Three major export bodies — BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA — have jointly condemned the newly gazetted Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, demanding its immediate withdrawal. They argue that several key provisions, like lowering the union-formation threshold to just 20 workers, were never part of the consensus in the Tripartite Consultative Committee (TCC). Industry leaders warn these changes could destabilise factories, deter investment, and threaten sector competitiveness amid global pressure and post-LDC graduation uncertainty.
Against this backdrop, Fashion Business Journal (FBJ) speak with Salauddin Chowdhury, Chairman of AC Industrial Group & SGL, —- who is also the Senior Director, EBFCI & BPCCI and Co-owner, DBC News — to explore how the industry is preparing for the labour law reform, its fears, and what it expects from the government and global buyers.
FBJ: How prepared is our industry for the sharply reduced union-formation thresholds, and what internal systems or protocols will the industry put in place to manage increased worker representation?
Salauddin Chowdhury: Both the owners and the workers have objections about the new labor law. We have the safest listed factories in the world and these factories maintain international standards of safety, but sadly, whenever any accidents occur in any other industries, RMG factories are blamed. In some recent cases of fire, those factories are not listed in any RMG top organisations.
The western world has always been very concerned about the workers’ rights, but have they ever thought how the owners will give more facilities to the workers if the owners don’t get fair prices from the westerners? We have more than 200 LEED-certified factories and the owners have to spend millions to make it happen, but are the owners getting proper prices from these factories?
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The new law of the workers’ federation in the factories will create conflicts between the workers and the owners and the third parties may take advantage of the situation. I hope the government will take initiative to resolve the issue by taking decisions from the owners and the workers sitting together.
Instead of the union, there could be a committee formed by the managements and the worker representatives which will be responsible for any wrongdoings to the workers and the employees. This will improve the relationship between the workers and the owners.
Omitting blacklisting is not a good idea. Justice is formed for everyone. If anyone commits a crime, he/she should be prosecuted.
FBJ: Do you foresee multiple unions within a single factory creating operational or negotiation complexities, and how might this affect productivity, dispute resolution and day-to-day management?
Salauddin Chowdhury: The new provision allowing multiple groups or federations inside factories will definitely create complexities. As mentioned, it will create conflicts between workers and owners, and third parties may take advantage of this situation. Recently, we have seen big workers’ agitation in many world-class industries for internal workers’ conflicts influenced by outsiders, which should be stopped by proper security measures of the law enforcement agencies.
These kinds of conflicts directly affect productivity, daily management, negotiation processes and overall factory discipline.
FBJ: Do you believe the timing of this reform aligns with the industry’s current realities, especially with post-LDC graduation approaching? If not, what adjustments or transitional measures would you recommend?
Salauddin Chowdhury: Regarding LDC graduation, many western countries are willing to support us. The businesses are opposing to be the LDC graduates by 2026 as much action is needed before that. For the last five years, the businesses have been in a difficult situation — one after another national and international issues. So, the businesses still are in a recovery process and for this reason, the businesses are asking for at least three more years for a good example. If we have less income with a high standard, it will not be viable.
Given this reality, the timing of this reform is not aligned with industry capacity. Transitional time, policy support and practical adjustments are essential.
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FBJ: What do you expect from global buyers in response to the new labour obligations — particularly regarding pricing, longer-term commitments or shared responsibility for compliance costs?
Salauddin Chowdhury: Regarding the current situation of the RMG industry, we still have less orders in the sector and still many factories are struggling to get orders as you can see there are still less exports at present. After the tariff issue, many of the buyers cancelled orders and the sector is still suffering from this. However, the government has done a good job about the tariff issue. But we need to keep eyes and we have to continue negotiating with the US authority to reduce the tariff further.
We also need to keep exploring new markets and products strongly as the US tariff was a wake-up call for us. In addition, we have to show the world our safest industries and the quality of the life of our workers.
Because of the local and global issues for the last five years, many factories have been affected and thanks to the government to start giving policy supports to them. The policy supports have to be sped up to save these industries and the employments.
Besides that, adequate banking and energy supports with less bureaucratic problems could flourish the sector and increase market share in the global market.
I hope the RMG sector will be rising by the support of all the stakeholders in the coming days.
