Editorial
Why labour unrest in RMG sector again?
Go by the agreement, stop vandalism
THE highly sensitive issue of maintaining productivity and avoiding labour unrest in the RMG sector is being mishandled. The workers of three RMG factories in Chittagong damaged at least 50 vehicles on Tuesday, while agitating for a pay hike which the owners had turned down.
While such incidents can only lower our image as an RMG exporting country and cost us market abroad, it is evident that the factors responsible for widespread labour unrest in 2006 are yet to be fully eliminated. The tripartite agreement among the government, factory owners and workers was supposed to lay the foundation for a just solution to the problems that the workers were facing. But the workers claim that many of the factories are yet to comply with the provisions incorporated in the agreement, including payment of the minimum wages. And if that is true, the owners are keeping a highly potent source of trouble alive. All the more so, because the price hike is putting unbearable pressure on the workers getting a meagre wage.
The owners have to realise the simple truth that the workers play the pivotal role in running the sector. And, as such, there is no way of ignoring their genuine grievances; for, it is both morally and legally untenable. The owners have to go by what they have agreed to and avoid labour discontent which has already caused great damage to the sector.
The representatives of the BGMEA and the garment factories, where the latest trouble erupted, managed to bring the situation under control after holding a meeting with the agitating workers. And it has been reported that there was an understanding in favour of accepting the workers' demands. The trouble shooting mechanism should have been activated well before things went out of control. But no such move was made until the workers turned violent. Why the same lapse over and over again?
However, the workers' decision to swoop on vehicles and pedestrians was highly reprehensible, which would only lessen the sympathy that people have for them. Obviously, flaws and irregularities in management cannot be countered by taking the wrath out on other people.
The RMG sector is too important to be left to callous and insensitive management or violence-prone workers. The government has to ensure strict compliance of the industry owners with the tripartite agreement and even seek an improvement in these days of economic hardship while the workers kept their sanity in tact.
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