This PhD dissertation is to explore the status of workers’ participation in decision making for readymade garments of Bangladesh with a view to ensuring a sound industrial relationship in the sector. It is widely recognized that workers’ participation in decision making of garments industry results in satisfaction of employees, increase in productivity and profit, and empowers the employer to achieve the organizational goal. Absence of workers’ participation in decision making may trigger a large number of problems in an organization. Those are democratic participation in decision-making held-up; maximum employer-employee collaboration decrease; maximum state intervention; realization of a greater measure of social justice decrease; greater industrial efficiency downfall; lower level of organizational health and effectiveness; worse working condition; and absence of opportunity for livelihood; misunderstanding increase; create communication gap; as a result, industrial harmony will be decreased in management. The study attempts to identify different structures of workers’ participation; explore the efficacy of workers’ participation and find out the means to ensure effective participation of the workers in decision making with a view to ensuring sound industrial relations in the sector. The study made use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze and explain the issues introduced in the study. As the study objectives require both qualitative and quantitative data, the study intended to collect necessary data and information from primary and secondary sources using different tools and techniques. Secondary source includes related research, study, survey and assessment reports, publications, journals, articles, newspapers clippings etc. Data have also been collected from BGMEA, BKMEA, BILS, ILO, and BBS. Primary source includes sample survey, FGD, KII, observation etc. As the RMG industries of Bangladesh are mostly concentrated in two divisions of the country i.e. Dhaka and Chittagong, the study has covered both the areas in terms of quantitative and qualitative data and information. A total of 30 factories have been taken as sample with 350 workers as respondents. Besides, a number of trade union leaders, management personnel, government officials, employers’ representatives, experts, researchers, resource persons have been consulted. Number of structures found related to workers Participation: Rights, Working Conditions and Environments. Structures of decision making are two types: (a) Participation inside the Garments factories includes Participation Committee, Safety Committee, Canteen Committee, Establishment based Trade Union, Bipartite Negotiation etc. (b) Participation outside the garments factories includes –Tripartite Bodies [i.e. Labour Court, Minimum Wage Board, and Crisis Management Committee], Social Compliance Forum for RMG (SCF), Task force on Labour Welfare in RMG, Task force on Occupational Safety in RMG, National Tripartite Committee for the Fire and Building Safety in RMG Sector, Rana Plaza Coordination Committee (RPCC), National Industrial Safety and Health Council, Bipartite Negotiation, Conciliation and Arbitration. It is found that Workers’ Participation Committee (WPC) and Safety Committee exist in most of the compliance factories but exist only in paper to comply with buyer’s requirements. Study (quantitative) found same existence in one-fourth of sample factories. Means to improve workers’ participation: Ensure effectiveness of Trade Union in line with the guidelines of BLA-2006; Positive role of government is necessary for ensuring workers’ participation; Increasing mutual trust among the stakeholders; Ensuring proper communication between Trade Union and other stakeholders (workers, employers, government, etc.); Formation of ‘Tripartite bodies’ in all RMG units must be ensured; Making initiatives to make the legal structure adequate. Participation of workers can make them friendly to their management. When they take the opportunity of participation, they will have belongingness to organization and at the same time, they will be empowered. This empowerment is a valuable asset for the growth of their companies. If the workers feel empowered, they become motivated, collaboration between employer and employee will be increased, state intervention will be removed, efficiency and effectiveness will be increased, better opportunity for livelihood will be reached in their hand, and the productivity will be automatically increased day by day. So, the Profitability and industrial growth will be automatically improved. But, in Bangladeshi Garments Industries workers have very little scope to participate in decision-making process. In this sector decision-making process is generally centralized by the influence of various forces and undesirable strategies. As a result, the workers at the bottom level are not allowed to think about the thinking function. There are some reasons behind this: a) Absence of democratic environment; b) Trade Union is not allowed in most of the garments industries; c) Workers are not sufficiently knowledgeable about participation issues. Workers’ participation is not visible in these industries at all. As a result, Workers’ participation cannot play its due role in industrial development and in the same way, it cannot make harmonious environment in industrial relations. In case of RMG of Bangladesh, a good structure for Workers’ participation should consist of Trade Union, sound and always helpful management system, Canteen Committee, Safety Committee, Participation Committee, and Workers Welfare Society etc. are allowed and supported by regulations of Bangladesh government. But in practice these are not fully and effectively implemented by the authority of the garment industries. In the context of Bangladesh, we hardly know the real picture of the Workers’ participation process. I hope, this study will play an important role in ensuring harmonious industrial relations in the RMG sector of Bangladesh.

TITLE - Workers’ Participation in Decision Making in Readymade Garments Sector of Bangladesh: Structures, Efficacy and Means
AUTHOR - Sadruddin Ahmad
••••••IJSER Edition - November 2021

UNIVERSITY - GOVT. MUJIB COLLEGE
GUIDE NAME -
Sadruddin