Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine January Issue 2019 | Page 56

GREEN EFFORTS - 2018 < < TO ADVERTISE GOING TO A GOOD EVENT? Contact Rani Mahendru [phone] (512) [email protected] Send your industry gossip, photos and news to [email protected] Over 5‚000 textile facilities received GOTS certification in 2017 < < CPD survey finds 97.5 per cent RMG factories without trade unions At a time when international bodies and rights groups are harping on improving the workers’ rights in the Bangladesh RMG sector, a comprehensive survey on RMG sector conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) found that almost 97.5 per cent factories do not have trade unions. The world’s second-largest apparel exporter, Bangladesh reported the highest increase in the number of GOTS-certified facilities to about 40 per cent followed by North America (+39 per cent), Portugal (+39 per cent) and Europe (+29 per cent). < < Bangladesh aims to create common compliance platform Bangladesh held its first-ever compliance convention for the readymade garment factories in the country with an aim to create a common platform for setting up compliance standards. “The textile industry in Bangladesh has increased focus on sustain- ability now and many companies are presently becoming eligible to become GOTS certified.” Sumit Gupta GOTS Representative in India & Bangladesh “Bangladesh has been following the compliance standards for retailers and brands since the occurrence of some major industrial disasters. But until now, there is no common platform for compliance. We aim to do just that…” Shaila Ashraf President, Institute of Compliance Professionals 56 Apparel Online Bangladesh | January 2019 | www.apparelresources.com