Social compliance is a burning issue in the challenging world market. Prominent buyers from developed countries are increasingly emphasizing on compliance standard as their consumers are much more concern about this issue. As a custodian of the sector, BKMEA is aware of its responsibility and putting incessant efforts to make the members competitive and uphold the image of Bangladesh RMG sector.

Social compliance is a legal requirement that takes into account minimum labor standards, occupational safety measures and environmental concern. To run a factory in Bangladesh, the entrepreneur is obliged to comply with the ‘National Labor Law’ and if any additional requirement from buyer. BKMEA, from its own commitment towards the sector, has taken rigorous programs for ensuring a fully complaint knitwear industry. Key initiatives of the association are as follows:

Pre-requisite to obtain membership in BKMEA: Before giving the membership to any applied factory, investigation is done to check the mentioned requirements and no membership is issued until the factory fulfills these basic prerequisites:

Arbitration Committee: There is a conciliation cum arbitration bi-lateral committee in BKMEA to deal with individual grievances.The committee tries to solve the disputes that arise between the owner and the employees of the factory before referring the matter to court which is time consuming and costly. No financial expenses from the owners or from the workers are involved.

Social Compliance Monitoring Program: To enhance the compliance status of the whole industry, BKMEA with the support of GTZ, is implementing a “Social Compliance Monitoring Program” since 2007. Twenty members competent monitoring cell of BKMEA are working at factory level to check the labor welfare and safety issues regularly.  The  project  has  included the following  activities:  formation of a skilled monitoring  team, development of a detail check  list  including 89  compliance  related  questions   and   grading  system (A, B, C, D)  based on  National  Labor  Law,  unannounced visits to factories, provide Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and follow up   visits to check the progress, comprehensive software  for   storing  field    data   and   systematic evaluation  of  factories. BKMEA takes crash programs for degraded factories for providing special guidance and in extreme case imposing penalty measures. Besides, the compliance cell is organizing trainings for mid level management and factory based training for workers to enhance their skill, knowledge and awareness.

Compliance Monitoring Check List: 4 Stages

Fire Safety' and ‘Labor Cell’are the two specialized wings of BKMEA which are working intently for conducting regular fire drill at factory floors and handle individual grievances of workers respectively.

Mid Level Management Training: Dearth of skilled management is one of the major barriers of developing compliant RMG industry in Bangladesh. To develop true professionalism in factory management, BKMEA is arranging series of training programs for mid level management of factories. The training has started from 10 November 2007. Three training manuals for mid level officers have been published already which are being distributed to the factory people as a ready reference for their day to day work under this to provide a complete reference to the factory management which is being distributed at free of cost during the training sessions. The core contents of Mid Level Management Training -1,2 and 3 are: child labor, appointment letter, ID card, wages, overtime & maternity benefit calculation, salary sheet, using of PPES, fire safety, leave, personal file, disciplinary procedure, service book, health and safety, register maintenance , roles and responsibilities of welfare officer, condition of appointment, workers’ classification, grievance handling procedure, health and safety issues, welfare facilities, industrial relations, ILO codes, offence & its penalty etc. By May 2010, BKMEA has trained about 2000 mid level officers of member factories under this program. The objective of the initiative is to develop at least one competent compliance officer in each factory which will support the factory for maintaining compliance necessities by own effort.

Service Book Implementation: Service book is long driven demand of Bangladesh RMG sector and BKMEA assures full support towards this. Proper implementation of service book will help for reducing of workers’ migration, availability of workers job related record and ensure workers’ right etc. As per Bangladesh Labor Law 2006, implementation of service book is mandatory for all factories. BKMEA has started distribution of service books to all members since September 2008. Prior to that, the association has arranged series of orientation programs for Narayanganj, Dhaka and Chittagong factories to disseminate information on using and urgency of service book.

Mandatory Group Insurance: BKMEA has made Group Insurance Mandatory for all of its member units. An agreement has been signed with a govt. life insurance company in this regard. New membership and renewal of old membership are not issued until the applicant complies with the rule. Under the agreement, each member unit has to pay premium of Tk 8,000.00 per annum eligible to have insurance claim of maximum 20 persons. Member factories are getting the insurance claim for its workers/employees for accidental or normal death and permanent disability. BKMEA is very careful to pay the insurance claim to the representatives of worker regularly.

Capacity Enhancement Training for Compliance Cell: Compliance is an issue of regular up gradation as per global requirement. BKMEA’s ongoing initiatives are not limited with implementation of labour law but also strengthening the capacity of the association and the industry. So BKMEA is arranging regular trainings for its social compliance officers to enhance their skill and updating their knowledge with the global demand.  Some of the recent trainings arranged for the cell are: WRAP, SA 8000, ToT on C-TPAT, advanced OHS, Trade Union and Participation Committee. The cell disseminates this knowledge within industry people through regular workshops and trainings which supports a balanced development of the entire industry.

Publication Materials: To disseminate information on core compliance issues, BKMEA has published a complete guidebook on social and environmental compliance along with structural safety, a handbook on labor law, three training manuals for mid level management, one training manual for workers, a number of posters and stickers. All these materials are in local language and have been distributed already to the member factories at free of cost. Processing for further publication is going on.

TV Advertisement: BKMEA has developed a series of TV commercials on the following key compliance issues: minimum wage and on time payment, owner-worker relationship, personal protective equipment (PPEs). These are being aired in the prominent TV channels of Bangladesh to raise mass awareness on workers’ rights.

Documentary: A fastidious documentary has been made by the association including all the ongoing compliance activities for dissemination within national and international stakeholders. It has included the regular monitoring, skill development program, workers’ festival, charity program and other significant activities. The documentary has been distributed to all key stakeholders.

Experience Sharing Session with Factory Owners: Development of a Compliant Factory is largely dependent on the intention and capability of an owner. To motivate owners and provide them updated information on world compliance scenario, BKMEA is regularly arranging experience sharing sessions with factory owners dividing total industrial areas into particular zones Pioneer owners in RMG business are being invited in these sessions to encourage other entrepreneurs from his/ her practical experience.

Observance of historical May Day : BKMEA, the one and only trade body with its tradition has observed historic May Day on 2nd May, 2010 like last years The occasion was accompanied with various ingenious programs like: discussion session on worker-owner relationship, awarding of 10 best labor friendly knitwear factories of 2010, unwrapping of anniversary issue of ‘workers news letter-the Shromobarta”, handing over of group insurance cheque to demised workers’ family members and a gala cultural program by first-rated performance solely by the workers. BKMEA will arrange the program in next years also as the association believes that, May Day is not only for workers, but also for owners to bridge “the owner-worker relation” in a new dimension.

Workers’ Festival: With the hope to swell cordial relationship between industry owners and workers, BKMEA arranged the largest ‘Worker’s Festival’ on 18 December 2009 as a part of its pro-worker activity. Wearing colorful dresses and holding banners and festoons, about hundred thousand workers from different garment factories flocked to the festival premises and enjoyed different events like puppet show, bioscope, merry-go-round, dress as you like competition, musical events, awareness raising trainings etc. Due to overwhelming response from workers, BKMEA has decided to arrange the festival on an annual basis. The 1st Workers Festival was held on 18 December 2009 at the same venue, Narayanganj Stadium which is near the biggest RMG cluster of Bangladesh.

SHROMOBARTA-Special Newsletter for Workers: The ‘Shromobartra’, is another pioneering endeavor of BKMEA to bring out the cultural intelligence of working class. For the first time in Bangladesh, BKMEA has published this quarterly magazine solely for the RMG workers of the country. The newsletter contains writings from the workers of BKMEA member factories. This quarterly newsletter is a symbol of strong voice of our disciplined and dedicated work force.

Community Health Care Centre for the Workers: BKMEA is running a hospital for workers at BSCIC, Narayanganj where about 200 factories are clustered in a single periphery. The hospital is being run from the own resource of BKMEA where workers can get free outdoor treatment and medicine under intensive care of female doctors.

Centralized Day Care Centre: BKMEA is working with Metro Group, one of the largest apparel buyers of Germany for establishing a ‘Central Day Care Centre’ in BSCIC, Narayanganj which is the largest RMG cluster of Bangladesh. The agreement signing between BKMEA and Metro Group was held on 26 April, 2010. Mr. Muhammad Faruk Khan, honorable minister for commerce; H.E. Holger Michael, Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany; Mr. Fazlul Hoque, President, BKMEA; Mr. Anton Knijf, Vice President, Metro Group, other leaders and entrepreneurs from BKMEA; media and Govt. guests were present in the agreement signing ceremony. Primarily, 60 children will be accommodated in the day care centre with nutritious food and all standard facilities for rearing children with proper physical and mental care. Workers will get this facility at free of cost. Gradually, depending on its success, number of children will be increased in the day care centre and some more centers will be established in other clusters of RMG. 

Food Rationing for Workers: The price of rice is a key issue in impoverished Bangladesh, where households are estimated to spend nearly 70 percent of their income on food (AFP, 2008). In Bangladesh, two-thirds of food item of general people contains rice, so inflation in rice price creates acute problem specially for the working class. Conceiving this idea, BKMEA has started to distribute rice at a subsidized price from 2007 which is first from the history of trade body in Bangladesh. In first quarter of 2008, when rice price had gone up to sixty cents a kilogram in retail markets and other food prices became more than doubled, BKMEA distributed rice and other daily essentials at a very subsidized rate to the workers to face this ‘hidden hunger’ phase, Again, during the holy Ramadan of 2007, 2008 and 2009, BKMEA supported the workers by subsidized food items. Presently BKMEA is continuing this rice distribution program almost in yearly arrangement through the member factories with Govt. support.  

BKMEA support during Natural Disasters: During the devastating flood of 2007 and 2008, BKMEA arranged extensive relief works for the effected workers and in flood vulnerable districts. Again, after the destructing cyclone (SIDR) of 2007, BKMEA rushed towards the effected areas with emergency supports and food materials. Besides, in each catastrophe, BKMEA donates bulk amount in Govt. fund for supporting the restoration works.  

Workers’ Scholarship: BKMEA has taken an initiative to reward the good academic performance of workers or close relative of workers in secondary school and college level examination. An official circular has been issued for collecting application from workers of member factories with ‘A+’ or ‘A’ grade result.  Response from workers is praiseworthy and top grade holders have already awarded in a formal program.  

Government Bodies: BKMEA is actively participating the meetings and following activities with National Social Compliance Forum under Commerce Ministry (MoC) and Taskforce on labor Welfare and Crisis Management in RMG sector under labor Ministry (MoL) of Bangladesh Government.

IAF: BKMEA is working with International Apparel Federation (IAF), the largest apparel trade body in the world international for sharing and networking of knowledge on workers’ welfare and other sector related issues. Mr. Fazlul Hoque, President, BKMEA is the board member of IAF. BKMEA delegation lead by the President Mr. Fazlul Hoque participated in the half yearly meeting of IAF Global Responsibility Committee (GR) on 21st April 2009 in Cologne, Germany where he presented the latest development of Bangladesh apparel sector on compliance aspect with the international stakeholders.

ILO: BKMEA participated in the ‘Multi Forum 07’ of ILO held in Geneva, Switzerland conference on 15-16 November 2007. The conference was on “Better Business: Managing Labor Relations for Productivity and Growth” where BKMEA President, Mr. Fazlul Hoque was the only participant from Bangladesh RMG sector. Participants from different countries, United Nations, Universities and Labor Ministries of Different countries joined the conference. BKMEA has also close relationship with the local office of ILO in Bangladesh.

MFB: The  International  Multi  Fiber   Agreement  (MFA)  has facilitated  the establishment  of  a  Bangladesh  Working Group  (MFB)  to  work  with  all  the  stakeholders,   i.e. Government,  Association,  Buyers,  Labour Unions  and Civil  Society.  MFB is  identifying the  core  areas   and develop  the  scope  for  a three year  project  to increase  the social  compliance   and   competitiveness  of   the  RMG sector of  Bangladesh. BKMEA is working closely with MFB for strengthening the capacity of Bangladesh apparel sector.

BKMEA-Save the Children CSR initiative: BKMEA has worked with the ‘Save the Children (Sweden-Denmark)’ on a joint initiative titled “Corporate Social Responsibility & Child Labour”. To make acquainted all the stakeholders with this approach, a conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 12 December, 2006. The conference was on “Responsible Approaches to Child Labor in Textile and Garments Production Walking Together for a Win-Win Situation’. Mr. Md. Fazlul Hoque, President, BKMEA participated the conference and presented a paper on “Corporate Social Responsibility to Workers in the Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Units in Bangladesh”. Renowned buyers like H&M, MFA Forum, Amnesty International and different international organizations participated in the conference. The Copenhagen conference was a follow-up of the awareness raising seminar on “Corporate Social Responsibility & Child Labour” organized in Dhaka on September 16, 2006. It was jointly by Save the Children (Sweden-Denmark), BKMEA and Danish Federation of Small and Medium Sized Enterprise. The awareness raising seminar was participated by H.E. Mr. Einar Hebogard Jenson, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy and H. E. Ms. Britt Falkman Hagstrom, Ambassador, Swedish Embassy in Bangladesh, Mr. Olof Risberg, media, Govt. representative, factory owners and others.