Perception versus reality check

A fire that killed more than 100 workers at Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia on November 24 has added to the negative perception about Bangladesh's garment industry.Photo: Sk Enamul Haq

I have no idea where they will head for if we close down. At the end of every month, as much as we worry about salary payments, we also breathe in relief when that side's taken care of and life goes on…as usual. Our lives are intertwined with theirs and our livelihood depends on the number of garments they produce from every line, every hour. Yet, there's a classic, stubborn line that separates us from their worlds. From our side of the earth, many of us don't get to sense their needs. As a result many of us remain marooned in our tiny islands, in abject ignorance and failure. But somehow, we have given birth to a new humanity which steps inside the factory buildings at 8:00am in the morning and continue with their machines till 7:00pm.
This new humanity has enabled Bangladesh's export to grow 43.36 percent year on year in 2011 to $15.66 billion in spite of the global challenges. This new humanity has made it possible for Bangladesh to export garments worth $19.09 billion in 2011-12. This new humanity has given the strength to the land to set the outlook to exceed $20 billion in the new fiscal. We are 4.8 percent of the total global RMG trade of $412 billion today. $11.37 billion of this $20 billion comes for the EU. And all this magic happens because of our new humanity.
We have named this new humanity “workers”. It is true that the entrepreneurial spirits rank high in this country. True we don't give in to the multiple challenges that we face because of hartals or unrests. But what is true that, in spite of the growth and the race, we are facing much more hurdles than what we had anticipated when we first began. Today there are multiple slaps coming our way: the Perception Slap, the Publicity Slap and finally the Resolution Slap. These are all punishments that are well phased and well tailored as to suit the needs of the political and commercial times.
The latest slap that we have just encountered is the EU resolution that was just passed on the January 17, 2013. While the joint motion of the parliament quotes Clean Clothes Campaign's data and reads that up to 700 people have died in factory fires in Bangladesh since 2006, the draft resolution (RC-B7-0004/2013) of the European Parliament states: “An estimated 600 garment workers having died since 2005 in factory fires in Bangladesh alone”. The different figures however cannot wish-wash the reality away. The fire at Tazreen Fashions did happen. Walmart's goods were being produced there with Li & Fung being the agent in between, placing the orders to a local vendor. As many as 114 lives have been lost. That's a tragedy we have to live with.
Crises like this test the strength of the exporting community. Some of us react aggressively, some react with compassion and some just stay passive. But the questions of safety conditions, collective bargaining and wages are not to be procrastinated, simply because when the layers of perception toughen over a period of time that turns into recorded history. Long ago, Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent became a personal favourite and remained so for years. The book elucidates how public opinion is formed and manipulated to suit the needs of the political hour. Today is the time when we, too could examine the less-informed media splash and rash perceptions clouding our export sector. Let's look at the Perception Slap phase now. To begin with, Tazreen has labelled the whole export community as the hungry, insensitive lot, while the issues of minimum wage level and collective bargaining have also added to the list of negative perception.
As a result of all these three, the European Parliament resolution on recent casualties speaks about concerns of the union about the compliance with the ILO standards, the death of Aminul Islam, the labour leader, the lack of fire and safety practices, and the right to collective bargaining. At the same time, it welcomes the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement between a number of trade unions, NGOs and multinational textile retailers, the creation of 'health and safety committees' involving workers' representations in each factory, which are obligatory by law. In clause 6, it also welcomes the action of those European retailers, which have already contributed to compensation schemes for the victims and their families. In clause 9, it also welcomes initiatives currently being delivered by the commission with the aim of providing support for improving factory safety in Bangladesh, for example through the 'Promotion of Labour Standards in the RMG sector' project and joint work with the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence Directorate; And in clause 13 it welcomes Bangladesh's successful efforts to reduce child labour in the garment sector. This joint motion passed in the European Parliament has only 8 points. All 8 relate to fire and safety issues along with the union asking the retailers to “critically investigate” the factory situation in Bangladesh.
This is all. It certainly does not call for a GSP cancellation. At our end, all we can do is appeal to the EU not to adopt any further harsher steps. We can go ahead and cite instances from all over the globe where human abuses reign high and the EU still continues to do business with them.
What does the EU do with the Chinese, though?
Currently, there are approximately 3,000 individuals who are detained in the People's Republic of China. China severely limits associations and gatherings. One enters China, Facebook or twitter become inaccessible. Dissidents voicing their dissent on foreign media are often harshly dealt with. For the last two years, there has been a dramatic rise in death penalties in China.
The EU, in Dec 2012, drafted the 62 point draft (ours is only 8) resolution that mentions almost 60 sectoral dialogues which are ongoing between China and EU on the environment, regional policy, employment and social affairs, and civil society. The motion has critical references to China's serious label of human rights violations notably the case of Liu Xiaobo, Weiwei, forced abortion scandal and of course the house arrest of Hu Jia, the 2008 Sakharov Prize laureate. In spite of all this, the union, in the resolution, still lauds the apparent “internal social progress” that China has made and continues to mildly urge the Chinese to comply with all the ILO rules.
For us, it's a case of plain and simple envy. But then again, luckily for us, for the first time, China has lost a bit of market share in the EU in Q3 of 2012 as China's prices increased over the quarter to an extent of 14.76 percent than prices of Turkish (+3.65 percent) or Bangladeshi (+2.71 percent) origins. In fact, China was the main loser on the European import market, with a decline of 22 percent in July-September from the same quarter in 2011, still in volume terms. Yet, for the US, the US apparel imports in Q3 of 2012 from China stood at 48.67 percent against rest of the world being at 51.33 percent. US apparel imports in Q3 of 2012 in terms of unit price comparison also paints a picture of inequality. If the value share of the world in Q3 of 2012 is measured as 100, then 42.88 went to China, 8.94 to Vietnam and 5.3 to Bangladesh.
There are more cases, where the importing countries have simply looked the other way when it has come to beneficial trading under special considerations. For example, in spite of Colombia-US FTA was signed in May 2012 in spite of human rights groups protesting against Colombian government's actions in strapping the labour unions. Colombia happens to be the most dangerous country in South America for unionists. In 2010, at least 14 human rights defenders were killed whereas in 2011, alone, 51 labour leaders were killed in Colombia.
Human rights defenders, trade unionists and social leaders continue to be threatened and killed, mainly by paramilitary groups. In El Salvador, some 477 women and girls were murdered between January and October 2011, a rise of 224 compared with the same period in 2008. Yet by mid-2012 many countries lost out to Central America for the first time since the opening of quotas, in its market share of US apparel imports.
In the United Kingdom itself, there were 171 worker fatalities between April 2010 and March 2011. When the population size is taken into account, China's workplace death rate is 21 times higher than the UK's. In 2010, 79,552 people died in work-related accidents in China, an average of 218 people a day, official figures show. (Source: The National, Dec 5, 2011, Australia)
All these instances and data don't give us the right to defend bad practices. But they do allow us to appeal to the US and the EU to take Bangladesh into special consideration. To begin with, the 3.5 million people working in 5,000 woven factories, 1,700 knitwear factories and 1,300 spinning, finishing and dyeing factories in Bangladesh can't be out on the streets for a few deviant exporters. Starting from 1983-84, the RMG sector's contribution to the country's export of 3.9 percent has today grown to a massive 80 percent. In 2005, we were the world's fifth largest manufacturer; today we are the second. Therefore this sector needs to be handled with utmost care and caution. If there are penalties that need to be imposed, the importing countries could easily engage in a dialogue with their own retailers who could ensure implementation of such measures.
In the meantime, while we, the entrepreneurs cite instances of exceptions and appeal to importing countries, we need to address our own conscience and admit that we have failed in securing public trust on many accounts. I see no way forward but to sincerely collaborate with the civil society and major stakeholders in order to ensure that our own work places do not smell of disaster. As the new elite of the society, we, the RMG exporters need to readdress our identities and overcome this image deficit with compassion and critical understanding of the tragedies. The real compliance should only come from within and not from different corners of the globe.

The writer is the managing director of Mohammadi Group.