ILO launches training to boost workplace cooperation in Bangladesh RMG sector

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM) has launched capacity development training on effective workplace cooperation for workers’ representatives and mid-level managers in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector.

The ILO, in a press release issued on Wednesday, said it aimed to train 2,700 workers and managers from 100 RMG factories by the end of this year.

“The training will be implemented in technical collaboration with BIM and in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), National Coordination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) and IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC),” the release said.

According to the ILO, the capacity building training would equip workers, employers and their representatives better to engage in meaningful dialogue and handle labour relations on workplace issues of mutual importance.

As part of the training programme, a series of two-day workshops will be conducted with the participation of equal numbers of workers’ representatives and managers.

Twenty eight master trainers including seven management counsellors from BIM, who have been trained on effective workplace cooperation at ILO’s International Training Centre (ITC), will impart the training.

Five training modules developed by ITC and translated into Bangla will be used in the sessions, the ILO said in the media communiqué.

The release, quoting ILO Country Director for Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy, said, “The more the workers and employers engage in social dialogue, the better for harmonious industrial relations and good workplace cooperation.”

“This training will help develop skills that will benefit the Bangladesh’s RMG sector and all who work in it,” Reddy was further quoted as saying.

ILO is also in touch with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to introduce parallel capacity development activities for workers and managers in factories in the export processing zones (EPZ), the release said.

The training activities are being carried out with financial support from the governments of Norway and Denmark, it added.

ILO recently signed an agreement with the Government of Sweden to implement a five-year project on “promoting social dialogue and harmonious industrial relations in Bangladesh ready-made garment industry.”

The project is to commence in early 2016, the release said, adding that the new initiative would further strengthen effective workplace cooperation in some 500 additional RMG factories.