Sommer for greater workers' rights

Leading German trade union leader Michael Sommer has called for more trade union rights in Bangladesh as “a necessary precondition for establishing true social partnership” among employers, workers, and the government.

Sommer is one of Germany’s foremost trade union leaders.

He is the President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), a global platform currently representing 176 million workers in 161 countries, and Chairman of the Confederation of German Trade Unions.

Speaking at a roundtable on Tuesday, the last day of his three-day official visit to Dhaka, he stressed the importance of having trade unions as “equal partners in international inspection initiatives”.

The German embassy in Dhaka said his visit ahead of the first anniversary of the worst-ever building collapse on Apr 24 last year was aimed at getting a view of the current situation and an idea of the labour movement in Bangladesh.

The Rana plaza collapse that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly factory workers, evoked a worldwide concern for factory safety and labour rights in Bangladesh’s main export industry ready -made garments.

The government revised the labour law, allowing trade unions in a series of steps taken following international pressure in the wake of the building collapse.

The German embassy said Sommer also saw progress being made post-Rana plaza initiatives like the implementation of the “The Accord on Fire and Building Safety 2013”, an agreement involving domestic and international trade unions and international brands and retailers.

He visited a couple of textile factories to see the conditions under which garments for international buyers were produced.

Germany imports 17 percent of all ready-made garments produced in Bangladesh.

Sommer called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the State Minister for Labour and Employment Md. Mujibul Haque Chunnu.

He also met Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and BRAC founder Fazle Hasan Abed, and held meetings with stakeholders in the ready-made clothes industry.

He also inaugurated the new Bangladesh office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which, the embassy says, stands for the values of the German Social Democratic Party.

Sommer is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Wednesday morning, according to the embassy.