A tale of three cities

But given our experience that many of the reports commissioned by the government to unearth the root causes of troubles rarely see the light of the day and the fact that the government is mainly controlled by the "undertaxed (who still can) defend themselves against the overtaxed" and keeping in mind President Grover Cleveland's warning to the US Congress to avoid that government which "promise to protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the labouring poor", later reincarnated as trickle down economic development theory, it would be prudent not to wait for the publication of the report which in any case is not guaranteed.

International trade has become highly competitive. Therefore, competition among sellers in a largely buyers' market is neither new nor unexpected inducing the sellers, both within the country and without, to resort to unethical practices to sell their products. But the instinctive response that "foreign hands" stoked the current labour unrest is not only premature but can also give wrong signals to the enquiry committee entrusted to find out the truth. One may ask did Bangladesh play any role in Sri Lanka when the foreign buyers decided to shift their focus to Bangladesh due to the Tamil-Singhalese conflict? Why is it automatically assumed that the impressive growth in the RMG sector in the post-MFA regime would necessarily ignite the envy of an economy which amounts to $3.36 trillion (measured by purchasing power parity) and is well on its way to becoming an important global actor? Bangladesh export accounts for a very small part of the total global international trade.

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"Conspiracy theory" also falls flat if one were to accept the Indian argument of migration of Bangladeshis into India (stoutly denied by Bangladesh) due to existential poverty and that the alleged migration can be reduced/stopped if the Bangladesh economy improves and more jobs are created. Perhaps the "conspiracy theory" had gained ground because some of the factories that claim to be compliant with the buyers' standard were also attacked as were some which had nothing to do with the RMG sector. An explanation of this aberration can be found in the violence-ridden culture that has become an integral part of the political culture in Bangladesh. Distinct from developed economies, in Bangladesh the aggrieved do not get any hearing, let alone their grievances being redressed, unless they resort to violent protest. In the process the innocent get caught in the middle, cars and buses get burnt, people get injured and killed.

In a democracy the state should have the monopoly of legitimate violence. Government's failure to maintain this monopoly could create havoc not only within the country but in the region as well. Here one must clearly distinguish between a police state monopolising instruments of violence and a democratic polity where only the legitimate state agents hold these instruments to be used, if at all, for the welfare of the people, and care has to be taken that under no circumstances these instruments of violence fall into the hands of apocalyptic nihilists. Unfortunately Kantian state of universal peace is sometimes violently overtaken by Hobbesian state of nature where resolution of human conflict is not always subjected to procedural and prudential discipline. In analysing the present case, however, one may wish to render "conspiracy theory" as implausible and accept the vandalism with its totally repugnant character as an extension of the violent and confrontational politics in Bangladesh.

In Marxian analysis the poor have nothing to sell but themselves. According to Scottish philosopher Robert Owen it is necessary for the large part of mankind to live in poverty and ignorance for the remaining part to live in affluence. Both of these concepts are true of RMG sector in Bangladesh. The regrettable outburst of workers in garment factories in Savar Export Processing Zone and outside has been the result of decades long brewing discontent among the workers vis-à-vis the management. In the last one year the EPZ authorities are believed to have sacked 40 to 50 leaders of the Workers Welfare Council (WWC) without giving them any service or termination benefits. The minimum wage for an employee at Dhaka EPZ at US dollar thirty (paid in equivalent Bangladesh taka) was fixed in 1989 and was never revised. The factories outside the EPZ took advantage of the minimum wage rate fixed years ago without any in-built escalation clause due to inflation or cost of living index. In addition the management rarely issued appointment letters providing job security thus rendering whimsical sacking of workers a distinct possibility, denied of maternity leave (a significant number of workers are females), workers were abusively treated (there have been allegations of sexual harassment of female workers). Goons employed by the management to keep the workers in line (reminiscent of Uncle Tom's Cabin) to make them work in Dickensian environment allegedly used to take a part of the wage of the workers as extortion money. BGMEA, however, deserves appreciation for deciding to fix minimum wage within three months and paying held to the other long-standing demands of the workers and for withdrawal of cases filed against workers after the recent disturbances.

Many owners started driving luxury cars while the workers were not provided with transport to and from their workplace, not to their slums but to designated pick up points. The owners conveniently forgot the contribution of the workers in the achievement of export earning growth by 11 per cent from woven-RMG sector and 31 per cent from knit wear-RMG in the first three quarters of FY06 over and above the very significant growth attained earlier in FY 05.

Undeniably the owners have a Herculean task at hand given the comparative disadvantage of lack of backward linkage compared to competitor countries compounded by governance failure (identified as the primary reason for the unrest by the Bangladesh EPZ Investors Association) contributing to increased production cost and inability to honour delivery schedule demanded by the buyers, electricity and diesel crisis, liquidity crisis in the banks, exchange rate volatility, poor management of Chittagong port etc. In addition the incredible apathy shown by the authorities to sit down at an early stage with the factory owners and labour leaders for a tripartite resolution of the grievances has not only led to the current unrest but also to Kansat and Demra episodes which took place not too long ago.

Perhaps we should wake up to the fact that an incipient class struggle has already started in Bangladesh against the elites' refusal to honour the social contract renewed with every election. Simple arithmetic would show that the have-nots overwhelmingly outnumber the halves and their legitimate demands cannot be clubbed down by Hitlerite "Brown Shirts" or by using law enforcers. In today's world power does not flow from the barrel of a gun because others with bigger guns may not tolerate clamping down the collective bargainers and trade unions nor the existence of appallingly low labour conditions and totally insufficient wage in these days of price spiral. What the country needs is an urgent solution to the besieged RMG sector and the industry sector in general through interest accommodation of all concerned and move the country towards greater growth and development.

Kazi Anwarul Masud is a former Secretary and Ambassador.