Wages for garment workers

The BGMEA leaders have let the government and the country know that those units, which fail to uphold the agreement by June 30 will have to close down their businesses. That is indeed a strong warning and a necessary one. Beyond such a warning, though, comes the question of what action the authorities plan against such defaulting units. Adviser Anwarul Iqbal has answered the question, through suggesting that if garment factory owners fail to provide minimum wages to their workers or do not live up to the provisions of the deal, the government itself will as a plaintiff take these owners to court. That is again a strong statement of intent and garment factory owners would do well to heed it. Now, the ninety units, which have fallen behind in keeping to, the terms of the deal might try to wriggle out of it though somehow. It is a possibility both the government and the BGMEA must be on guard against. No one can afford to forget the recent incidents involving non-payment of arrears and implementation of other rights involving workers at a number of garment factories. Those incidents all had the makings of broader civil unrest and might have indeed moved in that direction had timely steps not been taken to contain the crisis. It is against this background that garment owners need to do their necessary bit in ensuring that a recurrence of unrest at their units does not happen. A surefire way for them to do that is to keep their side of the bargain by June 30.

Bangladesh's garments industry has been playing a pivotal role in the national economy. That simplest of considerations should alert everyone to the dangers that might lie ahead if the tripartite deal between the workers, management and government begins to develop cracks.

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