No news on BGMEA central database
The garment sector's association BGMEA voluntarily took up a project in 2012 to prepare a central database of workers so that it could be used to identify workers in the event of an accident. We sadly note that the project has floundered since inception and no one has up to date information about how many workers are employed in the sector as a whole or individually in the various factories. Indeed, the confusion remains with precisely how many factories there are in the RMG sector, because not all factories are members of BGMEA. The database is of paramount importance primarily because, in the aftermath of the twin disasters of Tazreen Fashion fire and the Rana Plaza building collapse, allegations had been raised that many of the victims who suffered varying degrees of injury could not seek compensation because there was no official documentation of their employment there.
The question of proper identification is of utmost importance if we are to protect workers' rights and it is expected that there will be opposition to setting up of such a central depository of information from some quarters. Nonetheless, we feel that this is an essential directory that has to be prepared at the earliest, as it goes to show good faith on the part of the industry to foreign buyers and observers. Bangladesh has taken its share of bad press on the issues of safety of premises in the RMG sector, and getting the central database operational will go a long way to reaffirming that the apparel industry is a responsible one that cares for its workforce.
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