Author: Omar Bin Harun Khan
EVOLUTION OF WORKING CONDITIONS IN BANGLADESH: BEFORE AND AFTER RANA PLAZA COLLAPSE
EVOLUTION OF WORKING CONDITIONS IN BANGLADESH: BEFORE AND AFTER RANA PLAZA COLLAPSE
By
Md. Omar Bin Harun Khan, Barrister-at-Law
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Paper prepared for the 34th International Labour Process Conference Berlin @ WZB
ABSTRACT
“Political Economy regards the proletarian ... like a horse, he must receive enough to enable him to work. It does not consider him, during the time when he is not working, as a human being. It leaves this to criminal law, doctors, religion, statistical tables, politics, and the beadle.” - Marx, Wages of Labour (1844).
The blazing glory of Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector being globally recognized as the world’s second largest exporter of clothing brought with it an amalgamation of positive and negative traits for the country. While the RMG sector has made accelerated contribution in the eradication of unemployment by employing almost 4.2 million workers, majority of whom are women, widespread concern still remains as to whether such propitious traits outweigh the rampant substandard and outright shabby employment conditions that stakeholders resort to, in order to sustain ‘cheap labour’ of Bangladesh that attracts worldwide investments.
This paper focuses on the evolution of working conditions in Bangladesh ensuing the infamous Rana Plaza tragedy which is globally recognized as the deadliest garment-factory accident in history and also the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. The eerie outcry for better employment conditions, in every aspect possible, ranging from remuneration, working hours, hygiene, to more radical issues like child labour, building safety conditions, trade-union formation, has been ever present even before tragedies like Tazreen Fashion fire accident. However, this meek outcry for improved rights spiraled into something akin to Karl Marx’s ‘social revolution’ when on 24th April, 2013 the eight-storey commercial building, Rana Plaza, collapsed, causing the death of approximately 1,129 Bangladeshis, and injured almost 2,515 others, most of whom were factory workers. Workers broke into riots two-days following the tragedy, and a plethora of international organization like the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) immediately stepped in to advocate for the urgent need for improvement in working conditions in Bangladesh.
This paper draws stark juxtaposition between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of employment conditions marked by the awakening caused by the Rana Plaza tragedy. Undertaking widespread interviews of representatives from donor organizations and countries, buying houses, suppliers, foreign buyers, regulatory authorities, workers, trade union members and several other components of the supply-chain reveals a prevailing viewpoint that the collapse had served as a somber embodiment of the urgent need for reform in employment conditions.
Focus of the paper remains on the socio-economic impacts of projects like Better Work Bangladesh (BWB) by the ILO, Accord and Alliance, the National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA), and the initiatives taken by international brands like H & M, Zara, Mango etc, in ensuring that safer working conditions are upheld and maintained in all affiliated factories.
Two years into the Rana Plaza tragedy, widely held opinion from various stakeholders result in conclusive statements that while the tragic immediate consequences of the collapse are undeniable, it has ironically laid foundation for the imposition of stricter inspection and regulatory requirements for better ensuring employment conditions in factories.