KARACHI, Nov. 27: The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) has expressed its profound sorrow over the deaths of 120 workers of a garment factory in Bangladesh and offered its condolences to the relatives of the deceased.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, PILER condemned industrial accidents and loss of human lives which occur because of the absence of occupational health and safety measures at work places. The Tazreen Fashion Limited, Bangladesh clothing factory was housed in a multi-storied building in which workers were trapped by the fire due to the lack of emergency exits as all three staircases down to the ground floor were closed. A similar incident happened in Pakistan recently, resulting in deaths of 260 workers in a garment factory in Karachi. Both the factories, in Dhaka and in Karachi, where gross violations of labour standards happened, were producing for multinational corporations.

The statement by PILER emphasized that local employers and the MNCs both have a legal obligation to ensure a safe and secure working environment to all its workers. Unless corporations and local vendors check their greed for profit and change their policy of cutting labour cost even if it costs human lives, terms and conditions of work will not change for South Asian workers. The statement pointed out the weakened labour inspection system and the need for a strong role of the state in safeguarding labour rights. The responsibility of international corporate monitoring system and the need to revise global accreditation and certification mechanisms was also highlighted.

Bangladesh is the second largest exporter in the world’s garment industry where around 4,000 garment factories earn 20 million dollars through exports. A large number of these factories run their enterprises without proper occupational health and safety measures. PILER suggested that it is the right time for the government of Bangladesh to ratify ILO Convention 155 which will provide the baseline to address the issue of occupational health and safety at the industrial and enterprise levels.

Released by:
Shujauddin Qureshi
Senior Research Associate
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER)
Gulshan-e-Maymar, Karachi-75340
Ph: +(92-21) 36351145-7
Fax: +(92-21) 36350345
Cell: +(92)300-3929788
URL: www.piler.org.pk