Dhaka: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM) has launched capacity development training on effective workplace cooperation for workers’ representatives and mid-level managers in the readymade garment (RMG) sector.

By the end of 2015, it is targeted to reach some 2,700 workers and managers from 100 RMG factories, according to a media release issued by ILO on Wednesday.

The training will be implemented in technical collaboration with BIM and in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), National Coordination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) and IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC).

The capacity building activities will ensure that workers, employers and their representatives are better equipped to engage in meaningful dialogue and labour relations on workplace issues of mutual importance.

The programme will see a series of two-day workshops take place each bringing together equal number of workers’ representatives and managers.

ILO Country Director for Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy said the more the workers and employers engage in social dialogue the better for harmonious industrial relations and good workplace cooperation. ‘This training will help develop skills that will benefit the Bangladesh RMG sector and all who work in it.’

A total of 28 master trainers, including seven management counsellors from BIM, who have been trained on effective workplace cooperation by ILO’s International Training Centre (ITC) will carry out the training.

Five training modules developed by ITC and translated into Bangla will be used to support the sessions.

Similar training activities will be held in collaboration with the BGMEA and the BKMEA while ILO is also in contact with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to introduce parallel capacity development activities for workers and managers in factories in the export processing zones (EPZ).

The training activities are being carried out with the financial support of the governments of Norway and Denmark.

ILO recently signed an agreement with the Government of Sweden to implement a five-year project on ‘Promoting social dialogue and harmonious industrial relations in Bangladesh ready-made garment industry.’

When it starts in early 2016, this new initiative will further strengthen effective workplace cooperation in some 500 additional RMG factories, said the ILO.