SOCIAL COMPLIANCE IN READYMADE GARMENTS (RMG) SECTOR: TOWARDS ENSURING EQUITABLE JUSTICE FOR GARMENT WORKERS AND BOOSTING BANGLADESH’S EXPORT ECONOMY

Authors

  • Brigadier General Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury, ndc, psc NDC

Keywords:

READYMADE GARMENTS

Abstract

The contribution of Bangladesh’s Readymade Garment (RMG) sector to
the country’s economy can hardly be overemphasized. During the last three
decades or so, this sector has been the major export-earning source that enabled
the country to maintain a steady pace of development in a competitive world
economy. In fact, the amount of export earnings from the RMG sector has been
overwhelming, as much as 82% of the total export. The RMG sector provides
gainful employment opportunities to more than four million workers, the vast
majority of whom are adolescent girls and women. The sector has also created
employment opportunities in the auxiliary support industries for another huge
number of people. However, the RMG sector has in recent years been beset with
a number of grave challenges. There were a good number of accidents like blaze
of garment factories and building collapses, resulting in loss of both property and
human lives. Following these accidents, ensuring fair wage and decent working
condition became a concern for international buyers/brand retailers and also,
of the human rights organizations. Ensuring social compliances at factory level
has continued to remain as a major concern. Question arises, why the garment
owners should take initiative to improve factory condition to a complaint one
by investing more money? How the owners can ensure safety and security of
workers by ensuring social compliance? Extensive research including visits to a
number of compliant, non-compliant and foreign invested garment factories,
and interview of workers, owners and related persons have been conducted to
find out answers to these critical questions as well as to measure importance and
economy of enforcing social compliance in the garment factories. There are a
number of challenges such as arrangement of additional money for refurbishing
factories and factory owner’s initiative alongside buyer’s initiative to raise price of
product. During the very recent past, however, some of the related stakeholders
and organizations as well as the factory managements have taken appreciable
initiatives to improve condition of garment factories towards meeting compliance
requirements, though there are still rooms for further improvement. Government
agencies, owners, buyers, workers, politicians and related institutions have to work
together to ensure social compliance in the best interest of the RMG sector in
particular, and in the interest of the country as a whole.

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Published

2017-12-30

How to Cite

Brigadier General Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury, ndc, psc. (2017). SOCIAL COMPLIANCE IN READYMADE GARMENTS (RMG) SECTOR: TOWARDS ENSURING EQUITABLE JUSTICE FOR GARMENT WORKERS AND BOOSTING BANGLADESH’S EXPORT ECONOMY. NDC E-JOURNAL, 16(2), 17-36. Retrieved from https://ndcjournal.ndc.gov.bd/ndcj/index.php/ndcj/article/view/212