Rights of Women Workers in Global Manufacturing . A study of the Garment Industry in Bangladesh.

Rights of women workers in the globalized economy stimulate a great debate across the world. This is mainly for two opposing effects of women working: on one side, economic globalization offers a means of survival through an expansion of employment opportunities; on the other, globalization opens up price competition which in turn invokes producers to violate workers\u2019 rights. Having no control over the export market, raw materials or equipment, producers finally put pressures on the labour force. A major strategy dealing with labour is to move towards a flexible workforce which consists mostly of women. Feminization and labour flexibility increasingly pushes women out of the core workforce consisting of part-time, temporary, casual and subcontracted, and into a marginalized group of workers that gives rise to the violation of workers\u2019 rights. Simultaneously, the spread of cheap and rapid global communication and information systems increase the concerns of consumers, trade unions, buyers and the International Organisations (e.g.; IMF, ILO, World Bank) that extends resistance to sweatshops. As a result, a number of rules and regulations have been adopted both at the national and international levels to regulate workplace conditions. However, the violation of labour related issues is still widespread. Thus, employment of women in global manufacturing has triggered debate among scholars as to whether it brings more justice or more injustice. Considering the continued debate, this study seeks to explore how globalization shapes the dynamics of workers\u2019 rights and gender relations in the workplace, taking the garment industry of Bangladesh as an empirical site. Applying Amartya Sen\u2019s idea of social justice, this study demonstrates that labour rights in global manufacturing factories are not just but are at the same time essential for the survival of women workers. For ensuring just and fair labour practices, the role of industrial relations actors is essential. This study finds that the traditional industrial relations system and its core task of collective bargaining are not in place properly due to unequal power relations of the actors. Employers\u2019 association holds the dominant power where workers associations remain at the bottom. Given the failure of traditional actors, the role of new global actors is crucial. Being pressurized by the consumers, citizens, NGOs and human rights activists, the role of multinational corporations is gradually increasing but has yet to reach expectations of the workers as they are driven by profit maximization. The consumers and citizens\u2019 pressure on MNCs needs to be stronger to oblige them taking the responsibility of labour justice in their manufacturing plants. At the same time, NGOs and other transnational organizations need to work to increase labour power. This study suggests a cosmopolitan industrial relations system involving both traditional and non-traditional actors for ensuring labour justice in the global manufacturing industry

Energy efficient COD and N-removal from high-strength wastewater by a passively aerated GAO dominated biofilm

Conventional aerobic treatment of high-strength wastewater is not economical due to excessively high energy requirement for compressed air supply. The use of passive aeration avoids the use of compressed air and enables energy efficient oxygen supply directly from the air. This study evaluates a passively aerated simultaneous nitrification and denitrification performing biofilm to treat concentrated wastewater. The biofilm reactor was operated >5-months under alternating anaerobic/aerobic conditions. For 4-times concentrated wastewater, >80% COD (2307 mgL-1h-1) and >60% N (60 mgL-1h-1) was removed at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 7h. A double application in the same reactor enabled > 95% COD and 85% N-removal, at an overall HRT of 14h which is substantially shorter than what traditional activated sludge-based systems would require for the treatment of such concentrated feeds. Microbial community analysis showed Candidatus competibacter (27%) and nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas, and Nitrospira) as key microbes involved in COD and N-removal, respectively

Flavour components of some processed. fish and fishery products of Japan

A study was conducted to examine the flavour components of some processed fish and fishery products of Japan by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In brief the method was to absorb the headspace volatiles at 70°C into the fused silica fibre of needle of the solid phase micro extraction fibre. The absorbed components were injected to the GC-MS. The components were identified by computer matching with library database as well as by authentic standard components. In general the number of flavour components were higher in the processed fish and fishery products (except frozen prawn) than that of the raw fish and prawn. The concentration (quantity) of the f1avour components in processed fish and fishery products was much higher than that of the raw fish and prawn. Smoked salmon and baked salmon possessed double number of flavour components than that of the raw salmon. Smoking resulted the highest number of flavour components followed by baking (grilling) and canning, surimi products (kamaboko and chikuwa), drying and lastly salting. However, freezing and frozen storage resulted loss of flavour components in prawn

Introduction of emergency contraception in Bangladesh: Using operations research for policy decisions

The Directorate of Family Planning, Bangladesh, the Population Council, Pathfinder International, and John Snow Incorporated collaborated to conduct this operations research study to assess the acceptability and feasibility of providing emergency contraception pills (ECP) as a backup support to existing family planning methods. The study demonstrated that all categories of health providers, including NGO outreach workers, could be effectively trained to provide ECP services. The study also demonstrated high acceptability of ECP and revealed that if used correctly, the success rate in avoiding unwanted pregnancy was extremely high. The positive findings of the study have helped the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh, to approve introduction of ECP in the National Family Planning Program. The present study thus also serves as a good demonstration of how operations research can contribute in policy decisions and how research findings can be translated into action

Studies on the growth and production of six major and exotic carps in Nasti baor, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh

An investigation on growth, production and fishery of three Indian major carps: rohu, Labeo rohita, catla, Catla catla and mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala and three exotic carps: silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio was carried out in Nasti baor during February to April months. In catch per unit effort (CPUE) study the highest catch/day/person (3.13 kg) and catch/day/gear (40.65 kg) was recorded in the month of March for kochal fishing. In komar fishing catch/day/person (15.08 kg) and catch/day/gear (1206 kg) was also found higher in March. Komar fishing was done only in March and April and its CPUE was greater in both the months than that of kochal. The average recovery rate (combination of all six species) was 37.80 considering the stocking from July month of the previous year. The recovery rate of common carp (54.1) was the highest and lowest (13.90) in case of silver carp. When the recovery was calculated on the basis of one year data and stocking, it was 55.6%. Analysis of production model revealed that the present production (54,806 kg/year) is less than both theoretical production (model I- 85,285 kg/year and model II -75,952 kg/year) estimated. Therefore, it may be concluded that the fish production from Nasti baor could still be increased from the present level of production

Quality assessment of rotating and solar tunnel dried marine fish product

Studies were conducted to evaluate the quality aspects of marine dried fish i.e. silver jew fish (Johnius argentatus), Bombay duck (Harpodon nehereus) and ribbon fish (Trichiums haumela) products produced in rotating and solar tunnel dryers. On the basis of organoleptic characteristics such as colour, odour, texture, broken pieces, insect infestation and overall quality, four member panels of experts evaluated the quality of the dried products obtained from both rotating and solar tunnel dryers and all the products were found in acceptable quality. Reconstitutions properties of samples were in the range of 51.05 to 98.75% for the dried fish produced in rotating dryer, while 24.64 to 76.76% for dried fish produced in solar tunnel dryer. The highest reconstitution rate was found in dried silver jew fish and lowest in ribbon fish produced in rotating dryer. On the other hand, the highest reconstitution was observed in dried silver jew fish and lowest in dried Bombay duck produced in solar tunnel dryer. Proximate composition such as moisture, crude protein, lipid and ash content of the dried fish muscles produced in rotating dryer ranged from 16.36% to 19.1%, 62.35% to 67.37%, 6.37% to 10.75% and 7.00% to 8.05%, respectively and in solar tunnel dried fish products, they were in the range of 14.05% to 19.71%,57.64% to 69. 21%,6.92% to 15.40%and 7.69% to 8.80 %, respectively. The TVBN values of dried fish products obtained from rotating dryer were in the range of 15.02 to 19.05 mg/100g, while in solar tunnel dried fish products, the values were in the range of 15.46 to 19.21 mg/100g. The results of the studies indicated that dried fish produced from both rotating and solar tunnel drier were acceptable quality in terms of organoleptic and food quality aspects

Maternal health commodity landscaping exercise: A snapshot of the Bangladesh program

Despite consistent efforts of the government and national stakeholders, every year in Bangladesh over 5,000 mothers and thousands of children die. Most of these deaths would be preventable with increased access to quality services including existing medicines and other health commodities. The United Nation’s Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children suggests that an important cause of these deaths is lack of access and appropriate use of 13 life-saving commodities. This document describes an effort by the Population Council to assess the country’s policies, guidelines, and availability for these 13 life-saving commodities as well as engaging with key stakeholders to implement the UN Commission’s recommendations in conjunction with this assessment’s findings. This assessment validated the availability of the 13 commodities in three districts at district, subdistrict, and community levels, and within drug stores, in 15 government facilities and 27 private drug stores. Key stakeholders were consulted. A national workshop stimulated discussion, identified national priorities and information gaps, and identified areas requiring policy review. This stakeholder engagement helped identify opportunities for organizations’ contributions to implementing the recommendations

Introducing emergency contraception in Bangladesh: A feasibility study

Approximately 28,000 maternal deaths occur every year in Bangladesh due to pregnancy and delivery-related complications, while many more women suffer major physical and psychological injuries. Available statistics indicate an increase in menstrual regulation (MR) and abortions, most performed by untrained practitioners under unhygienic conditions. Introducing emergency contraception (EC) in the national family planning (FP) program in Bangladesh could substantially reduce unwanted pregnancies and as result MR/abortions should also decrease. Because MR/abortions in Bangladesh significantly contribute to high maternal morbidity/mortality, introducing EC could be an important reproductive health intervention to provide couples with a back-up support to prevent unwanted pregnancy. EC could also reduce the psychological worries and health risks associated with unwanted pregnancies, MR, and abortions. The Directorate of Family Planning in collaboration with the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Project, Pathfinder International, and John Snow Inc., is conducting this feasibility study to develop, test, and document operational details for introducing EC as a back-up support for existing FP methods. This report is an interim update of the study’s accomplishments so far

Training service providers on emergency contraception: Lessons learned from an OR study

The Bangladesh Directorate of Family Planning in collaboration with the Population Council, Pathfinder International, and John Snow, Inc. is conducting an operations research project to test the feasibility of introducing emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) in the national family planning (FP) program and to answer operational questions on implementing the use of ECP efficiently. In Bangladesh, 1.2 million births are unplanned and the number of menstrual regulation/abortions is increasing. ECP could be a good reproductive health intervention for women since it gives them a chance to avoid unwanted pregnancy. ECP does not induce abortion. In fact, it helps in reducing the number of abortions. In Bangladesh, emergency contraception is relatively new and there is general lack of knowledge even among doctors. Thus, training providers will be a critical element for the introduction of ECP. The present feasibility study, detailed in this research update, has been undertaken to answer operational questions that need to be addressed while introducing ECP in the national FP program. The study has been carried out in two districts, Tangail and Mymensingh