Monday's unrest originating from a knitwear factory at Ashulia spread to other garment units ending up in a widespread violence and damage to machinery in five factories, vehicles on the road and clashes with the police. The labour-violence of that day reportedly had to do with alleged excesses
committed by administrative officials of the knitwear unit concerned. Spontaneously, the unrest spread among workers from other factories engulfing the entire area into a veritable battlefield.
Whenever such labour-unrest with attendant violence takes place, the factory owners, trade bodies and the government invariably point fingers at some unseen quarters for the situation. The workers, on the other hand, blame the factory management for such violence. Their complaints include refusal on the part of the management to listen to their demands for pay raise, non-payment of bonuses and other benefits before religious festivals, highhandedness of factory officials and use of hired goons to suppress them. But neither side has the patience to listen to the other side's point of view, and the problems in this vital sector continue to fester.
Foreign buyers at a recent meeting in Dhaka, as well as a hearing of the US Congress, expressed serious concerns about the unrests and violence in the RMG industry. The State Department officials made special mention of the absence of labourers' right, especially their right of
association. The government's failure to tack down and try the killers of labour leader Aminul Islam, who disappeared on April 4 this year and other incidents of rights violation featured prominently in the Congress hearing with cautionary notes about what implications these developments might have on Bangladesh's exports.
The government can ill-afford to ignore these warnings from its potential export destinations. It should mount credible investigations to find the real cause of the labour unrest in this sector and address the problems at their source rather than look for enemies elsewhere.
The government should also impress upon the
garment owners to allow labour unions to grow in the industry as the universally accepted medium for negotiations between the owners and labour to resolve the crises in the garment sector.
The talks between the foreign secretaries of Bangladesh and India in Delhi hold out the hope for some good results to emerge soon on outstanding issues between the two countries.
It may be mentioned that the talks were held as a follow up to the Joint Consultative Commission meeting held in New Delhi in May this year and the two summit meetings in 2009 and 2011 in New Delhi and Dhaka respectively. In Bangladesh we look upon such meetings as stocktaking of what have been implemented as far as the two joint declarations are concerned.
Bangladesh is still waiting for progress in the two important issues, the land boundary agreement and the Teesta water sharing. Implementation of the USD one billion loan has stared very recently. To a very large extent, indeed almost totally, the onus is now upon the Indian government to move, and move quickly, towards an implementation of the agreements that have been reached.
As the Bangladesh foreign secretary has correctly pointed out, it is not in anyone's interest to make a commitment and not deliver on it. Obviously, the Indian government is hamstrung by the reluctance of the West Bengal chief minister to countenance any deal with Bangladesh on the ground that such a deal might harm the interests of her state. All we can say is that such internal Indian dynamics must be speedily worked on by India quickly.
Bangladesh ought not to be kept in a limbo over the Teesta issue and the land boundary agreement. If it is, mutual confidence will wither. With such other issues as the killings on the border of Bangladeshis by India's BSF on the table, it is our expectation that the foreign secretary-level talks in Delhi will have stressed the urgency with which all outstanding issues must be approached and resolved.
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