CPD-FES Policy Brief
The Crisis in the World of Work in view of COVID-19
Is the Partnership across the RMG Value Chain in Reverse Order?
The 7th Anniversary of Rana Plaza tragedy (24 April 2020) was observed in a completely different context in Bangladesh – particularly with regard to the world of work. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the shutdown of all kinds of economic activities in the country since late March 2020 which severely affected businesses, employment, workers’ wages and earnings, occupational safety and health (OSH) and workers’ rights. The country’s world of work would be affected further in the coming days in view of the grim outlook on the economy for the rest of the period of 2020 and partly for 2021. Different national and international organisations have projected a lower level of GDP growth (between 1.6 per cent and 3.0 per cent in FY2020) (World Bank, 2020; IMF, 2020 & CPD, 2020), contraction of business, trade, personal and public services by 0.05 per cent of GDP (in case shorter containment) and 0.11 per cent (in case of longer containment) (ADB, 2020) and loss of manufacturing employment by about 0.38 to 0.95 per cent of total sectoral employment (ADB, 2020). Addressing such an economy-wide crisis requires a strong partnership among key players of major economic activities, particularly those involved in local and global value chains, most importantly in the Ready-made Garment (RMG) value chains.
In this backdrop, the 7th Anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy would be a ‘test case’ to review the partnership among the major players including employers, workers, brands/buyers, government, and development partners that have been built across the RMG value chain over the last seven years. It is to be noted that the core spirit of partnership during the post-Rana Plaza period was to collectively handle major crises, improve industrial safety, safeguard workers’ entitlements and rights and share good practices. Taking that into account, this policy brief highlights – (a) current state of the partnership of workers, employers, brands/ buyers and government in the RMG sector in the context of COVID-19; and (b) informing concerned stakeholders about public policy interventions in meeting policy- and operational gaps to address the above-mentioned challenges. A brief review of the progress of the Plan of Action (PoA) and necessary forward-looking initiatives are also discussed in this brief. This has been done based on an unpublished CPD-ILO report. Other analysis has been done based on the information and data collected from national and international print and electronic media during March-April 2020. A total of 27 local and international media has been surveyed covering 72 daily issues. The findings of the brief were shared in a web-based discussion organised by CPD in collaboration with FES on 23 April 2020.
Authors: Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Tamim Ahmed, A S M Shamim Alam Shibly, Taslima Taznur
Publication period: July 2020