DHAKA: Commerce Minister Lt. col. (rtd) Faruq Khan on Thursday asked the RMG factories to ensure maternity leaves for garment workers and separate women toilets in the workplace by August.

Only 60 percent women workers get maternity leaves and 36 percent factories have separate toilets for female workers out of 1365 garment factories across the country, Faruq said.
 
Addressing the 15th meeting of the ‘Social Compliance Forum for Readymade Garments’ at the ministry conference room on Thursday, the minister asked to move those factories out of the capital which will fail to meet compliances for space.
 
He said around 22 percent garment factories of the country failed to maintain compliances that causes unrests in the RMG sector.

The minister asked for opinions from BGMEA and BKMEA on compliance issues in the RMG sector.

In response, a BGMEA representative attending the meeting said the non-compliance factories were adopting compliance system gradually. But some factories are yet to adopt compliance for their locations and environment.

In a press briefing after the meeting, acting commerce secretary Golam Hossain said they discussed 20 specific agendas including minimum wages for the garment industry workers, appointment letter and identity card, on-time salary and overtime, weekly holiday and other leaves, maternity leave for female workers and forming participation committee with the workers.

BDST: 1420 HRS, 22 JULY 2010