Garment Politics


Written by Fizza Hassan • Region • February 2011

The garment industry remains a golden eggs laying goose for Bangladesh since over two decades now. The readymade garments make up 80% of the exports of the country, making the largest contribution ($16 billion) to the export goods in Bangladesh. In terms of GDP, ready made garments (RGM) reach up to 13% of the Bangla GDP. The garment factories remain to be the second largest employer of the country after the agriculture sector employing 3.5 million of the countrymen. The plight of the workers in the apparel sector however continues to be a matter of grave concern.

Recorded data shows that wages for the garment workers in Bangladesh are the lowest in the world. The enraged laborers have been protesting for a pay hike since months now. After months of protests and violent demonstrations, government has raised minimum wage to $43 (3,000 taka) from the previous $23 (1,662 taka) per month. The new pay scales were announced to be effective from November 2010. It is noteworthy that it was the first revision in pay scales after 2006. The factory workers have however refused to accept the pay-rise stating that even new wages are too low to make both ends meet.

Other than the salary issues, labor rights and laws are non-existent in Bangladesh. Since the garment industry is 100% export oriented so the national labor laws do not apply to the garment labor which has worsened the situation for factory workers. Wages including bonus and overtime salary are the issues Bangladeshi workers have been protesting about since long but to no effect. Other problems of the garment industry include substandard raw material, machinery, limited number of manufacturing methods, problems of taxes like VAT, middle management crisis, lack of training for workers, fire safety, investors, and labor strikes.

There have been many incidents of fire in which hundreds of factory workers lost their lives. Statistics reveal that from 2006-2009, 414 laborers lost their lives in 213 fire incidents. It must be stated here that 70% of the garment factory workers are women and still the factories are ill-designed with no proper fire exits and safety precautions. Some factories have started to practice safety drills but on the whole it is a rare practice.

Besides the factory owners, customers of RGM like Wal-Mart, Tesco, H&M, Zara, Carrefour, Gap, Metro, JCPenney, Marks & Spencer, Kohl’s, Levi Strauss and Tommy Hilfiger have their share in exploiting the rights of labor too. Wal-Mart can be quoted as an example that rewards the merchandiser who provides goods at the lowest rate. Meanwhile, trade unions have also failed to protect the rights of the garment workers.

In fact, trade unions which are the support centre for the workers have been an utter disappointment in Bangladesh. About 3.5% of the workers are unionized but these trade unions are under the strong influence of political wings. They are so influential that they caused the BNP government to resign in 1996. Their support consequently led to the victory of Awami League in the parliamentary elections of 1996. Since women comprise the biggest chunk of garment workers, their unions are smaller in number compared to those men; hence their rights are easily ignored.

The readymade garment industry in Bangladesh has seen phenomenal growth over the past 25 years. Countries like India, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand are challenging it. The country has the advantage of low-cost labor and cheap capital over its competitors but this would be insufficient if the issues of the garment workers were to remain unresolved and national policies remained unchanged.