RMG and frozen food exporters under threat

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=5816

Muhammad Zamir

The late Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties saw the gradual emergence of the Ready Made Garment Industry in Bangladesh. To this was added frozen food export, particularly prawns, in the second half of the Nineties. Over the years these two commodities have grown in terms of potential and contributed not only to the economy in terms of hard cash (foreign exchange) but also in the creation of employment. Today, nearly two and half million workers are associated with these two industries. They have also helped to reduce poverty and remove gender discrimination throughout the country. I mention this because more than 83 percent of those associated with these two areas are women.

Indirectly, the bringing of women into mainstream of workforce has also helped to enhance calorie intake within their families, strengthened their decision making capacity, assisted in the education of girl children and in family planning. Contrary to assertions made by Dr H Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, Bangladesh, thanks to entrepreneurs in these two sectors, did not end up as a 'bottomless basket case.' These two areas of economic activity have also helped to attract foreign investors into our specially established Export Processing Zones. It has also stimulated economic growth in other areas like banking, transport and insurance. All this is reflected in the gradual and steady rise and diversification in the listings in our Stock Market.

It is the resilience and innovation of those associated with these sectors of industrial activity that permitted Bangladesh to weather the storm that blew across the trading landscape during the post-MFA era. It was not easy, but sheer hard work and patience that paid dividends.

All of these gains are, however, now under threat. It is a serious crisis that might affect and dismantle the various economic positives that we have been able to achieve over the last thirty years. Recovering, as we are, from two disastrous floods within the space of two and half months, millions are now confronted with a slow downturn of economic activity and consequential possibilities of higher unemployment.

This depressing prospect has dawned because of recent actions taken by the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). They have filed a petition in the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) alleging that Bangladesh ready-made garments (RMG) units and shrimp and frozen foods producing factories, both within and outside the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have been violating both domestically and internationally recognised standards related to workers' rights, particularly those set by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The petition has sought from the USTR an Order that the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility that Bangladesh exporters have so far enjoyed in the US market be withdrawn.

It would be worthwhile to note here that this particular American NGO has a large influence on the US Democratic Party that today dominates the US Congress. What is even more worrying is that the Annual GSP Review for 2007 has already accepted the petition lodged by the AFL-CIO and that the USTR has arranged a public hearing with regard to the allegations of workers' rights violations. This hearing is expected to take place towards the beginning of October. This is as serious as it gets.

FULL story at link.