Include RMG workers in policy framework

A comprehensive policy framework, incorporating workers, is required to make the country's readymade garment sector environment friendly and mitigate climate change related challenges, said speakers at a dialogue yesterday.

To do so, joint effort from owners and other stakeholders is required, while relevant laws should also be amended to sufficiently address "green transition" or "just transition" related challenges, they added.

Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment (Oshe) Foundation organised the dialogue on "Green Energy Transition in RMG Sector" at The Daily Star Centre in the capital yesterday.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) said just transition is making the economy green in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to everyone concerned, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind.

At the dialogue, ILO Bangladesh's Occupational Safety, Health and Labour Inspection Specialist AKM Masum Ul Alam said globally around 80 million jobs are at risk due to climate change.

Meanwhile, people in Bangladesh are not sufficiently aware about what "just transition" is and how to achieve it, he said.

He added that Bangladesh's labour law addresses some relevant issues like air and sound quality, but those are not sufficient.

Presenting preliminary findings of a baseline study on 30 RMG factories, Greenbud Chief Executive Officer Syed Tasnem Mahmood said 50 percent of respondents among managers and executives of the factories are well aware about the concept of green transition.

However, when it comes to both executives and workers, only 30 percent have knowledge about their factories' transition to green energy, he shared.

"This leads us to the answer that despite working at a factory, a worker may not be aware about the factory's green energy transition," he added.

Speaking about the kind of green transition their factories underwent, most respondents mentioned solar panel or light bulbs, Tasnem noted. He said the study incorporated 12 certified green factories, 10 factories which were undergoing the process to become green, and eight that were not planning to go green.

Although the country's RMG sector has the opportunity to transition to green energy, one key challenge is lack of policy support, as a comprehensive energy transition framework is currently absent, he added.

Pointing out the importance of ensuring wellbeing of workers, Razequzzaman Ratan, president of Samajtantrik Sramik Front, said many RMG factories are becoming green, but their workers are remaining "gray". He said combined effort is required to turn both factories and workers green.

Moderating the dialogue, Oshe Foundation Vice Chairperson SM Morshed said more research-based evidence on green energy transition is required, as there is a lack of knowledge regarding it.

The country's green energy transition should not only remain in infrastructural and technological changes, but also uphold workers' rights, said Harunur Rashid Sagar, communication and project officer at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Bangladesh Office.

Faiza Farah Tuba, programme manager of Laudes Foundation, said workers from not only RMG factories, but various other sectors should be included in different climate change related policies.