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U.S. to Suspend Trade Privileges With Bangladesh
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: June 27, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/b...leges-with-bangladesh-officials-say.html?_r=0
The Obama administration on Thursday announced plans to suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh over concerns about safety problems and labor rights violations in that countrys garment industry.
The administration has come under intense pressure to suspend Bangladeshs trade privileges after a factory building there collapsed in April, killing 1,129 workers, and after a factory fire killed 112 workers last November.
In a letter to Congress on Thursday, President Obama said that the United States would withdraw trade privileges to Bangladesh because it was not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights.
Labor unions and Democrats on Capitol Hill have been pressing the Obama administration to take this step. Bangladesh is allowed to export nearly 5,000 products duty-free to the United States, which purchases about 25 percent of the countrys $18 billion in annual apparel exports.
Bangladesh is among more than 125 countries that receives such breaks on United States tariffs under the Generalized System of Preferences, a World Trade Organization program that is intended to promote economic growth around the globe
In recent weeks, officials in the Labor Department have called for revoking Bangladeshs special trade status, saying the United States needs to take strong action. Labor officials have asserted that the garment industry has been dragging its feet in improving safety and ending violations of workers right to form labor unions. At the same time, some State Department officials have pushed against suspending the trade privileges, saying it would damage diplomatic relations and undermine the economy or an already poor country.
At a hearing in March held by the trade representatives office, a top official in Bangladeshs Commerce Ministry said, Compliance with rights, including labor rights, will necessarily be gradual in poor countries like Bangladesh.
The administrations move comes in response to an official complaint that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. filed in 2007. The labor federation was upset about factory fires and a 2005 factory collapse in Bangladesh, as well as the extensive efforts by that countrys garment manufacturers to suppress labor unions.
Administration officials took that complaint with new seriousness after the Tazreen factory fire November and after the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed two months ago in what was the most deadly accident in the history of the worlds apparel industry.
The Generalized System of Preferences covers only a small fraction of American trade with Bangladesh. Those preferences do not apply to the Bangladeshi garment industry, which does not enjoy American duty-free status and represents the great bulk of that countrys trade with the United States. One labor rights advocate familiar with the governments decision said it called for suspension and provided a road map to restore trade privileges.
Even so, trade experts say they expect the suspension, a serious blow to Bangladeshs image, would pressure its government to move more aggressively to improve safety and protect worker rights in its garment industry. The industry is a major economic driver, with more than 5,000 factories that employ 4 million workers.
We welcome the fact that our government has finally decided to take action after weve seen all these egregious labor rights violations, said Cathy Feingold, director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s international department. We hope this will lead to real change in Bangladesh.
In December, the United States sent Bangladesh a list of areas that needed improvement to prevent having trade privileges suspended. That list included ending government harassment of union organizers and giving more rights to workers in the countrys special export manufacturing zones.
The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Obama administration have both expressed concern about the treatment of labor activists in Bangladesh. In April 2012, the body of Aminul Islam, a prominent labor organizer, was found dead, with signs of torture. Bangladeshi news media reported that government security forces might have been tied to his death. There have been no arrests.
The Obama administrations move may also influence the European Union, which is also weighing whether to suspend Bangladeshs trade preferences. Such a move could have much greater impact because Europes duty-free privileges cover Bangladeshi apparel, and Europe purchases 60 percent of the countrys garment exports.
The U.S. decision sends a very strong signal to the government of Bangladesh that they have to do things differently, that theres a consequence to the way theyve been operating, said Michael H. Posner, a former assistant secretary of state of human and labor rights in the Obama administration.
Mr. Posner added that the Bangladeshi government has not done enough to make labor laws amenable to unions and not invested enough in factory safety. They probably dont have the financial resources alone to do everything thats needed, he added.
Mr. Posner, now a professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, said Washingtons move adds pressure on American and European retailers to further emphasize factory safety. It increases public attention to this issue and makes clear that this is a crisis situation and it needs to be addressed by all parties in a different way.
Wal-Mart Stores, Gap and other major American retailers are working with the Bipartisan Policy Center to develop a plan over the next few weeks to improve factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry. But industry and labor officials say the American retailers are unlikely to agree to a legally enforceable plan like the one that has been embraced by more than 40 European retailers as well as a handful of United States retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch and PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. While the participants in the European-led plan are negotiating implementation details, they have committed themselves to having rigorous, independent factory inspections and to helping underwrite any fire safety and building repairs needed to correct violations.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: June 27, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/b...leges-with-bangladesh-officials-say.html?_r=0
The Obama administration on Thursday announced plans to suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh over concerns about safety problems and labor rights violations in that countrys garment industry.
The administration has come under intense pressure to suspend Bangladeshs trade privileges after a factory building there collapsed in April, killing 1,129 workers, and after a factory fire killed 112 workers last November.
In a letter to Congress on Thursday, President Obama said that the United States would withdraw trade privileges to Bangladesh because it was not taking steps to afford internationally recognized worker rights.
Labor unions and Democrats on Capitol Hill have been pressing the Obama administration to take this step. Bangladesh is allowed to export nearly 5,000 products duty-free to the United States, which purchases about 25 percent of the countrys $18 billion in annual apparel exports.
Bangladesh is among more than 125 countries that receives such breaks on United States tariffs under the Generalized System of Preferences, a World Trade Organization program that is intended to promote economic growth around the globe
In recent weeks, officials in the Labor Department have called for revoking Bangladeshs special trade status, saying the United States needs to take strong action. Labor officials have asserted that the garment industry has been dragging its feet in improving safety and ending violations of workers right to form labor unions. At the same time, some State Department officials have pushed against suspending the trade privileges, saying it would damage diplomatic relations and undermine the economy or an already poor country.
At a hearing in March held by the trade representatives office, a top official in Bangladeshs Commerce Ministry said, Compliance with rights, including labor rights, will necessarily be gradual in poor countries like Bangladesh.
The administrations move comes in response to an official complaint that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. filed in 2007. The labor federation was upset about factory fires and a 2005 factory collapse in Bangladesh, as well as the extensive efforts by that countrys garment manufacturers to suppress labor unions.
Administration officials took that complaint with new seriousness after the Tazreen factory fire November and after the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed two months ago in what was the most deadly accident in the history of the worlds apparel industry.
The Generalized System of Preferences covers only a small fraction of American trade with Bangladesh. Those preferences do not apply to the Bangladeshi garment industry, which does not enjoy American duty-free status and represents the great bulk of that countrys trade with the United States. One labor rights advocate familiar with the governments decision said it called for suspension and provided a road map to restore trade privileges.
Even so, trade experts say they expect the suspension, a serious blow to Bangladeshs image, would pressure its government to move more aggressively to improve safety and protect worker rights in its garment industry. The industry is a major economic driver, with more than 5,000 factories that employ 4 million workers.
We welcome the fact that our government has finally decided to take action after weve seen all these egregious labor rights violations, said Cathy Feingold, director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s international department. We hope this will lead to real change in Bangladesh.
In December, the United States sent Bangladesh a list of areas that needed improvement to prevent having trade privileges suspended. That list included ending government harassment of union organizers and giving more rights to workers in the countrys special export manufacturing zones.
The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Obama administration have both expressed concern about the treatment of labor activists in Bangladesh. In April 2012, the body of Aminul Islam, a prominent labor organizer, was found dead, with signs of torture. Bangladeshi news media reported that government security forces might have been tied to his death. There have been no arrests.
The Obama administrations move may also influence the European Union, which is also weighing whether to suspend Bangladeshs trade preferences. Such a move could have much greater impact because Europes duty-free privileges cover Bangladeshi apparel, and Europe purchases 60 percent of the countrys garment exports.
The U.S. decision sends a very strong signal to the government of Bangladesh that they have to do things differently, that theres a consequence to the way theyve been operating, said Michael H. Posner, a former assistant secretary of state of human and labor rights in the Obama administration.
Mr. Posner added that the Bangladeshi government has not done enough to make labor laws amenable to unions and not invested enough in factory safety. They probably dont have the financial resources alone to do everything thats needed, he added.
Mr. Posner, now a professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, said Washingtons move adds pressure on American and European retailers to further emphasize factory safety. It increases public attention to this issue and makes clear that this is a crisis situation and it needs to be addressed by all parties in a different way.
Wal-Mart Stores, Gap and other major American retailers are working with the Bipartisan Policy Center to develop a plan over the next few weeks to improve factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry. But industry and labor officials say the American retailers are unlikely to agree to a legally enforceable plan like the one that has been embraced by more than 40 European retailers as well as a handful of United States retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch and PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. While the participants in the European-led plan are negotiating implementation details, they have committed themselves to having rigorous, independent factory inspections and to helping underwrite any fire safety and building repairs needed to correct violations.
meh....who cares!
