Bangladesh: How To Get Out Of Factory Safety And Restore Credibility?

Not long ago, the US Department of Commerce announced the statistics of clothing import in September. The growth rates of Vietnam and < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/list.aspx ClassID=101112107105" > Bangladesh < /a > were significantly different in the second and third places of import countries. Vietnam's two digit growth rate was far ahead of 2.21% of Bangladesh's 2.21% growth rate.

Foreign media pointed out that Bangladesh's slowdown in exports to the United States showed signs of slowing down, which is a negative impact caused by factory safety problems, and the imminent implementation of the minimum wage policy will exacerbate the slowdown in Bangladesh's clothing exports.

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< p > < strong > export growth trend is weaker, < /strong > /p >

In April this year, Bangladesh first collapsed in the garment factory building of Rana square in Dhaka, killing 1100 workers and triggering a discussion on the safety of factories. The fermentation was warming up.

From the slowdown in the import clothing of Bangladesh in the United States, the impact of the reduction of orders by international buyers or "distrust" on production safety has begun to appear in the fifth months after the disaster.

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< p > according to the latest data of the US Department of Commerce and textiles and clothing office (OTEXA), in September, the import volume of American clothing continued to rise, a slight increase of 2%, reaching 2 billion 300 million square meters.

China is still the largest clothing supplier in the United States, and exports to the United States reached 1 billion 160 million square meters in September.

Vietnam, the second largest supplier, exported 206 million square meters to the United States, up 21.6% over the same period last year.

Bangladesh ranked third, exports to the United States 124 million square meters, an increase of only 2.21%.

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< p > clothing imports from the South Asian countries have been growing at a high speed. The situation of Bangladesh clothing orders reduction has not yet appeared due to production safety problems.

The report of the International Labour Organization (ILO) points out that frequent occurrence of Bangladesh's clothing safety accidents is a threat to international buyers and investors.

European and American brands who have business dealings with Bangladesh garment factories have been actively involved in the construction work, while other buyers are considering expanding orders in neighboring countries.

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< p > < strong > reputation is the key. < /strong > < /p >

< p > for Bangladesh < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/list.aspx ClassID=101112107107" > clothing industry < /a >, ensuring production safety is a necessary condition for maintaining export growth.

In recent months, Bangladesh's garment industry has worked hard to improve production conditions and rebuild factories under the donation of $24 million 210 thousand from international organizations. The Bangladesh government has also launched a "better job" plan.

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However, the International Labour Organization still points out that unless the real production situation of Bangladesh can be understood by the public, Bangladesh will not be able to maintain its momentum of economic growth or raise its standard of living in a sustainable way. P

Garment processing industry is the core of the country's economy. Improving employment prospects and working conditions is the key factor for garment processing industry to maintain export growth and create employment.

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In order to promote the pparency of production in the industry, the working group of the Bangladesh fire and building safety agreement review released a survey report on the safety situation of the garment factories in early November. The survey involved 1600 garment factories supplying more than 90 fashion retailers and 1600 brands worldwide.

It includes the name and address of the factory, the number of floors in each building, whether there are many garment factories in the same building, whether to enter other types of enterprises.

The Bangladesh government hopes to win the trust of international buyers by this way to enhance the reputation of the industry.

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< p > < strong > increasing salary has become a double-edged sword < /strong > < /p >

< p > the ILO believes that in addition to improving the employment environment, Bangladesh clothing industry should raise its existing wage level if it wants to maintain its existing export scale.

Not long ago, Ahmed Raju, Minister of labor and employment in Bangladesh, formally announced that the minimum monthly wage of clothing workers should be raised to 5300 Taka (about 68.17 US dollars), which is 77% higher than the current 3000 Taka / month.

The new standard will take effect from December 1st.

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< p > in addition to raising the minimum wage standard, the new wage structure also promises to give all employees an annual salary increase of 5% of basic wage.

For newly recruited clothing workers, the basic wage is 3000 Taka / month. In addition, there are 1280 Tucca housing subsidies, 320 Taka medical subsidies, 200 Taka pportation subsidies and 500 Taka food subsidies.

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After the announcement of the new wage standard, Atiquil, the chairman of the Bangladesh garment manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), immediately dissatisfied with the owners. He thought that the garment processing industry that emphasized the "small profits but quick turnover" could not afford 77% of the wage increase, and simply put the pressure of salary increase on the owners of the business. In the end, the clothing industry could only be "self defeating".

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< p > although the new salary standard seems to be tilted to < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/list.aspx ClassID=101112107108" > workers' rights /a >, if Bangladesh government can not further formulate a favorable policy to ease the pressure of business owners, when the impact of salary increase is directly reflected in the price of terminal products, it will inevitably cause new impact on Bangladesh's garment export.

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