European Union (EU) wants to create a scheme of incentive packages alongside the government’s one for smooth delivery of financial support to RMG workers under the country's social security reform programmes from the 2020-21 fiscal.
Lately, the garment owners have taken Tk 5,000 in loan from the prime minister’s incentive package but some of the factory owners have failed to provide salaries and allowances to RMG workers who are now financially-affected by coronavirus fallout.
European Union Ambassador Resje Teerink recently sent a letter to the finance secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder to frame the conditions of the programme under EU’s COVID-19 response in the framework of the budget support programme on social security reform-support for RMG or export sector workers.
An official of the finance division said the EU wants to create a scheme for RMG workers in the country under social security reform programmes to ensure salaries and allowances in any kind of natural calamity and pandemic like COVID-19. It is also needed reform on the country's social security program funding from the EU, the official also said.
EU intension to allocate up to €93 million under outgoing budget support programmes like social security reform to channel funds to export-oriented industry or RMG workers affected by coronavirus fallout.
The letter reads "As you know, the government of Germany considered another Euro 20 million for the same project from next fiscal year.” The scheme would come to a component of the current government stimulus package of Tk 5,000 crore to mitigate the impact of coronavirus fallout in the livelihood of export-oriented sector workers and their households,” the letter said.
EU ambassador’s letter also reads, "These is a heightened risk for the significant part of RMG workers of losing job and income and being pushed into poverty, as the sector is not likely to recover quickly. The scheme will also lay the foundation for the institutionalization of social security in the sector in line with the minimum standard which we understand the government is committed to achieving."
Under the scheme of several conditions to be put, the scheme provides income support to RMG workers. A road map of the structural social security for RMG or export sector workers will be established. Modification of the financial agreement between factory owners and workers including performance indicators and disbursement and timeline for approval.
The convener of Jannaswashthya Sangram Parishad and labour leader Faiezul Hakim said the government will have to ensure salaries of workers from donor funds but it will also have to ensure the healthcare of workers during COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Penn State Center for Global Workers' Rights, at least one-quarter of garment workers in Bangladesh — the world's second-largest clothing manufacturer after China — have been fired or furloughed because of declining global orders amid the coronavirus crisis.
Bangladesh is home to as many as 4,621 RMG factories in 2018-19 fiscal year. The country's apparel industry employs more than 4 million workers and has been an engine of robust economic growth in recent years, contributing about 84% of Bangladesh's export revenue.
