Govt’s clarion call to save garment industry
6/5/2014/Financial Express
The government Sunday made a clarion call to owners, workers and the people to come forward to help save the garment industry from an orchestrated ‘plot’ which is designed to destroy the country’s main export sector, reports UNB.
“An envious quarter having nexus at home and abroad is making sinister efforts to destroy this industry,” the government said in a handout, issued in the wake of unrelenting acts of violence at the garment factories that led to closure of all the units in Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ)
The government has already constituted an inquiry committee headed by Local Government Division Secretary SM Zahirul Islam for inquiry into the recent unfortunate incidents and labour unrest in the DEPZ.
“Unrest has been prevailing in garment factories for the last few days when some selected factories were set ablaze and damaged through ransacking,” the handout noted.
It said movement or bargaining between industrial owners and workers is a usual practice. “But in the name of labour movement, destruction of mills and factories is not acceptable under any circumstances.”
The handout mentioned that the government has concluded an agreement by holding meeting with the owners and workers’ leaders and taken steps for its implementation. Meantime, a committee has been working to fix minimum wages for the workers and discussion is continuing on other demands.
“The government had expected that government, owners and workers would work jointly to maintain the export-oriented garment industry’s competitiveness globally.”
But the government deplores that the unrest started afresh in EPZ (Dhaka) and, consequently, the foreign owners declared their factories closed.
The release said the government is respectful to the just demands of the workers and is also aware of the security of the owners and their factories.
However, the government noted that some officials of the Dhaka EPZ failed to discharge their responsibility to maintain congenial atmosphere in the EPZ area. As such, the government relieved Dhaka EPZ General Manager Kamal Akhtar, security officer Rezaul Karim and industrial relations officer KM Ahsan Ullah “for neglect of duty”.
The garment industry fetches 76 per cent of country’s total export earnings and provides jobs for lakhs of workers. If this industry was closed down, the national economy would incur a colossal loss and lakhs of workers will be left jobless, the handout noted.
The government observed that there had been apprehension that Bangladesh’s garment industry would face disaster with the abolition of quota system, but such prognosis proved wrong. Rather garment exports have increased as a result of sincere efforts made by the entrepreneurs and workers.
“Getting envious of this success, a quarter at home and abroad is making a synchronised attempt to ruin this industry,” the official release said.
The government sought all-out cooperation from the owners, workers and the people at large for protecting the garment industry and maintaining the trend of export for greater interest of the nation.
