RMG buyers urged to be ethical in sourcing

Both the garment exporters and labour leaders on Wednesday urged global buyers to be ethical in sourcing, and to give orders to those garment factories which comply with the rules of the buyer country. Such compliance, they pointed out, is a precondition for the sustainable growth of the readymade garment sector in the country.
Participants in a roundtable of the representatives of buyers, manufacturers and workers also agreed that only the joint efforts of the stakeholders could improve the compliance situation in Bangladesh’s RMG sector.
Commerce minister Faruk Khan inaugurated the roundtable organised by the BSCI-Business Social Compliance Initiative. It was moderated by the daily Kaler Kontho’s editor, Abed Khan.
The London-based BSCI, in partnership with major retailers and other stakeholders of the RMG sector, works to improve the working conditions in factories worldwide, and Bangladesh, having a large RMG sector, is prominent in its agenda.
‘Please practise ethical sourcing as that will help both the workers and industry,’ Roy Romesh Chandra, a leading trade union leader who is affiliated with the Awami League, told the buyers.
Roy pointed out that the Bangladeshi garment manufacturers, who concentrate on cheap apparels, always say that the falling prices of garments force them to pay meagre wages to the workers.
Dr Wazedul Islam of the left-leaning Bangladesh Trade Union Centre said that the country’s garment workers’ standard of living has remained unacceptably low for decades despite their undeniable contribution to the country’s prime export sector.
‘Besides ensuring adequate wages for the workers, the garment sector should ensure other benefits for them including provident fund and health facilities,’ said Dr Wazed.
Garment exporters complained that continuous reduction of the prices they receive for their products ultimately results in poor wages and deprivation of the workers.
‘It is not fair that you [buyers] continue to slash the prices of garments and at the same time continue to pressure us to improve the compliance situation in our factories,’ said Dr Mohammed Abdul Moyeen, a director of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Dr Moyeen, who also teaches in the business faculty of the University of Dhaka, pointed out that the joint initiative of the buyers, suppliers and factory owners can simultaneously improve the workers’ standard of living and increase productivity.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s president, Abdus Salam Murshedy, said that different sets of compliance imposed by different buyers often raise the cost of production.
Commerce minister Faruk Khan said that improving the relationship between owners and workers is essential for ensuring sustainable growth of the RMG sector.
He said that since the RMG sector employs the greatest number of workers and earns the lion’s share of Bangladesh’ export revenue, the government is always ready to do anything possible to improve the compliance situation in the apparel factories.

Courtesy of NewAgebd