The Bangladesh government and the BGMEA should immediately develop and implement tough and effective sanctions against factory owners who do not comply with Bangladesh laws by engaging in anti-union activity and advance progress in sanctioning owners who do not comply with the required safety standards, said a US senator. The next government of Bangladesh should act quickly to reform the existing legal framework, including labour laws for Export Processing Zones, and bring it into conformity with international labour standards, he said.
US senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a committee report on Friday in Washington on safeguarding and advancing gains in labour rights for Bangladesh’s garment workers.
‘The tragedies in Bangladesh present an important opportunity to improve labour rights and empower workers,’ said Menendez. ‘No consumer will want to wear clothing if it’s stained by the blood of innocent workers.’
‘One year ago, the world woke up to the horror caused by unsafe working conditions for Bangladesh’s garment workers. We should not rest until these individuals are given the rights they deserve and the tools they need to protect themselves,’ Menendez added.
The report was issued one year after the Tazreen Fashions factory fire that killed 112 workers. In April 2013, a collapse at Rana Plaza factory resulted in the death of more than 1,100. Both tragedies galvanised world attention towards the plight of garment workers in Bangladesh.
The report was based on a field visit by the committee’s majority staff to Bangladesh in August 2013, as well as extensive staff meetings with experts and stakeholders in Washington, DC.
The report recommended that the United States government should hold the Bangladesh government to the highest standards in implementing the action plan to reinstate US Generalised System of Preferences benefits, especially provisions pertaining to labour law reform and protecting the freedom of association and the rights to organise and bargain collectively.
The US government should increase funding for technical assistance programmes in Bangladesh, such as those run by the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Centre, that improve workers’ capacity to organise and engage in collective bargaining, it recommends.
The report said apparel brands and retailers, especially those with very large operations in Bangladesh like Walmart, Gap, and others in the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, should, in coordination with the International Labour Organisation, launch long-term, well-resourced programmes to educate their suppliers in Bangladesh of their expectation for compliance with laws allowing the right to organise unions and bargain collectively.
‘Apparel brands and retailers should also collectively develop and implement a policy of zero-tolerance for suppliers who consistently engage in anti-union activity.’
In June, senator Menendez chaired a hearing on labour issues in Bangladesh and called on the administration to suspend preferential trade status or GSP to Bangladesh.
-With New Age input
