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Bangladesh: Important facts and figures about Bangladesh and its textile sector

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. Around 30 million people live below the poverty line. This corresponds to around 18 per cent of the total population. At the same time, Bangladesh is the world's largest textile and clothing producer after China. The European Union and the USA are among the main buyers of the textiles produced there.

More than 84 per cent of Bangladesh's export earnings are generated in the textile sector. Around 4.5 million people, 54 percent of whom are women, earn their living in this sector. The low labour costs have led to an enormous expansion of the textile sector in recent years: Bangladeshi workers are by far the worst paid in the world.

Despite the severe impact of COVID-19, which led to labour shortages and logistical difficulties, the industry continued to record a 12.55 percent increase in exports of ready-made garments (RMG) in 2020-21, showing a strong recovery in demand from key markets in Europe and North America.

Women in Garment Industry: Floor Wage and Overtime

Female workers in the textile sector are predominantly employed in subordinate, low-paid positions. Most of them are young women from rural areas who are forced to move to the cities to earn money due to a poor education and lack of jobs in rural areas. They are often the sole breadwinners for their children and husbands, who are often out of work. Every month, female workers earn around 25 per cent less than their male colleagues. For a regular working month (excluding overtime), the average salary was 9,984 taka (9,669 taka for women and 10,928 taka for men), which is equivalent to around 79.39 euros. Trade unions demanded an increase in the monthly minimum wage for garment workers to 23,000 taka (182.92 euros) in 2023^[vii] (of which 65 per cent must be the basic salary). However, the statutory minimum wage was only increased to 12,500 taka (106 euros). This figure is far below the subsistence level.^[viii] As a result, most women work up to an additional 52 hours a month (legally permitted by the government), excluding public holidays. A survey conducted by Garments Workers Diaries (GWD) in 2022, in which 1300 workers in Chittagong, Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gajipur were interviewed, found that 50 per cent of women worked overtime in the period January to March 2022. Over two-thirds of workers (69 per cent, men and women) said they had no choice whether to work overtime or not. About half of those who said they have no choice face a penalty if they do not work overtime when asked.^[ix] In addition to exploitative labour conditions and high levels of physical stress, female workers often face gender-based violence and harassment. In RMG factories, sexual violence or harassment in the workplace is widespread; in Bangladesh, 80 per cent of female garment workers have either experienced or observed such behaviour in the workplace.^[x]

Textil workers at home, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2019 © Sina Marx | FEMNET

Suppression of Unions

In the largest garment-producing countries in Asia, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are threatened. Most of the trade unions were formed after the Tazreen and Rana Plaza tragedies due to immense pressure on the government. These were often people selected by factory management instead of legitimate representatives of the workers. The association of workers in the form of trade unions remains still very rare in Bangladesh. According to a study by the Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS), 83 per cent of the country’s factories do not have unions, while the remaining 17 per cent are presumed to either no longer exist or be non-functional. In Bangladesh, the establishment and official recognition of trade unions is proving very difficult. According to BILS, 61 per cent of factory owners confirmed that unions can only be formed with permission. Only eight percent of the workers surveyed said they were involved in a union. The main reasons for this were threats, potential punishment, fear of harassment, and possible retaliation by the police or so-called “local goons”. Time and again, people are killed in clashes between the police and striking textile workers, and activists are tortured or kidnapped.

In Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre interviewed 24 trade union leaders and surveyed 124 trade union activists and labour rights defenders. Almost two-thirds of the respondents indicated that the situation for freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining had "deteriorated," leading to increased exploitation of workers. ^[xi]

Instead of trade unions, committees are often more prevalent in Bangladesh. Participation committees are common in factories across the country, present in 82 per cent of them. However, according to BILS, more than half of the workers consider these committees ineffective.

Tragedy in Garment Factories: Rana Plaza Collapse and Fire at Tazreen Factory

On 24 April 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed five garment factories, led to the deaths of at least 1,132 people. More than 2,500 people were injured in the collapse. This accident is by far the most serious in the history of the Bangladeshi garment industry. In response to the collapse, the International Labour Organization (ILO) demanded compensation of 30 million US dollars for the victims and their families. In 2014, those affected received the first instalment of compensation, which was paid out in full over the following years.

Just five months before the Rana Plaza collapse, at least 112 workers had lost their lives in another tragic accident when they were trapped in the burning Tazreen Fashions factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. Tazreen produced for the German discounters KiK, Lidl, C&A and Sean John's Enyce brand. In addition, at least 14 international customers had current or recently placed orders at the time. Some of these customers had already discovered massive safety deficiencies in labour and production conditions, yet they continued to place orders.

Following the increased pressure on the government and brands, some positive developments have been observed in recent years:  The ACCORD on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was signed by upto 200 mainly European companies. This agreement is a comprehensive and independent agreement that aims to make all garment factories in Bangladesh a safe workplace. The agreement operates independently and neutrally and has gained a good reputation and credibility abroad and among workers. Thanks to the agreement, 2,000 factories will be inspected for their safety standards in future. The results will be uploaded to a publicly accessible website. In 2021, the signatories of the ACCORD reached a new phase of their partnership and drafted the International Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Clothing Industry. This legally binding agreement facilitates the implementation of the Accord’s Country-Specific Safety Programs, currently in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and lays the groundwork for potential future programs in other garment- producing countries.

In addition, following the Tazreen incident in 2014, an agreement was signed to make payments specifically to cover loss of income and medical treatment. This agreement was signed by IndustriALL Global Union, the Clean Clothes Campaign, C&A and the C&A Foundation, among others. It led to the establishment of the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust in September 2015 and took over three years to secure compensation for the affected families.

Lack of enforcement of the law

The legal situation in Bangladesh is not even bad: the Bangladeshi legal system contains a large number of protective measures. The country has ratified seven of the eleven ILO core labour standards (in 2022, the ILO added the two ILO conventions 155 and 187 on occupational health to the previous nine core labour standards, which are binding for all ILO member states that Bangladesh has not yet ratified), as well as the three most important international human rights conventions with labour law implications. Since the enactment of the national labour law in 2006, employee protection has improved slightly.  For example, the labour law fully covers the areas of harassment and discrimination, child labour, trade union membership, leave regulations and safety in the workplace. At the same time, it still contains weaknesses with regard to minimum age and low wages. The problem lies above all in the lack of enforcement of the law by the authorities and the lack of effective legal protection for those affected. A lack of controls, weak rule of law structures, understaffed and underfunded courts, corruption and nepotism are widespread.

 

Sources:

^[i] https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/bangladesh-population/

^[ii]https://asianews.network/bangladeshs-garment-exports-earned-a-record-47-38-billion-in-2023/

^[iii] https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/bangladesh-textile-manufacturing-industry-study-market

^[iv] https://asiagarmenthub.net/Members/32743b13312543c4afaaab9cb0ef22c7/2023-03-giz-eti-bracu-study-on-the-decline-of-women-workers-in-the-textile-industry-in-bangladesh_final.pdf/view ; https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-dhaka/documents/publication/wcms_754669.pdf

^[v] https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/minimum-wages

^[vi] https://asia.floorwage.org/living-wage/calculating-a-living-wage/

^[vii] https://www.ecotextile.com/2023030330437/social-compliance-csr-news/bangladesh-to-review-garment-worker-pay.html

^[viii] https://asia.floorwage.org/living-wage/calculating-a-living-wage/

^[ix] https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/media-centre/crackdown-on-trade-unions-leads-to-increased-worker-exploitation-in-asias-garment-sector/

^[x] https://actionaid.org/news/2019/80-garment-workers-bangladesh-have-experienced-or-witnessed-sexual-violence-and and https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/publications/ActionAid%20briefing%20paper%20on%20Bangladesh%20garment%20workers%20FINAL.pdf

^[xi] https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/media-centre/crackdown-on-trade-unions-leads-to-increased-worker-exploitation-in-asias-garment-sector/