Washington:
Bangladesh needs to take more concrete steps to improve safety of its workers before US President Barack Obama could consider revoking its suspension from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) trade benefits, a top US administration official has said.
At the same time, US Trade Representative (USTR) noted that Bangladesh has made some important progress with regard to worker rights and worker safety issues.
"The Obama Administration has been engaging the Bangladesh government and stakeholders over the past years to press for changes to address the worker rights and worker safety issues that led to the President's decision to suspend GSP trade benefits," USTR Michael Froman said yesterday.
"We are seeing some improvements that move us closer to our shared goal of protecting workers from another workplace tragedy such as the April 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse, including a significant increase in the registration of unions," he said.
"However, we remain concerned about the large number of factories that have yet to be inspected, the lack of progress on needed labour law reforms, and continuing reports of harassment of and violence against labour activists who are attempting to exercise their rights," Froman said.
As the basis for its determination, USTR said the administration reviewed progress by Bangladesh in implementing the specific measures listed in the action plan.
The review found there has been progress in some areas.
For example, since June 2013, Bangladesh has registered approximately 120 new unions in the garment sector, has dropped pending criminal charges against labor activists, is cooperating with the private sector initiatives, the Alliance" and the "Accord", on plans to inspect the thousands of factories in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, and has reportedly suspended operations in approximately 20 factories found to be in imminent danger of structural failure or other catastrophic accident.