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US Unlikely to Continue GSP Facilities to Bangladesh
The US government is unlikely to continue the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) facilities to Bangladesh even the Bangladeshi government forms Workers' Welfare Association in the country's export processing zones (EPZ), The Bangladesh Observer reported Monday.
US officials in Washington indicated that it is against the policy of the US government to provide GSP facilities to a country where workers' rights are not protected as per the convention of International Labor Organization (ILO).
They were quoted as saying that prohibition of trade union activities in two EPZs in Bangladesh is contradictory to the ILO convention and to the fundamental rights of workers and employees as well.
The US government is unable to continue GSP to Bangladesh if trade unions are not allowed in EPZs, they added.
The Bangladeshi government has already taken an initiative to form Workers' Welfare Association in the EPZs instead of allowing trade unions. The government is also trying hard to make the US government understand that the proposed welfare association will protect workers' rights in the EPZs.
An official of the Bangladeshi Embassy in Washington told the newspaper that they had already received a draft proposal on the welfare association from Bangladesh. This draft would be handed over to the US authorities prior to the hearing on GSP for Bangladesh which is scheduled for August 15.
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