Tofail says foreign buyers single out Bangladesh’s labour safety issues

Foreign organisations and buyers speak up about safety of workers in Bangladesh's readymade garment sector, but they say nothing about its competitors, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has complained.

He made the allegation at a programme in Dhaka on Friday with International Labour Organization's Country Director Srinivas B Reddi, and Canadian High Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée among the audience.

"The foreigners only speak about workers' safety, workplace environment in Bangladesh. Why aren't they saying anything about other countries in the world?" the minister asked.

"They (those countries) also export products to America, Canada, the European Union. But they (foreigners) do not speak about those issues when they visit Vietnam, China and India," he said.

"Accord and Alliance never utter a single word about any other country," Tofail added.

He was speaking as the chief guest of a National Occupational Health and Safety Day programme organised by the Ministry of Labour and Employment at Krishibid Institution Auditorium.

The commerce minister once again criticised the foreign buyers for not raising prices of RMG products when pressure mounted on the sector in Bangladesh after the deaths of more than 1,100 workers in Rana Plaza collapse in 2013.

"We (the government) requested them, but they didn't do that...We could put pressure on the owners if they did," Tofail said.

He also described the government efforts to ensure safety at factories and develop workplace environment.

"We've doubled the manpower for factory inspection. We have done many things and now we are in Sustainability Compact," he said.

The government hosted the second follow-up meeting on the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact in Dhaka in January last year. Besides the EU, the US, the ILO and the Government of Bangladesh, Canada joined the meeting as a new partner. They assessed progress on the implementation of the Compact.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu, however, said the government has only 475 factory inspectors for 8.3 million economic units in Bangladesh now.

"An around 100,000-strong workforce is needed to inspect all the factories across Bangladesh," he said and put emphasis on raising public awareness about workers' safety and workplace environment.

Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Siddiqur Rahman said the owners never want workers to get injured or die at workplace.

"We are improving the workplace environment. We won't allow any factory where the workers' lives are put in danger," he added.

Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments Inspector General Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan and ILO Country Director Reddi, among others, spoke at the programme chaired by Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar.