Bangladesh Labour Foundation (BLF) has organised a Workshop with the Tannery Workers Union (TWU) on Strategy Development to Implement the National Plan of Action (NPA) towards achieving Social Compliance in the Tannery Industrial Estate (TIE), Savar. This workshop held in TWU Hall Room, Savar on 25 May 2022 with the support of Mondiaal FNV.

Recently a National Plan of Action (NPA) towards achieving Social Compliance in the Tannery Industrial Estate (TIE), Savar has been approved by the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE). BLF has initiated the process of developing this NPA and it was prepared with the active participation of the representatives of the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industries, Department of Labour, DIFE, BSCIC, Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods, and Footwear Exporters Association, Tannery Workers Union (TWU) and Bangladesh Labour Foundation (BLF).

This workshop discusses how can TWU implement this NPA in the field, what obstacles they would have to face, what can they achieve by 2022, and who can be engaged in implementing the NPA.

The objectives of this workshop were:

1. To get a clear concept of the NPA towards achieving Social Compliance in TIE
2. To set priorities as per demand
3. To develop strategies to achieve the priorities

Mahmudul Hasan Khan, Deputy Director, Program, BLF and Md. Shahinur Rahman, Consultant, Mondiaal FNV has facilitated the workshop. 25 participants joined the workshop of which 9 were TWU Executive Committee members and the other 16 were factory representatives. All participants were male except one EC member.

The participants worked in groups and set priorities according to the following conditions-

1. What are the most urgent crises for them?
2. What can they achieve immediately?

They discussed the priorities, what is easy to achieve, what is easy for owners to provide, what would demand infrastructure investment, and what can be achieved within a short time and at no cost.

The workshop ended with the concluding Remarks by AKM Ashraf Uddin, Executive Director, BLF.

The outcomes of the workshop were:

1. A priority list of work has been prepared by TWU to implement the National Plan of Action (NPA)
2. A strategy has been developed by TWU to implement the National Plan of Action (NPA)
3. A workplan has been developed by TWU to implement the National Plan of Action (NPA)