Abstract
This paper offers a view of working practices within the garment and textile (G&T) industry in Bangladesh. The G&T industry accounts for over 84 per cent of Bangladesh exports and is therefore viewed as key to the country’s economic development. This importance is seen in the creation of Export Processing Zones (EPZs), which were created by that state to encourage foreign investment by offering a congenial climate free from cumbersome procedures. Trade unions are outlawed in these areas. Health and safety are poor within the G&T industry. However, the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013, which caused 1,132 deaths and over 2,500 injuries, placed the issue of workplace safety on the international agenda. Arguably, this prompted a change of attitude within Bangladesh and the G&T industry towards health and safety. The presence of international managers appears to have played a significant role in improving health and safety in the working environment, however these international managers do face a range of cultural barriers, which include both language and a different perception of the value of health and safety in the workplace. This paper has adopted a mixed method of both qualitative and quantitative data, collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys within the G&T industry in Bangladesh.
Highlights
The global garment and textile (G&T) industry is one of the most significant industries for developing countries
The related variables showed a low mean score of 1.41 for local managers. These results suggest that the Western international managers are more concerned about health and safety issues than their nonWestern international counterparts and local managers
The findings suggest that the majority of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) do not have any trade unions but a few companies have worker’s participation committee (WPC)
Summary
The global garment and textile (G&T) industry is one of the most significant industries for developing countries This is the case in Bangladesh, both in terms of contribution to the economy and generating employment. According to 2018–19 data, total export earnings of this industry reached around US$ 34.13 billion (approximately 84.21 per cent of total exports of the country). This is a contribution of 13 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Centre for Policy Dialogue [CPD], 2019). The G&T industry in Bangladesh provides 3.6 million jobs, and it is estimated that 53 per cent of employees are women (CPD, 2019) These female workers have largely migrated from rural areas to industrial conurbations such as Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayangonj and Chittagong. These workers have little knowledge or experience of human resource management (HRM)/industrial relations (IR)related issues such as health and safety as they have both limited educational qualifications and almost no previous experience of industrial/factory working practices
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