Labour rights, compliance must to boost exports: Rehman Sobhan

Bangladesh needs to ensure labour rights to comply with global standards and enhance productivity to tap the opportunity being created by the shifting of orders from China and many other markets, a noted economist said yesterday.

If the rights upgradations are brought about, international retailers, brands and particularly the European Union (EU) will not be able to raise questions about compliance while placing work orders, according to Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

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The same will be the case during reinstatement of the United States' generalised system of preferences (GSP), he said.

"We have already seen the opportunity has opened up for Bangladesh," Sobhan added.

He was speaking at a discussion, styled "Debate on recent export growth and decent employment in RMG industry: a UNGPs perspective", jointly organised by the CPD and the Christian Aid at the Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka.

Government high-ups, business leaders, trade union leaders, exporters and researchers participated in the event.

Increasing questions are coming from the international community, particularly now from the EU, whether Bangladesh would be able to retain some of export privileges after the status graduation from a least-developed country, said Sobhan.

In order to retain the trade benefit, the country will have to fully comply with global labour standards, he added.

This means Bangladesh has to constantly put emphasis on labour rights, including universalisation of trade unionisation, so that the labour rights are appropriately protected, he said.

This could have consequences for terms and conditions in participating in future export markets in the EU and possibly it may be even important on the renewal of the GSP status in the US markets, he said.

Sobhan suggested that the government make public information on labour rights involving civil society and union leaders to identify gaps that need to be addressed.

"Now the gaps are not significant. I am really quite impressed that the industry has made progress in many of the areas when there are very considerable areas to be covered particularly with regards to the condition of work," the economist also said.

The CPD chairman also suggested further improvement of working conditions for female workers as the number of female workers was gradually declining in the garment sector.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said a study was needed to see whether recent inflows of work orders for garment export were permanent.

Because with the recovery of the global supply chain from the severe fallouts of Covid-19, a lot of work orders came to Bangladesh as the international retailers and brands placed their old orders here, he said.

However, with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the inflow of work orders had slowed down to some extent, he said.

Munshi also supported allowing the formation of trade unions in factories, on the condition that union leaders and workers become well aware of their duties.

Md Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said the number of female workers was declining in the sector because "many got married" and did not return to work.

Moreover, because of automation in production and computer-aided designs, the requirement for female helpers and workers in factories had also reduced drastically, he said.

Currently, 1,134 garment factories have trade unions and many do not want unionism because most workers are not well aware of union rules, Azim said.

Montu Ghosh, president of Garments Workers Trade Union Centre, said the government is not giving priority to wage hikes for workers although the prices of essential commodities increased in local markets.

He said a majority of parliament members were, in one way or the other, owners of industries and they were not much interested in discussing labour rights and minimum wage issues in parliament.

In a keynote presentation, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the CPD, said Bangladesh has been experiencing an extraordinary increase in exports, particularly since September last year.

Despite the recruitment of additional workers, factories are still short of workers given the high volume of work orders received by the factories, he said.

A rise in export orders led to a rise in workers' wage, he said, adding that, however, workers were not benefitting much because their monthly expenditure had substantially increased as inflation went up in local markets.