Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine Magazine May 2018 | Page 41

BANGLADESH CANVAS
Pro-labour forces ask Government to
release 8 arrested leaders
Pro-labour forces in Bangladesh
have demanded the unconditional
release of eight labour leaders
who are now behind bars in a
case filed over vandalism at the
office of Bangladesh Apparel
Manufacturers and Exporters’
Association (BGMEA) and
attacking some officers and
employees of the institution.
An alliance of 12 pro-worker
platforms has placed forward the
demand after a meeting over the
issue, held in Dhaka, recently.
Meeting sources said that the
pro-labour groups have laid out
an elaborate plan to move with
the demand for the unconditional
release of the labour leaders.
“We call out to the Government
and the necessary authorities for
and employees of the BGMEA
back in January this year.
The accused are Jolly Talukder,
General Secretary of Trade Union
Centre (TUC); its Organizing
Secretary KM Mintu; International
Secretary Monjur Moin; Gazipur
District Unit General Secretary
Jalal Howlader; Savar-Ashulia
Unit Member Lutfor Rahman;
Central Committee Member
Mohammad Shahjahan; and
Communist Party of Bangladesh
(CPB) Central Committee Member
Sajedur Rahman Shamim.
the release of labour leaders. We
are warning you, otherwise, you
(Government) would have to face
tough movement,” said Mushrefa
Mishu, President of Garment
Sramik Oikya Forum. On April
1, 2018, a local court in Dhaka
denied bail to the seven labour
leaders and sent them to jail over
attacking and assaulting officials
Earlier in January this year, Major
(Retd.) Rafiqul Islam, Additional
Secretary (Administration) of
BGMEA had filed an attempted
murder case with the Ramna
Police Station against 12 people.
RMG export drops to US $ 2.57 billion in March '18
Bangladesh’s apparel exports
continued the declining trend in
March 2018 as well.
Net apparel exports during March
2018 dropped to approximately
US $ 2.57 billion, from what was
US $ 2.60 billion back in February
2018, according to the statistics
released by Bangladesh Export
Promotion Bureau on April 3,
2018.
According to the statistics,
total apparel shipment from
the apparel manufacturing hub
accounted for over 84.1 per cent
of Bangladesh’s overall exports.
The ratio came out higher as the
number hovers around 82 to 83
per cen t normally. However, in
February too, the apparel exports
contributed to over 84 per cent
of total Bangladesh’s exports.
Furthermore, the knitwear
division fetched US $ 1.196 billion
(46.5 per cent), and the woven
division generated around US
$ 1.38 billion (about 54 per cent) in
export revenue for the country’s
garment industry. The numbers
were almost similar to February
2018 except that it was a little
higher for the knitwear division
which generated US $ 1.21 billion.
On a point-to-point basis, the total
July 2017-March 2018 apparel
exports stood at US $ 22.83 billion,
which stands as a 9.11 per cent
improvement over last year (US
$ 20.92 billion). The cumulative
sum exceeded the strategic export
target (for July-March 2018) of US
$ 22.16 billion by 3 per cent.
Collectively, Bangladesh’s exports
for March, which stands at US
$ 3.05 billion, fell short of the
strategic export target set at US
$ 3.15 billion by 3.19 per cent. On
a point-to-point basis too, the
cumulative exports fell short by
1.38 per cent from March 2017.
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