Md. Alam Hossain, Director, OSHE  |  10 February 2023

Relocation of tannery from Hazaribagh to Savar has only resulted in the transformation of this industry, not just transition, which has caused various problems to the workers including job downsizing, dismissal, ill health and also causing continual environmental pollution of the relocated area, various distress of the community and people's life, which leads to the closure of the tannery. It is about to be done and the government has already given instructions to stop the operations of some tanneries. Need to address the just transition issue earnestly.

The process of relocation of old Hazaribagh tanneries could eventually begin in early 2014 with the government allocating land for 155 tanneries in the Tannery Industrial Estate (TIE) in Savar. A majority of the tanneries were compelled to shift the factories in April 2017 as the government decided to disconnect the utility supplies to their old establishments in Hazaribagh. According to a recent report by BSCIC (April 2019), among the selected 155 owners, as many as 123 have already started processing of leather in the new factories, while 18 are under construction.

The Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), lifeline of the relocation project, with a treating capacity of 30000 m3 of effluents a day in the Tannery Industrial Estate (TIE) has not become fully functional from the beginning. Additionally, the other necessary components of effluent treatment process like the dumping yard, chrome recovery unit, and the sludge storing and processing plants are yet to be built as promised in the revised MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between relevant public and private stakeholders before the relocation. As a result, concerns regarding successful operation of CETP and other supporting components like dumping yard and chrome recovery unit in ensuring environmental compliance have emerged as a ‘teething problem’ of the relocation process. The additional concerns after the relocation include welfare issues of the tannery workers and health concerns of the people living in the neighborhood of the TIE.

The workers were not a part of the relocation agreement since the beginning and hence could not voice their concerns properly. Tannery Workers Union (TWU), as the major representative body of the tannery workers, has tried to raise the issues of accommodation, transportation, and medical services before relocating to the TIE. However, the tannery owners and the government agencies overlooked the demands of the tannery workers.

Among 25 thousands of workers in Hazaribagh, about 20 thousand workers moved to Savar while the remaining portion either left or were forced to leave the job. Those who left the job by choice have done so to avoid the accommodation and transportation problems. On the other hand, few thousands of workers lost their job as they used to work for the third party contractors and a lot of the third party contractors refused to shift to Savar.

Occupational health and safety issues have broadly been neglected at the tanneries for a long time and it has not improved significantly at the tanneries after the relocation. Most of the tanneries do not contain any first aid and PPE facilities for the workers and have no doctor at the tanneries. Furthermore, in most cases ‘safety committee’ is absence and not functional. Therefore, construction of new factories in the TIE has not brought significant changes in terms of occupational safety of the workers.

The workload in the tanneries has decreased in the last couple of years after the relocation. One reason behind that is the incompleteness of the relocation process as the roads, drains, and the CETP remain less than functional which in turn affected the lower amount of export of leather. The decrease of the workload has hence prompted job cut and forced leave for many workers. Low workplace safety added with low job security has been a major concern for the mental health of the tannery workers.

The female workers of the tanning industry have suffered severely due to the relocation effect. The female workers who used to work on temporary basis at Hazaribagh have mostly last job or chose to leave. Moreover, the job environment at the tanneries has not been much favorable to the female workers due to lower standard of health and hygiene, separate toilets facilities, dining spaces, child care center, waiting rooms for the female workers at most of the tanneries.

The people of the closest neighborhoods of the leather tanneries are direct victims of the environmental pollution. Apparent pollution of soil, water and plants in Hazaribagh has caused the people of the neighborhoods a great suffering. As the industry has been relocated to Savar now, the nearby communities are at the risk of facing various types of unforeseen costs if the industry fails to meet the environmental compliance. As the TIE stands at the bank of Dhaleshwari River, there are villages in both sides of the river that are affected by the ongoing activities at the tanneries. Horindhora is the nearest village situated on the same bank of Dhaleshwari as the TIE does. On the other hand, Bokchor is another closest village on the other side of the Dhaleshwari River. As the findings from the field shows, Bokchor, a century-old rural village with very fertile land, is highly affected by the relocation of tanneries. People of the south part of Bokchor,the closest area to the river, are the worst sufferers of both air and river pollution in recent years. South breeze during the spring and summer brings with it the bad smell of tanneries and makes it tough to breathe for about half of the year, as the residents of Bokchor remarked.

 As this consequence, the tannery poses a dangerous threat to the water, soil, air and surrounding environmental pollution. The level of environmental pollution has gone so out of control that the parliamentary committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEFCC) itself has recommended the temporary closure of the tannery industry city due to environmental pollution.  Even the chairman of the National River Conservation Commission recently visited the tannery industry city and expressed his anger and dissatisfaction with the waste management.

At the same time, the tanneries are facing problems by decreasing gradual Exports of leather products from Bangladesh due to fail to achieve enough compliance.  As a result, the tanneries have futile to attain the 'Leather Working Group' (LWG) certification and the growth of this industry is being disrupted gradually. Therefore, the tanneries of Bangladesh are in trouble now and struggling to exist.

The main reasons and the facts of this crisis are the lack of proper implementation of the policies and lack of paying close attention to the issues involved in the transfer of the industry which includes the purpose and reason of the transfer. Relocating an industry should take into account the impact on the livelihoods of the people involved in the industry, employment opportunities, the environment and the livelihoods of local communities. That is, the industry needs to prioritize to shift a new place which comprises what compliance needs to be done, whether the working people involved in the industry and the local people are affected by the relocation of the industry, whether there is environmental pollution, whether there is any negative impact on climate change, whether justice is ensured for the affected population, government and investors support for setting up the industry as well as involvement of workers representative in the shifting process. All these are about just transition issue and it should be kept in mind in case of any industrial transfer.

In fact, “A just transition for all towards an environmentally sustainable economy … needs to be well managed and contribute to the goals of decent work for all, social inclusion and the eradication of poverty.” Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all” International Labor Organization (2015). “Taking into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities” Paris Agreement (2015) is a just transition.

It is an integrated approach to sustainable development that brings together social progress, environmental protection, and economic success into a framework of democratic governance and institutional resilience. Effective “just transition” strategies require local, bottom-up engagement of all affected stakeholders and commitment by governments to guarantee their buy-in and provide planning security.

At the same time, attractive as such a vision might be to State leaders and decision makers, it has to be remembered that in order to succeed in such a quest, all proposed changes must be not only economically feasible, but also socially acceptable, taking into account opinions and the well-being of the most affected communities.

Accounting all relevant stakeholders and the people of the area interests regarding the transition of an industry is the crucial element of the whole process. It is them who will determine the fate, i.e., the success or failure of the transition. If the future that they are offered satisfies their interests, the task will be accomplished. If, in turn, their needs are sacrificed in the name of the greater good, be it faster economic growth, greater prosperity for the society as a whole, or more rapid and robust growth of the industry, the transition is doomed to fail.

On the other hand, the transition is thrived if it “managed well, transitions to environmentally and socially sustainable economies can become a strong driver of job creation, job upgrading, social justice and poverty eradication. Greening all enterprises and jobs by introducing more energy and resource efficient practices, avoiding pollution and managing natural resources sustainably leads to innovation, enhances resilience and generates savings which drive new investment and employment”-International Labor Organization (2015).

All this in consideration, I think in case of tannery relocation just transition issues are not considered and the issue of just transition should be seriously addressed immediately to overcome the ongoing problems in the tannery sector. And if it does, the tannery industry will quickly become compliant and achieve LWG certification and turn to boost leather exports to the United States and Europe as well as regained its previous forms and heritage

Sources:

[1] https://rapidbd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Tannery-Post-Relocation.pdf

[2] https://unfccc.int/gender

[3] https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth-and-inequality-close-relationship

[4] https://www.ituc-csi.org/just-transition-centre