We have seen significant progress in improving factory safety over the past year.
Mesbah Rabin discusses the current scenario of the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry in terms of compliance and worker rights with Mary Christine Joy.
Synopsis:
The Bangladesh Worker Safety Alliance is the result of an initiative by a few North American retailers and manufacturers in order to create a safe working environment for the ready-made garment workers of Bangladesh. It is a five year undertaking.
Mr. Mesbah Rabin is the Managing Director of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. Based in Dhaka, Mr. Rabin leads the Alliance efforts in Bangladesh to inspect, train and remediate more than 600 factories producing garments for Alliance members.
Excerpts:
Can you give us some data on the current scenario of garment industries in Bangladesh? Is the scenario better as compared to one year ago in terms of safety and infrastructure?
We have seen significant progress in improving factory safety over the past year. Our first priority was to conduct thorough inspections in 100 percent of the factories from which our members source. Importantly, remediation has already begun in 50 percent of those factories. In addition, 14 factories have been fully or partially closed as a result of inspections, thereby removing an immediate threat to the safety of many garment workers. Looking forward, our work is to ensure thorough remediation in 100 percent of the factories from which we source-and to continue building capacity on the ground to ensure that these reforms can reach the entire garment industry and can be sustained by the Bangladesh government in years to come.
How many textile and apparel giants form a part of the Bangladesh worker safety alliance? Can you name them?
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) is made up of 26 major apparel companies and retailers-most of which are North American. It includes the following brands: Ariela and Associates International LLC; Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited; Carter's Inc.; The Children's Place Retail Stores Inc.; Costco Wholesale Corporation; Fruit of the Loom Inc.; Gap Inc.; Giant Tiger; Hudson's Bay Company; IFG Corp.; Intradeco Apparel; J.C. Penney Company Inc.; The Jones Group Inc.; Jordache Enterprises Inc.; The Just Group; Kohl's Department Stores; L. L. Bean Inc.; M. Hidary & Company Inc.; Macy's; Nordstrom Inc.; Public Clothing Company; Sears Holdings Corporation; Target Corporation; VF Corporation; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and YM Inc.
Supporting associations include: American Apparel & Footwear Association, BRAC, Canadian Apparel Federation, National Retail Federation, Retail Council of Canada, Retail Industry Leaders Association, and United States Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel. In addition, Li & Fung, a major Hong Kong-based sourcing company which does business with many members of the Alliance, serves in an advisory capacity.
Bangladesh worker safety alliance was created with an important mission - to protect the workers of Bangladesh. How far has the alliance remained successful in its mission?
During our first year of operation, the Alliance has made tremendous progress toward improving worker safety in Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) factories. In July, we completed inspections in 100 percent of our 587 factories. We recommended 14 factories for full or partial closure, and 50 percent of our factories are now in remediation. The Alliance is the only organization providing compensation for workers displaced due to factory remediation efforts - including 50 percent of wages for up to four months, with the other 50 percent to be provided by the factory owner.
We have delivered safety training to more than one million workers and managers and launched an anonymous helpline for workers to report safety concerns without fear of retaliation. We also successfully advocated with the government of Bangladesh to reduce tariffs on imports of fire safety equipment to make them more affordable for factory owners, and led development of the first-ever International Expo on Fire and Building Safety in Dhaka to connect factory owners with international experts and manufacturers of safety equipment. Just this month, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to empower Alliance Members, factories and workers with information, guidance and training resources that will help protect the health and safety of RMG workers.
What changes do you see in the garment industries of Bangladesh in terms of worker rights and minimum wages as compared to one year ago?
Over the past year, the Bangladesh government has taken steps towards greater worker empowerment and updating key laws that can positively impact workers. For instance, in November 2013, the government raised the minimum wage for garment workers by 77 percent to $68 a month. The new Occupational Safety and Health Committees was also a new legal requirement the Government put into place to ensure democratically elected worker representatives were empowered to address safety issues in a factory. In addition and most importantly, trade unions in the garment industry have also increased from just a handful to more than 200 in a year. This work must continue - and our work to protect and empower workers must extend to labor organizers, union leaders, and worker representatives.
Do you suppose that in order to lift the standard of Bangladesh garment industry with respect to sustainability, transparency is necessary among factory managers?
Transparency and accountability is critical to factory safety reform. The Alliance works closely with the Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC), a platform for member companies to publicly share assessment reports and remediation plans. Inspection reports and Corrective Action Plans are uploaded for all factories from which member companies source on a rolling basis as they are completed, reviewed and approved. Providing this data and ensuring it is current is a mandatory requirement of our Members Agreement. We also require that our members take steps to prevent unauthorized subcontracting to ensure that we have a clear view of which factories are supplying member companies. Finally, all of these reports are also shared with the Government of Bangladesh, and the government also posts the results publicly. This is a key requirement of the National Action Plan and can help ensure that all factories in Bangladesh have inspections and the results are publicly available.
How important is training among Bangladesh garment industry workers? Do you suppose that appropriate training measures by factories can make a difference?
In December 2013, we conducted the largest-ever survey of more than 3,200 randomly-selected workers from 28 factories to better understand current knowledge and awareness of basic fire safety procedures among factory workers. In May 2014, we conducted a limited sample survey with the same questions in factories that had undergone safety training. We found that the number of workers who were able to correctly identify five fire hazards increased from two percent to 51 percent, and the number of workers who could correctly identify what to do in case of a fire increased from 39 percent to nearly 98 percent. Awareness of correct safety practices is critical to saving lives.
Inspection needs to be regularly done in Bangladesh garment factories. Do you agree? How seriously are these inspections taken in the garment industry of Bangladesh?
Inspections that are conducted regularly and shared transparently are absolutely essential to creating lasting factory safety reform. Now more than ever, there is broad consensus and commitment to high-quality inspections among the government, garment industry, civil society and global brands that source from Bangladesh.
What are the types of finances available to factory owners in order to make their factories more compliant to the alliance standards?
The Alliance or our individual members provides financial support to factories through several means. For instance, several Alliance members have committed to providing a combined total of more than $100 million in access to low-cost capital to fund necessary improvements. These bilateral loans between individual members of the Alliance and their factories have already started.
In addition, the Alliance is in discussions with the IFC (International Finance Corp) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop an additional low-cost loan program for any Alliance factory. Finally, the Alliance successfully lobbied the government of Bangladesh to eliminate tariffs on the importation of fire equipment, making necessary improvements more affordable for factory owners, since critical fire equipment not available in Bangladesh-such as fire doors and sprinkler systems-can be imported into Bangladesh at much lower rates.
Despite all the external support provided to Bangladesh workers, it is necessary for the workers to be aware about their rights and to voice out their opinion. If this is not done, the objective of creating a safe garment manufacturing industry in Bangladesh cannot be achieved. Do you agree? Please elaborate.
We view worker empowerment as a major determinant of successful factory safety reform-and this includes ensuring that workers are knowledgeable of their rights and able to act on them. That's why we unequivocally support the right of workers to refuse unsafe work.
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