Inferno in garment factories
Buyers' role
Moinul Chowdhury, Gulshan, Dhaka
Our hearts go out to the bereaved family members of those who lost their lives in the tragic fire incident in a Kalurghat garments factory. This was not the first though, this may not be the last! For sure there will be investigations and for sure life will be as usual before the departed souls are laid to rest, and the unfortunate wounded will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives. Whilst all roads of the investigation will lead towards the negligence and failure of the factory owners (rightly so!), I would like throw light on one other area that is arguably a strong catalyst in the bigger scheme of the 'negligence' that caused so many lives to come to such a tragic end. My humble request to the BGMEA not to cry foul on what is forthcoming in the name of losing buyers! Buyers will keep coming to Bangladesh so long as it is profitable. I would request the head offices of all the international buyers to initiate an immediate internal inquiry on the code of conduct and ethical standards of their employees who are responsible for sourcing from Bangladesh. This should cover all staffs that operate from their overseas-based offices and regularly travel to Bangladesh, and the staffs of their respective liaison offices in Bangladesh. Because, in most cases these staffs are allegedly directly involved in running a cohort with the owners of non/sub-standard factories who compromise on the overall work environment but get away by paying underhand commissions. These non/sub-standard factories even manage to secure orders in excess of their own capacity and then subcotract the surplus quantity to other factories. But, if these subcontracting factories go directly to the buyers then these corrupt staffs at the buying end become an obstacle, citing all kinds of policies and putting lame excuses, just to refuse. It is almost impossible for the new factories with better work environment to get a breakthrough with the buyers without yielding to the corrupt regimes. In this process, it is no wonder that among other things all-important issues like safe work place will be resting on the backburner to suit the offenders and corroborators alike! And who are the victims: the poor workers and the image of Bangladesh! I think international buyers sourcing RMG from Bangladesh should come forward to play their role meaningfully in this respect. In the final analysis, poor Bangladesh will have to take the full brunt of it, but that should not allow you (buyers) to shrug off your responsibility.
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