Norway to invest 14.3 million in textile worker safety

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)

is investing 14.3 million Norwegian kroner (1.78 million euro) for the Ethical Trading Initiative Norway (ETI) whose aim it is to “actively pursue programmes to improve conditions for textile workers in China, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh”.

In view of the latest factory disasters in garment factories in Bangladesh, Norway is keen to support garment workers’ rights in the international textile industry. Through its imports of textiles and garments, the country creates thousands of jobs for workers in sourcing countries.

Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås, Norwegian minister of international development who visited Bangladesh in June of this year, estimates the current textile and garment trade volume between Norway and Bangladesh at one billion kroner (124.8 million euro) annually. Over the past ten years, Norway’s textile and garment imports from Bangladesh have increased and are expected to rise further.

“We must do whatever we can to ensure that the textile industry has safe workplaces with decent pay and good working conditions – for both men and women. Suppliers, consumers and we politicians all have a responsibility to act to prevent a disaster of this kind from happening again,” said Holmås in reference to the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh that housed five garment factories and killed more than 1,100 workers in April.

One of the first measures of the initiative by Norad, a specialised directorate under the ministry of foreign affairs, is to fund courses for manufacturers on decent work. Employers and employees are invited to come together to practise constructive dialogues. So far, courses have been developed for manufacturers in China, India and Vietnam with talks underway to include Bangladesh as well. The goal is to include 700 manufacturers in courses held by ETI between 2013 and 2015.