16
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Back Page
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Buyers worried, factory owners slow to respond H&M joins IndustriALL Global Union to support demands for increased wages
n Kayes Sohel Readymade garment factory owners have been slow to respond to workers’ demands for increasing minimum wage. Despite the risks of continued protests, given that global retailers are watching the industry to see how the situation is handled, the owners’ associations have not responded with due urgency as workers’ agitations have spread. In Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia and Narayanganj another volatile day passed with workers vandalising vehicles and factories, prompting owners to shut units and police to swing into action. On Monday night, industry leaders assured Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, one of the labour leaders negotiating between workers and factory owners, of an amicable solution. Workers want minimum wage to be raised to Tk8114, factory owners suggested Tk3600, which is 20% up from current wage of Tk3000, which was implemented after many delays three years ago. On Tuesday, an independent research institute proposed Tk6560 as starting salary, however, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) as well as the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) haven’t bothered to respond, even though the owners are aware of the potential loss to business if the volatile situation persists. A European retailer’s representative said if the chaotic conditions continue it would disrupt production of orders already placed. He said buyers are worried about supply disruptions. Australian brand Target was monitoring the situation closely. The company however imports products worth $150m from 35 factories locally, which is relatively moderate, compared to big US and European buyers.
“Buyers are very, very scared,” said Rubana Haq, managing director of Mohammadi Group, who supplies leading brands such as H&M, Zara, Esprit as well as Wal-Mart. She said: “The chaotic situation needs to be settled immediately to save the industry.” Haq thinks the situation might worsen next month in the run up to the general election. At a press briefing, the BGMEA’s acting president SM Mannan said: “A conspiracy has been started locally and internationally to destabilise the industry at a time when negotiations are ongoing to fix minimum wage for garment factory workers.” Labour leader Nazma Akter said the demand for minimum wage to be increased is only logical, when we consider the rising costs of living, because since 2010 wages have not been adjusted to take into account higher rents and prices of commodities. Akhtar said rising costs have “pushed workers to stand with their backs against the wall.” She said fears about higher production costs could be handled by factories if they demanded that buyers increase the rates charged for CM (cutting and making) so as to offset the cost of production. A representative of a Scandinavian brand said buying houses and factories lacked marketing capacity and ability to negotiate prices.” Europe’s second-biggest retailer H&M joined IndustriALL Global Union, which supports increased wages. According to a Bloomberg report, H&M’s spokesperson Andrea Roos said: “We strongly support the workers’ demand (for increased minimum wage).” A reputed brand’s local representative spoke for everyone when he said: “If the situation is aggravated from October when political movement leading to general elections begins, then it will risk Bangladesh’s image and the industry will be in dire straits.” l
Muhith calls hartal a terrorist act n Tribune Desk
Security check posts without female personnel allow suspects to go unchecked
Slamming Jamaat-Shibir men for carrying out frequent attacks on trains across the country in the name of hartal, Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said hartal is not a political language but a terrorist act. “Hartal is not a political language. It has turned into a terrorist act. Jamaat-Shibir set ablaze bogies and engines of trains in the name of hartal,” he said while addressing the function marking the introduction of the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (Demu) train service on Sylhet-Akhaura route at Sylhet Railway Station. The minister also urged all to resist the Jamaat-Shibir elements. Describing the steps the government has taken to develop the Railway sector, Muhith said the government has carried out Tk 18,310 crore development works in the sector. “If this trend continues, the railways will be the best communication system.” Railways Minister Mujibul Haque, among others, addressed the function presided over by Railways acting secretary Abul Kalam Azad. l
n Kailash Sarkar
With no female law enforcement members at Police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) check posts, many suspects go unscathed, mostly overlooked by male security personnel in order to avoid an embarrassing situation or a body-search. Police and Rab high-ups pointed out inadequate number of female security personnel as the main limitation in deploying them at check posts, while the country is also not used to seeing them at checkpoints. The 49 police stations under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) usually set up two check posts each everyday alongside another 20 Rab check posts in the capital. Both law enforcement agencies also set up a large number of check posts in the districts and on the highways, said sources. Sub-Inspector Lal Miah of the New Market police station, who was heading a check post in front of Dhaka College on September 22 night, said: “We never check any woman suspect due to ab-
German Ambassador Albrecht Conze visits the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar where Rana Plaza victims are being treated
‘Germany to support Rana Plaza victims’ n Tribune Report Germany will provide all-out support to the victims of Rana Plaza disaster, said German Ambassador Albrecht Conze yesterday. The ambassador said this while visiting victims who lost their limbs in Rana Plaza tragedy at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar. The German Red Cross (DRK) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are implementing a project at CRP compound for the victims. The DRK coordinated the physical rehabilitation project which is being implemented by the CRP with the technical support of the ICRC.
sence of female members in our team.” “We have to let the women suspects go unchecked so that no untoward incident takes place as well as keeping their rights in mind,” said Lal Miah. Many other law enforcers at different check posts in the city said they usually avoid the women passers-by. Mokhlesur Rahman, Director General of Rab, said: “Inadequate number of female members are the main reason we cannot deploy them at check posts always.” However, we are yet to receive any allegation against a male personnel for frisking women suspects, he said. “Check posts in the daytime often include female members. However, at night they are not deployed as check posts are strategically set up all of a sudden,” the Rab DG said. Meanwhile, the most-senior female member in cadre post in the Police Department, Fatima Begum, a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) at the Special Branch (SB), said: “Presence of female members of police at check posts is important, as criminals can be both male
Following their recovery, the victims will also receive work rehabilitation support through skill development training run by the CRP. Ambassador Conze said: “Cooperation between DRK, ICRC and CRP aiming at rehabilitation of those affected by the tragedy has been outstanding. Together, they are assisting the victims in restoring their dignity and reintegrating them into their personal and professional lives”. More than 200 seriously injured patients received treatment at the CRP. “Today I wanted to see with my own eyes how the patients are coping with their disabilities and encourage them to make new plans after their survival of the Rana
and female.” DIG Fatima appreciated the Dhaka Tribune for bringing up the issue with her and said: “Female members at check posts will be better for both law enforcers and women. I would discuss it with my seniors.” Sultana Kamal, executive director at Ain O Shalish Kendra said: “It is desirable to include female police when there is a question of body-searching women suspects.” “Law enforcement agencies should try to deploy female members for avoiding uncomfortable situation for the women,” said Sultana Kamal, who is also the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) and an adviser to a former caretaker government. Meanwhile, a young women seeking anonymity, explained her own experience at a police check post and said how she had felt embarrassed. She said: “My boyfriend and I were stopped at a check post in front of the Novo Theatre in capital’s Bijoy Smarani area this month. It was around 9pm
Plaza disaster,” he said. In order to improve the future life of those who suffered long-term injuries, the German government has earmarked an additional amount of 2.5m Euros within an ongoing project in the field of social and environmental standards in the industry implemented by the German Development Cooperation Agency GIZ. In his speech he gave importance on occupational therapy of the victims of Rana Plaza victims and then sending them to work according to the victims’ ability as if they can depend on themselves. He assures to help the victims of Rana Plaza in future in cooperation with Bangladesh Red Crescent society, German Red
and we were in an auto-rickshaw. The law enforcers checked the vehicle, my handbag as well as my friends’. Surprisingly, one of them took an attempt to frisk me, but finally he did not as other members stopped him.” AKM Shahidul Hoque, Additional Inspector General (Addl-IGP-Admin), said: “Female members are not deployed always, mainly at night, as it is not yet familiar in the country while security of the female members should also be considered.” He, however, denied that the female members were not fit for the job. The police department started recruiting female members back in 1974, when the number was only 12. At present the number is 6180 and on May 16, 2010, Bangladesh sent its first all-female police contingent of 160 women personnel on a United Nation’s peacekeeping mission to Haiti. So far, several thousand female members of the police have performed in UN the Peace Keeping Missions and there are several separate battalions and units of female police in the country. l
Aduri gets a new dress, support from police, rights bodies n Mohammad Jamil Khan
An 11-year-old girl, who was rescued by police two days ago from a dustbin in the capital, is now getting support from law enforcers, human rights groups and the public as she recovers from her ordeal at a government hospital. She even got a new dress from some strangers, who came to see her after reading her story in this newspaper, but left without giving their names. The torture wounds all over Aduri’s body are also healing with the care of doctors at the Dhaka Medical college Hospital. She has started to talk clearly, and remember the painful things that happened to her in the past two months at the hands of the owner of the house, where her mother had sent
her to work for food. Lying on her hospital bed yesterday, the girl said she
AMIRUL RAJIV
used to wash dishes and do the cleaning and dusting at the house.
One day, out of a child’s curiosity, she tried on a pair of earrings belonging to her employer, and was caught. And the torture began. She said the woman, whom she called “khalamma” (aunt), cut her skin with razor blades and singed her with a heated iron. The woman’s two grownup daughters also beat her sometimes. Meanwhile, a team from the Victim Support Centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police visited Aduri at the hospital’s neurosurgery department yesterday. Sub-inspector Rehana Akhter from the centre said they came to see the victim to make sure she was receiving proper treatment. Several legal aid and human rights bodies have also come forward to offer support to the child. After visiting Aduri, Mahmuda Kha-
tun Maya of Ain o Salish Kendra said the organisation wanted to take responsibility for the girl’s future and ensure she gets back to her parents. Moreover, police investigators were trying to trace the culprits who tortured her, an officer at Cantonment police station said. Aduri cannot recall her employer’s name or the area where she worked. She could only say her father’s name was Khaleq Mridha and her mother Shafia Begum. Abdul Mannan, an assistant sub-inspector of Cantonment police, found Aduri in a dustbin as he was patrolling the Gulshan-Baridhara area on Monday. Mannan said the girl’s employer might have dumped her in the garbage after torture, thinking she was dead. l
cross and ICRC. The ambassador then visited different projects of rehabilitation running at CRP compound which includes vocational training of 60 injured victims of Rana Plaza. He listened to the experience of a victim Rehana of Rana Plaza disaster who recently got an artificial limb and the ambassador also enjoyed the wheelchair basketball playing of the rehabilitated patients of CRP. Among others, ambassador’s wife Veronique Conze Rico Wallenta, representatives from German Red Cross, Shafiq-ul-Islam, Executive Director of CRP, Professor M S Akbar M.P, chairman of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society presented in the rehabilitation programme at CRP compound. l
12 Bangladeshi workers still languishing in Egyptian prisons n Rabiul Islam Twelve of the 17 undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were recently detained by the Egyptian authorities, are still languishing in jail there. The news of their detention came through an email from Second Secretary Rafiqul Islam of the Bangladesh labour wing in Egypt.
Some 17 undocumented Bangladeshi workers returned home after languishing in an Egyptian jail for several months Five of the workers – Md Nobil, Billal Patwary, Md Alam and Kalu Mal from Chandpur, and Md Shafiq from Rangpur – returned home on September 23. Officials of the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, which deals with the problems of migrants, however, are not aware of their return. “I did not know the updates,” a director of the board told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, seeking anonymity. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Nobil said: “I along with four others have returned home after languishing in jail for three months…My mother paid Tk50,000 for my return.” Those who are still in jail are Al Mamun, Ershad, Shahin, Shilpi Akter, Faruq, Abdul Hannan, Mohammad Nazim Uddin, Oman Faruk, Nurul Islam Arif, Simul, Hanifa and Hafizur Rahman Sarder. Shilpi Akter was detained for overstay while Faruq and Hannan were detained for having no visa and passport. The others were detained while illegally crossing the Egyptian border to enter Libya. Atiqul Islam, GM of MGH Group, said: “We are trying to bring back the 12 other detained workers.” On August 5, some 17 undocumented Bangladeshi workers returned home after languishing in an Egyptian jail for several months. l
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed at Romask Limited, 184, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1215. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com