reviewed to make sure they can effectively detect and investigate actions that violate workers rights. Further, that these companies should also agree to supply chain transparency and regularly and publicly disclose all Bangladesh-based factories from which they source.