ITGLWF's Neil Kearney tells RMG sector to brace up
26 Dec '05
5 min read
“Such cheating has grown rapidly in the past year. Many factories are not paying wages on time. This week I saw one situation where the employer is a month behind on the payment of wages. And then the authorities and industry bosses express surprise when workers object. Witness the situation at Blossom Textiles in the Comilla EPZ."
“The surprising thing is that workers don't object much more often. Unfortunately, in too many factories management by terror is the order of the day. Threats, intimidation, suspensions and firings substitute for effective management by dialogue and discussion."
“In spite of the law freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively with their employer virtually doesn't exist in the garment sector. The government seems powerless to act. The Labour Ministry is totally under-resourced and largely ignored when it tries to intervene. The legal system is totally bogged down and takes years to resolve matters> Justice delayed like this is justice denied."
“It is incidents like this that really highlight the weakness of management at every level of the industry. Instead of looking at the real causes they look for scapegoats. At Textown and Sinha Textile Mills leaders of the industry, without a shred of evidence blamed international trade union organisations and NGOs for fermenting the riots that followed the beating of a woman worker by a security guard and following a serious road accident.“
“Too often, it appears that some garment factory managements would be incapable of running a roadside stall let alone a factory employing thousands of workers. No wonder there is such a need to rely on concessions in world markets rather than securing a place through real competitivity."
marketing@alchempro.com
