Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday tossed the idea of a “crisis fund” to be formed by the garment factory owners; but activists said strengthened monitoring from the government alone could do wonders.
At a press briefing yesterday at the BGMEA building in the capital, the minister urged the association of readymade garment manufacturers and exporters to form the fund to be utilised at times of crisis such as that of the Tuba Group.
The briefing was organised on the last day of disbursing due wages to the agitating workers of Tuba Group.
However, economist and rights activists Anu Muhammad, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Forming such a fund is not a problem at all for BGMEA. But, it is really difficult to speculate its success or failure right now. Instead, if the government strengthened monitoring to make sure that owners gave wages at the right time, the situation could drastically improve. BGMEA should also take more care of the sector.”
He also said: “I do not know how useful the fund will be. The victims of the Rana Plaza disaster have not got their compensations as yet.”
Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garments Workers-Employees League, said: “They [BGMEA] can form a fund for crisis situations, especially for giving compensations. Since the RMG sector is export oriented and involves multinational dealings, such a fund can provide security to the workers and ensure a healthy relationship with the owners.”
Syed Sadek Ahmed, managing director of Space Sweater Ltd, said: “Such a fund could be created for times of disasters like fire or collapse. But I am not sure how useful a fund could be for paying dues. We will need a really big fund. There are factories that pay Tk4-5 crore in wages every month. If 10 factories fall into crisis together, then we will need a lot of money.”
On July 28, at least 1,200 workers of five Tuba Group factories went on a hunger strike at the Hossain Market in the capital’s Badda area demanding payment of three months’ wages, overtime and festival bonuses together before Eid.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), managed a temporary fund for paying the due wages for May and June to a total of 1,475 workers of the group, after being pressured by the government in the wake of the hunger strike.
According to BGMEA, until 9pm yesterday, Tuba Group management disbursed wages for July and overtime bills for May and June to a total of 1,383 workers. Many workers also collected their attendance incentives.
BGMEA claimed that Tuba Group Managing Director Delowar Hossain, also the owner of Tazreen Fashion where a factory fire in 2012 killed more than a hundred, managed the wages for July by selling factory machinery and private lands.
Delowar, who was arrested last year in connection with the Tazreen fire, was released on bail last week. Tuba management said they could not pay the workers because the banks would not give them the fund as their owner was in jail.
During yesterday’s briefing, a journalist asked the minister about whether Delowar would be able to run the factory in the future.
In reply, Tofail said: “The owner of Tuba will try to keep the factories operational. If he fails and has to shut them down, then he will clear all the dues of the workers as per the law.”
Yesterday, the BGMEA leaders informed the minister that Delowar had a Tk18 crore insurance claim in connection with the Tazreen fire.
The minister said he did not know that before and assured that steps would be taken in this regard.
During the briefing, the minister came down hard on some left political organisations that had expressed solidarity with the fasting workers.
He said: “In order to elongate the crisis and to keep the workers from getting their wages, some progressive political parties tried very hard. But they have failed. They tried to work in favour of some of our competitors in the global market. But they failed.”
BGMEA President Atiqul Islam, who also spoke at the briefing, said: “The owner will decide whether he will run the factories or not. He sold machinery and land to pay the workers. So, how the factories will now run is a matter of consideration. The insurance company is not paying Delowar’s legal claim. Moreover, the banks have not stood by him at a time of crisis.”
He also thanked the prime minister, the ministers and the local lawmakers for their role during the recent crisis.