A look into garment sector after the worst workplace tragedy

IT will remain with us for ages to come and fester like some mysterious disease to remind us of our shameful lust, greed, nonchalance and brutality with which we treated our key export earners.

Corpses tangles in the rubble hang as rescuers make way into the collapsed structure. Photo Aninda Kabir Avik
Corpses  hang tangled in the rubble as rescuers make way into the collapsed structure. Photo: Aninda Kabir Avik
Those of us who have covered the tragedy of Rana Plaza a year ago, will never forget the screams of the workers stuck inside that hunk of a collapsed building. The images are so raw and vivid --  the concrete slabs impaling the heart of the nation; the crumpled bodies hanging high on the ground and being ignored by the helpless rescuers who cannot reach there; the corpses piling on the ground -- one particular corpse looking grotesquely bloated because it has simply been squeezed to a two-feet meat chunk; the helplessness of the fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers all running towards the collapsed building with pictures of their loved ones in hand; the long nights filled with terrible cry for help coming from the bottom of a hell.

But Rana Plaza will remain with us for many other reasons too. It will remind us how a nation united at a crucial time to help humanity. There are snapshots that will keep on making us proud – the hospitals, Enam Hospital in particular, and the doctors scrambling to save every broken soul carted in, the thousands of volunteers – simple students, workers, rickshawpullers -- who actually defied death to reach every nook and corner of the concrete jungle even before the trained rescuers could go and dragged out the trapped ones; the pharmaceutical companies rushing medicines to the hospital free of cost; the big infrastructure companies mobilising their cranes and equipment which otherwise were not available with the fire department to pull apart the slabs; the army officers and jawans working night and day with their equipment. The scenes are so many and one cannot chart them all in one writing.

Rana Plaza will also stick to our memory because of the valiance and desperation the trapped workers showed. The men and women, their hands and legs buried under huge slabs and pillars asking rescuers to piece themselves out and they were. Those who performed the job of severing their limbs were no trained persons and yet they held their nerves.

Volunteers bring out a body from the rubble of Rana Plaza after cutting a hole on the rooftop of the collapsed building. Photo: Star
Volunteers bring out a body from the rubble of Rana Plaza after cutting a hole on the rooftop of the collapsed building. Photo: Star
Rana Plaza will remain us with us because it was the single incident that really shook up the world's worst sweat industry. Reforms were carried out following it though not fully to our satisfaction, inspection system was put in place, the heartless attitude of the owners were softened though not to the extent that could make us happy, and in general safety stands were improved.

Those more than 1,100 souls lost under the rubble of Rana Plaza have actually jolted the rest 16 crore people from a sleep. This is also why Rana Plaza will remain with us forever.

"Major stakeholders have taken many steps which I think will prove effective in medium to long term"
- Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, says while assessing developments in garment sector over the past one year.
Fardaus Mobarok

THE country's garment industry witnessed broad reforms after the Rana Plaza collapse, which the industry insiders and experts noted would have a bigger positive impact on the sector in the future.

Key stakeholders including the government, various government agencies, the BGMEA, factory owners and buyers made significant progress to cope with the multi-dimensional challenges of governance and corruption that exposed the sector to unprecedented vulnerabilities.

The collapse of Rana Plaza in Savar, the worst workplace disaster in textile history, on April 24 last year turned out to be a costly eye opener.

A recent study by the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) found that several industry stakeholders took a total of 102 initiatives of varying dimensions against 54 out of 63 types of governance challenges. Of the 102 initiatives, 31 percent were implemented completely, 60 percent witnessed varying degrees of progress while 9 percent remained unaddressed.

The government amended the labour law of 2006 in July last year to allow trade unions by workers in the factories, a key indicator of workers' rights.

A new salary structure for the workers was implemented from December last year.

In addition, the administration has allowed three agencies – two international and a national – to inspect factories for ensuring workplace safety. The agencies are: the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).

The Accord, a platform of 150 retailers and brands mainly from Europe, has so far carried out inspections of 80 factories of 1626. The Alliance, a platform of 27 US-based apparel retailers and brands, inspected 247 out of 626 factories. Meanwhile, Buet has completed inspection at 247 factories out of around 2,000 factories, according to the TIB study.

The National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire, Electrical Safety and Physical Integrity in the Ready‐Made Garment Sector of Bangladesh (NAP) is the key initiative under which the government authorities and supporting organisations committed to various activities in response to the Rana Plaza incident.

The NAP is one of the notable initiatives undertaken by local and international stakeholders, part of which seeks to ensure long-term enforcement of a globally acceptable fire, electrical and structural safety standard across the garment industry that is harmonised with the standards of the foreign buyers/retailers.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) has taken upon advisory and coordinator roles to support the timely implementation of the prescribed activities and minimise duplication of efforts.

Other important steps taken to ensure workplace safety included the establishment of a task force on building and fire safety of the Cabinet Committee for the RMG sector, upgradation of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) to a directorate, the development and introduction of unified fire safety checklist to be used by all relevant government agencies, establishment of a workers' safety hotline through the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), and lastly, the adoption of a National Occupational Safety and Health Policy.

"Working conditions and workers' rights issues are receiving high priority in Bangladesh; The responses by the Government, the RMG industry, and workers' organisations to recent tragedies in Bangladesh RMG sector are cause for measured optimism," ILO Country Director Srinivas Reddy said in February.

From all these perspectives, important steps have been taken, noted Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Rana Plaza photographed a few months before its collapse on April 24, 2013. 
Rana Plaza photographed a few months before its collapse on April 24, 2013.
The bulding came down falling after the employees joined their work on April 24 morning. Photo: Star
The bulding came falling down after the employees re-joined their work on April 24 morning. Photo: Star
"The labour act has been amended with provisions to safeguard workers' interest. Now the trade unions are getting the opportunities for registration.  It has become easier. More than 100 new trade unions have been registered," he said.

"Although the law has been amended, I think that the enforcement of the law will have to be much stricter."

He noted that entrepreneurs will have to change their mindset towards trade union rights at their respective factories.

"So, I think there has to be initiatives from various angles. One is the government taking appropriate steps legal, institutional, more concrete and specific initiatives and on the other hand, the entrepreneurs in terms of enforcing the minimum wage, in terms of helping their members to support the trade unions, in terms of safeguarding the interest of both the entrepreneurs and the workers."

Speaking to The Daily Star online, Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said 146 trade unions got registration in the last one year against only 38 in the previous eight years.

"We implemented the minimum wage of Tk 5,300 from Tk 3,000 for a worker at a time when all businesses came to a halt due to political violence," he said, adding the salary has been increased by 219 percent over the last four years.

The building safety, fire safety and electrical safety inspection is being carried out. We did not see building safety inspection before. We saw occupational and health safety inspection in the other time, the BGMEA chief said.

Relatives of trapped victims and curious people throng the collapse site as the news spread. Photo: Star
Relatives of trapped victims and other people thronged to the collapse site as the news spread. Photo: Star
He added the capacity of hose pipes is also being checked so that every factory itself becomes a fire system. "It's a major improvement."

Atiqul said the process to set up all types of upgraded fire safety equipment including fire door and fire detector at factories has begun. "But it will take time. It is not possible overnight because different brands are suggesting different types of fire safety equipment. We want to solve the problem through the Accord, Alliance and National Action Plan."

He said so far no factories denied access to the Accord and Alliance for inspection. "Apart from the Accord and Alliance, ILO and Buet are also carrying out inspection at factories through the NAP."

Building safety inspection at all factories will be completed by December 30 next, he hoped.

Mustafizur emphasised on changing business model for the survival in the competitive market. "After the Rana Plaza tragedy, there was a growing recognition that business as usual will not do and there has to be significant changes in the walking of the sector. So, I think there was a growing recognition that major changes will have to be undertaken."

Mustafizur thinks there are also major concerns regarding how small and medium enterprises will adjust restructuring is taking place.

The business model which has been developed in Bangladesh till now – particularly focused on sub-contracting business and the sub-contracting model has now come under question because many of the sub-contracting factories and enterprises did not have the safety, security of workers' rights.

"Those initiatives of further strengthening of fire safety department, more recruitment of inspectors will have to be further strengthened over the next years so that we can have an export-oriented readymade garment in Bangladesh, which is tuned to the demand of a changing global circumstances and global demands."

He is very much hopeful that this tragedy and challenge which originated from the Rana Plaza accident could be translated into a major opportunity for the country.

"We are passing through a window of opportunity and everyone is talking about China plus one. Bangladesh is very well positioned and placed to take opportunity of this growing global market for apparels but in order to do that we have to project Bangladesh as a compliant country," he observed.