Working Paper No. 38 September 2015 Safety and labour conditions: the accord and the national tripartite plan of action for the garment industry of Bangladesh Global Labour University c/o Bureau for Workers’ Activities International Labour Office Mohd Raisul Islam Khan Route des Morillons 4 Christa Wichterich CH- 1211 Geneva 22 Switzerland www.global-labour-university.org [email protected] GLOBAL LABOUR ISSN 1866-0541 UNIVERSITY The Global Labour University (GLU) www.global-labour-university.org is an international network of universities, trade unions, research institutes, think tanks and the International Labour Organisation that develops and implements university post graduate programmes on labour and globalization for trade unionists and other labour experts; undertakes joint research and organizes international discussion fora on global labour issues; publishes textbooks, research and discussion papers on labour and globalization issues. Editorial Board Sharit K. Bhowmik (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India) Hansjörg Herr (Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany) Frank Hoffer (International Labour Organisation) Helen Schwenken (University of Osnabrück, Germany) Lotta Takala-Greenish (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) Contact Address Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin IMB - Prof. Hansjörg Herr Badensche Str. 52 D-10825 Berlin E-mail: [email protected] http://www.global-labour-university.org Layout: Harald Kröck SAFETY AND LABOUR CONDITIONS: THE ACCORD AND THE NATIONAL TRIPARTITE PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE GARMENT INDUSTRY OF BANGLADESH Mohd Raisul Islam Khan Christa Wichterich GLU | Safety and Labour Conditions: Implementation of the Accord and the NTPA Copyright © International Labour Organization 2015 First published 2015 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data Khan, Mohd Raisul Islam; Wichterich, Christa Safety and labour conditions : the accord and the national tripartite plan of action for the garment industry of Bangladesh / Mohd Raisul Islam Khan, Christa Wichterich ; International Labour Office (ILO) ; Global Labour University (GLU). - Geneva: ILO, 2015 59 p. (Global Labour University working paper ; No. 38, ISSN: 1866-0541 ; 2194-7465 (web pdf)) Global Labour University occupational safety / plan of action / clothing industry / Bangladesh 13.04.2 The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. 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Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: [email protected] Visit our web site: www.ilo.org/publns Printed in Switzerland II GLU | Safety and Labour Conditions: Implementation of the Accord and the NTPA ABSTRACT The factory fire at Tazreen Fashions in 2012 and the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013 generated a huge outcry about the working conditions and labour relations in the Readymade Garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh, and led to the adoption of the multi-stakeholder agreements Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Accord) at the international level and the National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) at the domestic level. This paper investigates how the Accord and the NTPA have been implemented in the first two years after their adoption, whether they have contributed to an overall improvement in safety and labour conditions as well as to organizing in the RMG sector, and whether they can be considered as a “major breakthrough” and “game changer”. The empirical research highlights the scope and limitations of the coverage of the two agreements. The findings indicate that after an initially good take-off, the activities lost pace and intensity and the remediation came almost to a standstill. The main assumption of the analysis of the Accord and NTPA implementation is that this process, its pace, results and constraints are consequences of the underlying power structures of the transnational apparel chains and the actual imbalance of power among the stakeholders. III GLU | Safety and Labour Conditions: Implementation of the Accord and the NTPA TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................ VI 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 2. THE READYMADE GARMENT INDUSTRY IN BANGLADESH ................. 2 2.1. Growth through a Race to the Bottom ...................................................... 3 2.2. Contested Area, Conflicting Interests ........................................................ 6 2.2.1. Organized labour .............................................................................................. 9 2.3. Systemic Risks, Tragic Accidents ............................................................... 10 2.4. The Leverage of the Disaster ...................................................................... 11 3. MAJOR INSTRUMENTS AND AGREEMENTS TO IMPROVE ..................... SAFETY AND LABOUR STANDARDS ......................................................... 12 3.1. International Agreements ........................................................................... 13 3.1.1. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (Accord) .. 13 3.1.1.1. Assessments of the Accord ..................................................................... 17 3.1.2. EU Sustainability Compact .......................................................................... 17 3.1.3. Alliance for Bangladesh Workers’ Safety (Alliance) ............................ 19 3.2. Initiatives by the Government of Bangladesh ...................................... 20 3.2.1. The National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) ...................................... 20 3.2.2. Garment Industry Village............................................................................. 22 3.2.3. Factory Inspection Teams ........................................................................... 22 3.2.4. Amendment of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 .............................. 22 3.2.5. Minimum Wage Board ................................................................................. 23 4. IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT OF THE ACCORD ................................ AND THE NTPA ................................................................................................. 23 4.1. Implementation of the Accord .................................................................. 23 4.2. Implementation of the NTPA ..................................................................... 26 4.3. Impact on Working Conditions ................................................................. 30 4.3.1. The Gendered RMG Regime ....................................................................... 32 4.3.2. Occupational Safety and Health ............................................................... 33 4.3.3. Trade Unionisation, Organizing and Collective Bargaining ............ 34 4.3.4. All in All, Not Much Change ........................................................................ 36 5. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................. 37 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 43 IV GLU | Safety and Labour Conditions: Implementation of the Accord and the NTPA LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Minimum Wage in Top 10 Apparel-Exporting Countries 4 Table 2: Male-Female Wage Ratio in Bangladesh (1996-2006) 5 Table 3: Three Tiers of Factories in the RMG Industries of Bangladesh (2015) 8 Table 4: Technical Progress on the EU Sustainability Compact 18 Table 5: The National Tripartite Plan of Action 20 Table 6: Key Findings from the