Trade unionism
A fierce debate on trade unionism in apparel industry has recently been finished, not catching up with the ultimate solution. While politicians and labour leaders see it as safeguard against recurrent labour unrest, FBCCI chief and other factory owners, along with those from a private think tank defined it as the bad experience of factory owners frequently encountered with. Meanwhile, the commerce minister described it as the election promise, and ensured that things would improve soon, though it is still unclear whether through trade union or other protective measures.
Undeniably, trade union harvests some positive outcome for every single business, but, if we go by history, it creates more problems than solutions. And developing countries like ours encounter the bad experiences, as is seen elsewhere. At the same time, it is safe to say that the authorities should hunt for solution as to how to stop labour unrest, no matter with trade unionism or any other means. But in case of our country, trade unionism works negatively rather than fruitfully, for a number of reasons, four of which are paramount.
First, trade union allows the political big hands to the industrial matters, either by dealing with the labour leaders, or by taking political advantage of the union.
Second, the outside hand, reported to be working as the driving force behind the labour turmoil in our apparel industry, takes trade union as the easy means of hatching any conspiracy.
Third, trade union itself galvanizes labour unrest as some labour leaders can abuse power and derail the whole labour forces. For instance, labour leaders, at times, take authority over owners illogically as they control the whole labour forces.
Fourth, intra conflict in trade union is a quite common phenomenon, as is seen in the countries like Vietnam, India, and even China.
All of the four reasons, of course, push back the same dispute, “concurrent labour unrest” in which the industry loses its profitability and even competitive advantage.
In the end, it is not unrealistic to say that the RMG industry is the lifeblood in our export sector, and contributes heavily to foreign exchange earning. Yet, it is labour unrest that makes the industry hamstrung. And it is high time to take the decision as to how to ensure uninterrupted and smooth industrial operation in which no labour resentment and exploitation by owners will be there. So, the authorities should see it as the challenge of the century.
We need to come to the ultimate solution, and further delay means eating out our profit and market edge.
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