Bangladesh: U.S. Funded Program Should Release Information on Factory Conditions

NEW YORK - A $2 million U.S. funded program intended to improve working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment sector lacks transparency and could be doing more to protect workers rights, a new Lawyers Committee report said today.
 
The report, Bangladesh: International Standards and Voluntary Monitoring, examines a program, funded jointly by the U.S. government and the Bangladeshi Garment Manufacturers and Employers Association, meant to improve working conditions in the garment sector and ensure that Bangladeshi factories comply with the requirements of local labor law.  
 
“Labor laws have largely been a dead letter in Bangladesh - they are on the books, but not enforced,” said Kevin Kolben, a spokesperson with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. “This program could be doing more to ensure that workers’ basic rights, such as the right to form and join unions, are respected.”
 
The U.S. has provided funds to the International Labor Organization (ILO) to send monitors to evaluate labor rights compliance in participating factories and train managers on how to voluntarily improve working conditions.  The report concludes that the program would better protect workers rights if its findings were more transparent; if ILO monitors consulted with local NGOs and unions instead of almost exclusively with government officials and factory owners; and if remediation mechanisms were put in place to try and correct violations.  
 
“The ILO’s involvement in these types of programs is a welcome development, and there is great potential here to improve conditions in factories and ensure that workers rights are respected,” said Kolben. “But the information collected by the ILO is kept under lock and key when it should be freely available to all those who are interested.”
 
There is growing interest among global brands that buy from third party manufacturers to source from factories that respect their employees’ rights.
 
“This is a real missed opportunity for Bangladeshi factory owners and workers themselves, since this information could distinguish them in a crowded market as a high labor standard haven,” said Kolben.
 
“If monitors are finding instances of abuse, then by releasing this information manufacturers can show a willingness to improve, while global brands that are sourcing from Bangladeshi factories can pressure them to make changes,” added Kolben.

View the Report