RBPP calls for action in Bangladesh garment sector

The Rochdale Bangladeshi Partnership Project (RBPP) hosted a meeting to discuss the current situation of the Ready Made Garments (RMG) Sector in Bangladesh since the Savar tragedy in February that saw over 1,100 people killed and over 2500 injured due to the collapse of a factory building.

Simon Danczuk, MP for Rochdale, sits on the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Bangladesh. The APPG MPs visited Bangladesh recently to meet with industry leaders, government and opposition leaders, victims and their families to discuss causes and concerns around the recent Rana Plaza tragedy and the need for a long term solution to improving health and safety and working conditions. An APPG report has been published, on the 13 November 2013, and launched in Parliament with the findings and recommendations.

At the meeting Simon Danczuk talked about the economic success of the garment industry in Bangladesh. 

Mr Danczuk said: “I am pleased to share my experiences from the visit and the work of the APPG on Bangladesh.

"I know the RBPP has had an input into the Safety Accord and I thank you for allowing me to come and talk to you today.

"The tragedy of the Rana Plaza collapse was witnessed around the world and I know that there is a global interest in ensuring that this does not happen again in Bangladesh or anywhere else.

"I hope our report contributes towards ensuring a prosperous RMG sector in Bangladesh but most importantly towards ensuring safe working conditions and fair treatment for garment factory workers.

"I am sure you will be pleased that my colleagues from the APPG made up of cross party MPs are working together and the report gives weight to our recommendations. I along with my APPG colleagues will closely monitor over the coming weeks and months how the work is coming along and I also hope that the Foreign Office/DFID will also closely scrutinise it.”

The meeting was also joined by Stirling Smith, who is an independent consultant working for a number of companies on ethical trading around South East Asia. 

Mr Smith said: “I welcome the APPG report and I really hope the powers that be take up the recommendations.

"There is a big social divide in the attitude of the Bangladesh elite towards the people who produce most of the export earnings and wealth of the country, so I am sure this report is going to move things forward.

"I thank the RBPP for keeping me in the loop and hope to work together in promoting the safe working conditions and the ethical responsibility of retailers like H&M, Tesco’s, Walmart, and Matalan as well as others, when producing garments in Bangladesh.

"I have a simple message for everyone concerned - let’s not wait for the next disaster please.”

Dr Musharraf Hussain (RBPP-Vice Chairman) and Cllr Farooq Ahmed (RBPP advisor and Cabinet Portfolio holder for Finance at Rochdale Borough Council) also spoke briefly after some questions were taken from the participants.

Mohammed Dobir Miah, the Co-ordinator of Rochdale Bangladeshi Partnership Project, said: "We are extremely grateful for Simon Danczuk MP and Stirling Smith coming and talking to us about this very important issue that Rochdale’s British Bangladeshi’s are concerned about.

"We hope that the report published by the APPG will be taken seriously by the Bangladesh government, authorities and indeed the RMG sector leaders.

"The UK Department for International Development (DFID) must scrutinise and hold retailers and factory owners to account via the Bangladesh Government and its counterparts.

"We may want good quality clothes at cheap prices but not at the expense of tragedies that take away so many lives.

"We also call on UK retailers to work according to the Bangladesh Safety Accord and improve conditions for garment workers by taking on the recommendations from the APPG report."

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