Social compliance ‘no threat to RMG export’

Providing more wages and facilities to workers would not threaten growth in the export of ready-made garments from Bangladesh, a visiting German parliamentary team observed on Monday.

This view contradicts the position widely held by local garment manufacturers.

The two-member fact-finding mission from Germany, which came to Bangladesh on April 7, said that it was not acceptable that Bangladesh manufacturers spend only one percent of the the final purchase price of the garment on workers.

They said the consumers in Germany, which imports garments from Bangladesh worth about Euros 1.9 billion every year, were ready to pay more if Bangladesh manufacturers increased their wages and facilities to the workers.

Jurgen Klimke, an MP of the ruling Christain Democratic Union party and a member of the parliamentary standing committee on economic cooperation and development, noted that 25 sitting MPs in Bangladesh had interests in the ready-made garments business.

Niema Movassat, a German opposition MP, also a member of the parliamentary committee, said only five percent of the garment manufacturers in Bangladesh are socially compliant.

He said some German importers obtain garments from Bangladesh at cheap prices without taking any responsibility for the workers – but they would have to spend money on social compliance if they purchased these same products in Germany.

“It is possible to develop exports and maintain social compliance at the same time,” said the German legislator.

“It is not acceptable for companies to fail to maintain social compliance,” he said, adding that most of the ready-made garment units in Bangladesh leave their workers poorly-paid and are unpaid for their over-time.

Jurgen Klimke said the German authorities may introduce a system whereby garments that are produced in socially compliant factories are ‘tagged’.

“The tag could state that a certain portion of the price of the garment will be used for the social welfare of the garment workers who manufactured it” said Kilmke.

The German MPs met with the political leaders, ready-made garment manufacturers, workers, and other stake holders to assess the situation.

The German government will decide its agenda for development cooperation with Bangladesh in the next two years following a report from the fact finding team.

It is standard practice for the German government to send a parliamentary teams to a country before it finalises its development cooperation programme.

Germany provides development assistance worth Euros 55 million every year.

Klimke said the German government was very happy with the development projects implemented in Bangladesh during the last two years.