Obama Administration Outlines Bangladesh Labor Improvement Needed for GSP Reinstatement
The Bangladeshi government must continue to improve labor rights protections through its Export Processing Zone law and other legislation in order to regain Generalized System of Preferences eligibility, said the Department of State, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Labor in an April 23 release. In accordance with an Action Plan outlined by the Obama administration in July 2013, Bangladesh must also increase inspector staff, publicly disclose inspector evaluation, protection free association of workers and improve labor conditions, said the joint statement. The Obama administration will make a preliminary determination in June on the reinstatement of Bangladesh into the GSP program, USTR said on April 22 (see 14042211).
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“In the last year, the government of Bangladesh has made progress in some important respects,” said the joint statement. “Bangladesh has allowed over 140 unions to register, permitted re-registration of a leading labor rights non-governmental organization that had been stripped of its registration, agreed to an ambitious plan for safety inspections and factory-level monitoring and remediation across the garment sector in collaboration with the [International Labor Organization], begun the hiring of new labor inspectors, and conducted preliminary safety inspections.” A series of labor disasters in Bangladesh that claimed upwards of 1,000 lives prompted USTR to rescind Bangladesh’s GSP eligibility in July 2013.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., criticized labor rights in Bangladesh as sorely inadequate. "The industry association for Bangladesh’s garment factory owners, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), continues to represent the old guard of factory owners and has been reluctant to take any action against its members who engage in anti-union activity," said Menendez in an April 24 statement (here). "The government of Bangladesh, while making progress in the registration of new unions, still lacks the institutional capacity and political will to protect them. This has had a chilling effect on labor organizing in the country."
The U.S. Fashion Industry Association encouraged industry officials to bolster efforts to improve conditions in Bangladesh in an April 24 press release (here). "We support any and all efforts by our members to improve worker safety in Bangladesh, whether they join the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, join the Accord on Fire & Building Safety, or take on their own initiatives within their companies," said the association. The alliance and accord launched separately in 2013 (see 13071613).