ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: Labour Rights in the Readymade Garments

SUBMITTED BY:

NAME: MAHEJABIN IQBAL KHADIJA

SUBMITTED TO:

NOOR-E-MEDINA SURIYA JESMIN

Course Code:111
Course Title: Govt and Politics
Labour Rights in the Readymade Garments Industry in the case of
Women workers in Bangladesh-

Introduction:
Bangladesh is one of the emerging economies of the world. Ready Made Garments, hereinafter
referred to as the “RMG” sector is the biggest export earner of Bangladesh. The RMG labour
laws in Bangladesh are regulated by the general Bangladesh Labor Act 2006.
The Bangladesh labor Act,2006 consolidates and amends the laws relating to employment of
labor, relation between workers and employers, payment of wages and compensation for injuries
to workers, and other matters related to labor and their rights. Mainly The labour laws of
Bangladesh ensure the rights of the laborers. The RMG sector is rapidly growing sector of the
Bangladeshi economy. BGMEA is the private organization of the RMG sector.it plays a huge
part in the economic development of this country. The RMG labor laws of Bangladesh require
the management of an organization to comply with the detailed requirement mentioned in the
Act and Rule with a help of a RMG labor lawyer in Bangladesh. Compliance with the RMG
labour laws in Bangladesh is required for maintaining suitable working conditions at the work
places for the workers.

Bangladesh Labour Law

Bangladesh is a populated country and here most people included in the labor force. Most of the
labour organizations and companies or garments have their own rules and regulations but all of
them had to follow the minimum statutory standards and must make rules according to the same.
The Bangladesh labor act 2006 and the labour rules and regulations of 2015 govern the
recruitment act or the federal labor Act. In this article, the employee’s right in the workplace
regarding the right to weekly vacations or annual leave or working hours or wages and other
rights shall be cover.

In the labour act of 2006, the term “worker” refers to any individual, including an apprentice,
who is employed in any establishment or industry, either directly or through a contractor, to
perform any type of skilled, unqualified, manual, technical, commercially promotional, clerical
hire or reward work, regardless of whether the terms of employment are stated explicitly or
implicitly. however, any employee can demand his rights if hampered before the Labour court
and any person is abiding by the decisions of the Labor Court, can be seen in the case of James
Finlay & Co. Ltd Vs. Chairman Second Labor Court, 1980, 9 CLC(AD) where the labor court
held that the application was maintainable and ordered the reinstatement of the employee
concerned. Against this decision, the appellant company moved the High Court of Bangladesh
under article 102 of the constitution. The appellant company did not succeed before the High
Court Division.1

1
https://www.thedailystar.net/round-tables/the-situation-women-workers-the-rmg-sector-bangladesh-1606447?
fbclid=IwAR0baMhRfQ_0qMm_UVSM4XiiFCOGPfOZuvxDWL_3bc1hLG57PqCe2Up3nxc
 The 2006 Labour Act states the daily and weekly basis of working hours along with the
overtime hours and their payment. The daily working hours shall be 8 hours along with the
overtime hours and their payment. The daily working hours shall be 8 hours with an interval as
under section 108. The weekly working hours shall be 48 hours up to 10 hours per day and 60
hours per week and on average 56 hours per week. There has a limitation for women workers
that no shift from 10.00 pm to 06.00 am without the woman worker’s consent. It is to be mention
that double employment is not allowed for any worker wages included salary, any bonus, or
remuneration for overtime or any other remuneration payable in the course of employment.

According to the Labour Law, each worker’s wage must be paid before the end of the seventh
day after the last day when the wage is payable. This also applies if an employee has been
terminated by retirement or by removal, dismissal, or retrenchment by the employer. Wages have
to be paid in legal tender or through cheque and in some cases through an electronic transfer in
favor of the bank account of the worker or through any other digital medium. It is to be mention
that no deduction can be made from the wages except the reasons mentioned under section 125
of the Labor Act.2

Ready Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of Ready Made Garment products in the world which
exported over 132 countries around the world. The RMG industry of Bangladesh started its
journey in the sixties. However, In the late seventies, the industry began to develop as an export-
oriented sector. At present it is the largest export oriented industry in Bangladesh. The garment
industry is better known as readymade garments. The phenomenon of large scale commercial
production of garments in well organized factories is relatively new in Bangladesh. The
expansion of the RMG industry has brought significant changes in the society of Bangladesh.
Directly about 4.2 million among these more than 1.8 million workers are male and 2.5 million
are female. Around 20 million people are directly and indirectly depending on this sector. Mostly
women contribute more than 11 percent to the country’s GDP. The textile industry is the largest
employer of women in Bangladesh’s formal manufacturing sector. There are more than 5000
garment factories in Bangladesh. The US and European Union (EU) have both linked
Bangladesh’s continued access to trade preferences to making urgent improvements in labour
rights and workplace safety. Besides that, The RMG has been a forerunner in the growth of
Bangladesh’s industrial sector. The RMG sector was a sector that not only contributed but also
assisted in the nations economic expansion. Bangladesh RMG sector has duty-free market access
to most of the developed countries including EU, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, and
Australia. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is working
to build a safe and sustainable garment industry.

Rights of the Garment Workers in Bangladesh

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
335626485_Labour_Laws_in_the_Garment_Sector_of_Bangladesh_a_Workers'_View
Right to wages- everyone has the right to a standard of living sufficient for the health and well-
being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social
services, and the right to security. Wages and benefits are one of the main interests an employee
may have, and unfortunately, disputes over the payment of wages and provision of benefits are
very common. There is a wide range of laws concerning wages and benefits, and this section
provides information on employees legal rights on those issues including tips on overtime pay,
employee health insurance, and retirement plans. All employees are entitled to be paid for the
work they have done. An employee is also entitled to be paid if he/she can’t work because of
sick or away from work on maternity leave, or parental leave, and also allowed a certain number
of days paid holiday a year. The low wage and long working hour are the main causes of labor
unrest in RMG industry of Bangladesh that in turn, create job dissatisfaction.

Right to safety in work place-employees have the right to a workplace that is reasonably free of
safety and health hazards. A regulation contains the minimum protection an employer must give
a worker against dangers to the worker’s good health and safety. The minimum protection is
defined as a standard. When an employer doesn’t set the workplace’s health and safety standards
as high as the standards found in regulations need to be properly enforced. There is a recent
report from Human Rights watch which stipulates that, fire and safety factory inspections
continued in the garment industry between the big brands and Bangladesh government arising
out of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster. The disaster caused the death of thousands of workers. This
alarmed the relevant parties on the unsafe conditions of the working places and inadequacy of
required arrangements for saving the worker’s life.

Protection of the rights under Constitution

The rights of the workers have been provided and also protected by the Constitution of
Bangladesh.it shall be a fundamental responsibility of the state to set free the laboring masses the
peasants and workers and backward sections of the people from all forms of exploitation. That
the garment workers can be saved to their rights by this provisions. The state shall endeavor to
ensure equality of opportunity to all citizens. No citizen shall on grounds only of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of any
employment or office in the service of the republic. If those rights are violated the worker can go
to the High Court Division for enforcement these rights.3

Women in Workplace

Bangladesh is a patriarchal society where traditionally, women remain within the household,
performing household work and taking care of children and elderly persons, while men are
assigned the breadwinner status. However, since its independence in 1971, the country has
experienced significant growth in female participation in economic, farming and industrial
activities. The country’s female labor force participation grew from 4 percent in 1974 to 36
percent in 2019. The readymade garments (RMG) sector, which is responsible for women
contribution in workplace around 4.2 million workers, 80 percent of whom are women.
3
The Constitution of the People‌‌‍'s Republic of Bangladesh
In the past, women in Bangladesh were hardly allowed to go outside the homestead and
participate in economic activities due to traditional societal norms. Since the 1980s, the boom of
this industry has opened a horizon for women in rural areas in the forms of gaining the power to
earn and having a voice in the household and society. This has resulted in significant
advancement in gender equality and women empowerment. Paid employment in various sectors
provides scope for women to generate income, gain freedom of movement, develop self-
confidence, and improve well-being, which eventually leads to empowerment.

Besides that Womens in the RMG sector has identified and investigated a wide range of issues,
including-the impact of globalization, the effect on women’s status within the family and society
the influence on adolescence, marriage, fertility, and health of women workers, the hurdles like
sexual exploitation and gendered inequalities and the consciousness of the female garment
workers. They are also deprived from many labor rights in the ready made garment industry in
Bangladesh. Most of the female workers are belong to young. A study finds that above 99
percent of the female workers are aged less than 30, while 1 percent of the workers are aged
above 30 years. This implies that female workers cannot work in the garment fully for long time
because of occupational hazards and workplace stress and the employers do not prefer aged-
experienced workers in the factories to reduce cost by employing fresh workers at low
remuneration.

In the 1990s, the percentage of female workers in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment was almost
90 percent. However, in the last 10 years or so, the figure has dropped down to less than 60
percent. Over the last three decades, the export-oriented RMG sector, alongside the NGO
movement, has played a pivotal role in increasing female employment, and as a result ensuring
female empowerment in the country. This sudden drop is not only a worry in terms of female
participation in the workforce, but also specifically for the RMG sector. The industry was built
on the back of female workers, who unfair as it was, gave the country a competitive edge over
rivals because of lower wages and a disinclination to unions.

Bangladesh labor Act (BLA) in protecting the rights of women employees in the Ready Made
Garment(RMG)industry in Bangladesh. Moreover it finds the barriers in promoting gender
equality in the workplace particularly in the sector under study. Most of women workers have
limited educational qualification and they also have the limitations in the knowledge regarding
different provisions of BLA. All provisions specially related to women rights in the working
place are not fully applied in RMG sectors. Gender discrimination is very common here in case
of supervision, wages, and overtime facilities. Maternity leave, which is not enforced according
to the law, was one of the major violations of rights.4

Discrimination of women at RMG sector in Bangladesh5

4
https://juralacuity.com/bangladesh-labour-law/?
fbclid=IwAR02Wd45sKW8AtA3pFmu3ArbBFvJ6NRhrHtGUTTHy8PCT-6qYRLDlVU97QM
5
https://www.wvi.org/bangladesh/gender-equality
Women are discriminated in professional, personal and community levels by their male
counterpart across the globe in general. More specifically, women are not treated equally at
workplace in many societies due to the dominance of patriarchal social system and traditional
norms. Women equity and empowerment are spoken widely, but these are not practiced in
reality. The primary aim of this study is to explore the women’s current position and status at the
workplace in ready made garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh in terms of wages, promotion,
safety and security. these challenges that women face at RMG sector. Besides that, Women
employee do not get proper respect at work place from their male colleagues. Women are often
harassed verbally by their male coworkers. Owners, managers and supervisors have the bad
intention to fulfill their sexual desire with female workers. Male supervisors often force their
female subordinates to do overtime till the late night. Though female workers are doing the same
job, but they do not get proper justice in terms of getting desired job posting, salary on time and
promotions based on their skills and competencies.

According to Majumder and Khatun (1997), approximately 30% women are the primary
breadwinners in their households, with the rest serving as secondary breadwinners. These women
workers in the RMG sector are the most vulnerable to the sector’s weak legal provisions and
compliance enforcement due to lack of trade unions, poor working conditions, a low-skill, low-
wage segment of production, limited child care facilities, inadequate health services, job
insecurity and sudden termination, wage discrimination, low level of education, long working
hours, and overtime. Gender discrimination is the main reasons for the over representation of
women in insecure. At the same time, senior decision-making positions remain male-dominated,
even in those sectors where women are over represented. Under the BLA 2006, the government
of Bangladesh(GOB) is accountable in principle for providing enough support to Bangladesh’s
RMG industry. Women’s rights in Bangladesh’s RMG industry are covered by the BLA,2006
Act.

A case study by Nazma Akter, President, Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation (SGSF)

My own findings have led me to believe that situation of workers rights is better in Dhaka and
Gazipur than Chittagong and Narayanganj. It is often told that workers see garment factory work
as a stepping stone for finding work elsewhere. I defer the comment that women workers are not
willing to join trade unions. I have seen many female workers leading trade unions in various
factories. Our workers are forced to work overtime on Fridays to be eligible for leaves and
holidays which they should be getting anyway. There is no accountability in this regard.
Unfortunately, we are still fighting for minimum wage instead of improving the living conditions
for these workers. There is no point of updating technology in factories if the workers minimum
requirements are not fulfilled.6

6
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333907926_Women'_s_Rights_and_Voice_in_the_Ready-
Made_Garments_Sector_of_Bangladesh_Evidence_from_Theory_and_Practice?
fbclid=IwAR34n67ujy90IUUECFcrwAG_LhssDh9lItRdoT3ge7_n3eOvNJQ4XgbA0gA