angladesh needs to ensure fair wages and other rights to workers to safeguard the market access for its textile products to Europe in the coming days, European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh William Hanna told a national dialogue here on Monday, reports UNB.
European citizens are closely watching the labour rights situation in Bangladesh and they are annoyed with the recent ‘images of people fighting for rights’ that make news in the media, the EU ambassador said. “The European citizens can never accept the ruthless exploitation of workers. The exploitation has to stop,” William Hanna told the dialogue on RMG workers’ rights issues organised by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) at LGED auditorium.
The EU is ready to be part of the success in the readymade garment sector (RMG), but not of exploitation, he said.
Hanna said the country must ensure workers’ rights to form association, collective bargaining, occupational safety and fair wages if it wants to secure the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for textile products in the European market.
Citing the EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, he cautioned that Bangladesh cannot take for granted the trade preferences in currently enjoys.
Karel De Gucht at a press conference after the Global Sustainability Compact in Response to Bangladesh Tragedies, held at Geneva in July this year, said: “I want to make it clear that Bangladesh – or for that matter any other Least Developed Country-cannot take for granted the trade preferences it currently enjoys.”
“Bangladesh also enjoys an extremely favourable trade regime under the EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative. This is of particular importance for ready-made garments, which represent about 90 percent of Bangladesh’s exports to the EU,” said Gucht.
“Under the “Everything But Arms” scheme, the EU may consider appropriate action should there be no, or insufficient progress for Bangladeshi workers,” he added.
-With The News Today input
