The government has decided to introduce an Alternative Dispute Resolution Council (ADRC) for the country’s readymade garments sector to deal with labour complains as well as to comply with the conditions in regaining the suspended generalised system of preferences (GSP) in the US market.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed made the disclosure yesterday, after a meeting with US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena at his secretariat office in the city.
“We have decided to form an Alternative Dispute Resolution Council (ADRC) in the RMG sector to resolve the complaints relating to labour abuse or harassment,” he said categorically, pointing out a condition set by the US administration to get back the GSP facilities.
“As there has been no unique authority to deal with the complaints, they have to run from door to door just to lodge their complaints.”
He said the workers will be free to lodge their complaints after establishing the ADRC, which will hear both the complainants and the accused. “Though it will not act as a court, the council will resolve the disputes after hearing both parties. It will help reduce the crisis in the garments sector and the RMG workers would get proper justice.”
The minister, however, said the decision has just been taken as the name and formation process of the council has not been finalized yet. It is expected to take a shape after the minister’s returning home scheduled on April 11 from a visit to Geneva and UAE.
Tofail and Senior Secretary of Commerce Mahbub Ahmed are expected to attend a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and also to attend a meeting as a panel discussant in Geneva.
Later, they will go to UAE for joining a regional ministerial meeting of the commerce ministers from April 7 to 10.
Regarding the appointment of Class-I and Class-II officials for Department of Factories and Establishment, Tofail said: “We’ve already appointed 25 factory inspectors and rest of the recruitments are still under process.”
He said the government is also trying to publish a gazette notification for Class-II non-cadre recruitment rules, which would be finalised within a month. The recruiting process for appointing 222 Class-II officers will be accomplished immediately after the gazette is published.
Lauding the initiatives taken by the government so far, the US AmbassadorDan Mozena said Bangladesh has made progress in the fields of factory inspection, preventing labour abuse, reforming labour act and implementing the laws for the EPZs areas.
“We’ve discussed about the transformation being happened in Bangladesh’s readymade garments sector. This sector has been transformed itself and come to an international standard in terms of fire safety, factory structural soundness, workers’ safety and also workers’ rights for freely forming associations and organisations,” said the US envoy.
He said they held talks about the progress Bangladesh is making in line with the roadmap that is laid out in the GSP action plan and also sustainability conducts. “We are keenly observing the progress”, he said, giving an example that some factory inspectors have already been hired and more are being hired. “These are very positive steps.”
He informed that the both sides had also discussed about the upcoming Ticfa meeting scheduled to be held in Dhaka on April 28. Issues to be discussed at the high-level meeting would include increasing investment and trade between the two countries, he added.
