Latest Spate Of Strikes
Apparel exporters fear shipment delay, losses
Apparel exporters fear losses as production and shipment are being interrupted due to the latest spate of the general strikes being enforced by the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
Jamaat is enforcing the strikes in protest at the punishment handed down to its leaders by international crimes tribunals. Due to the strikes, exporters may fail to maintain lead time and some of the businesses may face discount and air shipment as transportation is being interrupted, apparel exporters said.
On Wednesday, Jamaat called a 72-hour nationwide general strike in two phases for Thursday and Sunday and Monday in protest at the death sentence awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 to its amir Motiur Rahman Nizami.
On Sunday, the party called strike for Thursday in protest at the capital punishment handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 to its leader Mir Quasem Ali for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
The businesspeople are apprehending that the strike may be extended after the Supreme Court will deliver its judgement today on the appeal of Jamaat leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman challenging death penalty awarded to him for his wartime offences.
‘No covered van left Dhaka for the Chittagong port on Thursday and Sunday night as exporters are not willing to take any risk during strike,’ Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Shahidullah Azim told New Age.
Due to the ongoing strikes being enforced by Jamaat, production at the factories was hampered at the same time transportation of the commodities to the port was also hampered, he said.
‘If the situation remains same, many exporters will face shipment delay and many buyers will reduce the volume of order,’ Azim said.
After the setback following the Rana Plaza building collapse and political turmoil in last year, buyers have started to come back but they will lose their confidence again due to the recent strikes.
‘The sector incurred loss of Tk 11,750 crore during the 72 days of strikes in last year and this year we do not want to see such blow to the export-oriented sector,’ Azim said.
He said that considering the well-being of the national economy political parties should apply alternative way of protest and government should protect the export-oriented sector from all kinds of interruption.
Azim said that many exporters were in a fear that shipment would be delayed ahead of the Christmas Day due to the recent strikes.
Mohammed Hatem, former vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that exporters were in fear that they would not be able to make shipment in time as the strikes interrupted production and supply chain.
The strikes have taken place in the time when a good numbers of buyers are coming back to Bangladesh who had shifted their business in last year due to political instability, he said.
‘Like the first quarter the growth of export earnings from RMG in the first half of the current financial year will be negative due to the ongoing general strikes,’ Hatem added.
-With New Age input
