RINGSHINE WRWC MEMBERS AND MANAGERS START LABOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 004727 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB ETRD PGOV PREL BD SUBJECT: RINGSHINE WRWC MEMBERS AND MANAGERS START LABOR RELATIONS TRAINING REF: DHAKA 4657 ¶1. (U) Summary: On September 19, in a house in the Dhaka diplomatic enclave, Ringshine management, members of the Ringshine Workers Recreational and Welfare Committee (WRWC), and USAID-funded Solidarity Center (SC) met to start labor training sessions. No representative from BEPZA was present. End Summary. 2 (U) On September 12, the Taiwanese-owned Ringshine LTG ready-made garment factory came to a potentially landmark agreement with workers to resolve serious issues arising from the factory's implementation of the EPZ labor law and its alleged persecution of workers and members of its Worker Representation Welfare Committee. The agreement followed the arrival in Dhaka of representatives of a major Spanish buyer who threatened to pull its orders from Ringshine and perhaps Bangladesh. Part of the agreement includes worker and managementtraining by the BDG, the ILO,and Solidarity Center (SC). ¶3. (SBU) On September 18, BEPZA Joint Secretary Mohammad Shajahan told poloff that it was "OK" for Solidarity Center and Ringshine to train the WRWC members on the condition that the 8 WRWC members with criminal cases against them, despite their being free on bail, will not be permitted on BEPZA grounds. He complained that he did not know the details of the agreement and has not received any official communication from Ringshine management related to the agreement. ¶4. (SBU) Shajahan also complained that the SC training would be ineffective as Ringshine has "no experienced Human Resource people" to use the training and that the General Manager is a weak manager. He added that the decision to accept the four-week training may need to be scrutinized after the return of the Executive Chairman, and that the entire BEPZA Executive Board may need to rule on the matter. ¶4. (SBU) At the September 19 training session, a Bangladeshi manager for Ringshine spoke first to the 12 WRWC members assembled for the training. He recounted the history of the EPZs, explaining their purpose was to increase employment among the many unemployed Bangladeshis. He said that the objective of Ringshine is to run a factory, without which the people would be unemployed, so we need to be a "team." He said that if the WRWC does something without working with the supervisor, then "this is not teamwork", but now "we should now try to make this a model program for our country." ¶5. (SBU) Solidarity Center's Rob Wayss then recounted the developments over the past few days that led to the September 19 training session, saying that he was still uncertain if BEPZA would be supportive of the training but understood that the BEPZA Executive Chairman Md. Zakir Hossain was "not unsupportive." He emphasized to the WRWC members that BEPZA and Ringshine management would have their own training sessions as it would be "unfair to influence the workers too much." He said that he was hopeful that training would be possible at the Ring Shine factory located in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ). ¶6. (SBU) Wayss detailed the rest of the notional training agenda which included speakers from: --ILO-Dhaka; --BEPZA's Industrial Relations Staff; --Ministry of Law EPZ Labor Law experts; --Ministry of Commerce; --Compliance officers from Carrefour and Walmart; --Representatives from Ringshine management; --EPZ Investors Association; --Bangladeshi NGOs who deal in many women workers; and --Solidarity Center trainers. ¶7. (SBU) SC's four-week training course for both Ringshine WRWC workers and managers started ahead of BEPZA's own training course, which BEPZA expects will start October 15. BEPZA anticipates that their course, conducted with the financial assistance of ILO, will cover the same subjects as SC's training and will train 1500 WRWC members and 500 Human Resource people in a five-hour training session. BEPZA would exclusively teach the classes of 80 workers and 20 Human Resource personnel in both Chittagong and Dhaka EPZs until 2000 persons are trained. When asked if ILO or SC might participate in the BEPZA training courses, Shajahan said it would not be possible for SC to train workers, but both ILO and SC might attend the sessions as observers. CHAMMAS