Building workers' database: BKMEA set to miss Dec deadline

The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) is set to miss the December deadline to build the workers' database of its member factories, sources said.

As a result, workers of the factories listed with the BKMEA might be deprived of getting financial assistance from the readymade garment (RMG) sector central fund, they added.

The knitwear sector trade body -- BKMEA -- started developing a biometric database of workers of its member factories in 2015 but made only a little progress in the last three years.

In November, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque asked the BKMEA to complete the database by December.

Otherwise workers of its member-factories would not get financial assistance from the central fund, he warned.

In 2016, the government asked both the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and BKMEA to complete the workers' database within a short time so that workers or their family members can receive financial assistance from the fund from December of that year.

Following the directive, the BGMEA stepped up its work and made a good progress, as information of about 3.5 million workers of its member-factories have been included in the database, sources said.

"The labour ministry allowed BKMEA factories' workers to receive assistance from the central fund despite not having a database, as the government has started collecting 0.03 per cent of freight on board prices from all the garment factory owners since July 1, 2016," said a ministry official.

The database is crucial to determining the beneficiaries of the fund, as workers are entitled to receive up to Tk 0.3 million for death or permanent disability resulting from workplace accidents and up to Tk 0.2 million for illness, he explained.

Besides, according to the labour rules, the insurance claims of deceased workers would be realised from the fund, he added.

When asked, Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice president of BKMEA, said they are working on the issue, but it might take three or four more months to complete the database due to various reasons such as the ongoing labour unrest.

More than 923, out of 1100 active member-factories, have already enrolled with the trade body for biometric database of workers, he explained.

Some 1.0 million workers might be working in its listed factories, he added.

A total of Tk 1.18 billion has been deposited to the RMG central fund since July 2016 and 50 per cent of the amount has been disbursed to workers following insurance claims, sources said.

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