US wants to know about Bangladesh RMG workers

International Desk : Bangladesh is plagued by questions from the United States about the competitiveness of the ready-made garment sector. A hearing on this issue was held in Washington on Monday night. The United States government agency organizes the International Trade Commission (USITC). Where BGMEA President joined virtually besides Commerce Secretary.
During the question and answer session, USITC Chairman David Johansson and his three colleagues wanted to know about labor rights in Bangladesh, labor laws, comparative productivity of workers, wages, etc. They asked – What Bangladesh is doing to amend the workers’ wages, factory working conditions, health services and labor laws?
At the USITC hearing, the Commerce Department and BGMEA responded to various questions after submitting their written submissions. Farooq Hasan, president of BGMEA, an association of garment industry owners, answered most of the questions on behalf of Bangladesh. In addition, there will be an opportunity to present written statements in the hearing till March 24. The commission will submit its investigation report to the USTR on August 30.
The source of raw materials for clothing also came up in the discussion. While BGMEA claims, most of the cotton is imported from India.
At this time, Bangladesh demanded to increase the price of the products to the brands.
Apart from Bangladesh, government and private representatives of 5 countries including India and Cambodia participated in the hearing on Monday. The USITC is starting an investigation on these five countries, including Bangladesh, at the request of the US Trade Representative (USTR). The commission will investigate how these countries have occupied such a large part of the US garment industry market. The main objective of this commission is to find out whether any of these five countries are occupying the market through unhealthy competition. The other four countries are India, Cambodia, Indonesia and Pakistan.