The U.S. said Friday Bangladesh has not done enough to address concerns about apparel factory safety and workers’ rights and left in place a suspension of U.S. trade benefits to the South Asian nation.
The Obama administration announced the action, despite the fact that the entire Generalized System of Preferences program, under which Bangladesh was receiving benefits, has expired for all countries and is awaiting renewal by Congress.
As part of its six-month interagency review released Friday, U.S. trade officials concluded that while Bangladesh has made some progress, it has failed to address serious workers’ rights issues and complete inspections of garment factories.
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The U.S. suspended Bangladesh’s duty-free benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences in June 2013, citing pervasive garment factory safety problems, including the collapse of the Rana Plaza building complex in April and the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. fire in November 2012, which combined claimed the lives of more than 1,240 workers. It also cited the failure of industry and government to allow Bangladeshi workers to exercise their rights to organize and bargain collectively in the apparel sector.
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Following the suspension of GSP benefits, the U.S. and Bangladesh signed the Bangladesh Action Plan in July 2013, under which President Obama could consider reinstatement of the GSP benefits. Bangladesh failed to meet several criteria in the action plan, and its suspension remained in place after a similar interagency review by the U.S. in July.
“We urge the government to complete remaining factory inspections as soon as possible to prevent recurrence of workplace tragedies such as those that occurred in 2012 and 2013,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. “There is more work to do, building on the collaboration between the government of Bangladesh, private-sector stakeholders, and the International Labour Organization, to address the concerns about factory safety in the apparel sector. We also urge the government to accelerate its efforts to ensure workers’ rights and take measures to address continuing reports of harassment of and violence against labor activists who are attempting to exercise their rights.”
While the punitive action by the administration has affected as much as $34.7 million in Bangladeshi imports into the U.S. under GSP, the hit to the country’s economy was considered modest since its largest export — apparel — is not covered by the U.S. trade preference program and remains unaffected. The top GSP imports from Bangladesh included tobacco, sports equipment, porcelain china and plastic products.
But the suspension of preferences has widely been seen as a move to bring about broader labor reforms in the apparel industry in Bangladesh.
In the new interagency review, officials said further progress is needed in several key areas of the action plan, including “urgent progress” to fairly and systematically address reports of unfair labor practices and the implementation of legal reforms.
“The U.S. government is concerned about continuing reports of harassment and violence against union activists seeking to establish new unions or to exercise their legal rights,” USTR officials said. “There has also been little progress in advancing the labor law reforms called for in the action plan, including changes to ensure that workers are afforded the same rights and protections in export processing zones as in the rest of the country.”
U.S. officials concluded Bangladesh has made some progress, particularly in the area of fire and building safety.
More than 2,000 initial safety inspections of factories have been completed in the garment sector in the past year, conducted primarily by private-sector initiatives led by North American and European retailers and brands, U.S. officials said.
“These inspections resulted in the closure of at least 31 factories, the partial closure of 17 additional factories, and the identification of needed remedial measures in hundreds more,” USTR said. “The [Bangladeshi] government is responsible for the inspection of several hundred more factories and has hired additional inspection teams to carry out and sustain the inspection effort.”