Since the collapse of Rana Plaza that killed over 1100 garment workers, news reports, opinion pieces, analyses, recommendations and implacable public sentiment at home and abroad keep pressure on the government and the industry to act. For its part, the government has set up a 10 member cabinet committee under its Labour Ministry which has announced a minimum wage board and has started discussions with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the International Labour Organisation to deploy 200 inspectors to review at-risk factories, of which some are currently closed. The Cabinet also passed a new Labor Law to make unionisation easier in the RMG sector.
The BGMEA’s actions in the past and in the wake of Rana Plaza were extremely defensive and self-serving. However, perhaps as a response to intense pressure to do something, a set of recommendations from a group of eminent RMG owners has come out. Titled Emerging from the Rana Plaza Tragedy: A 10 Point Reform Roadmap for a Sustainable Bangladesh RMG Sector [1], (Download here: RMG Sector 10 Point Plan) the report outlines a 10 point reform agenda/roadmap that the group believes should be implemented.
