Marking 10 years of progress through the ETI Bangladesh Social Dialogue Programme

To mark a decade of work, ETI Bangladesh celebrated its flagship Social Dialogue Programme with a multi-stakeholder dialogue event, supported by STITCH.

The gathering brought together 130 actors from across the industry – factory management and workers, trade union leaders, brands, development partners, BGMEA, BKMEA, NGOs and international organisations.

The event reflected on achievements and challenges of the past 10 years and underscored the need to move beyond pilot projects to institutionalise social dialogue across all levels of the industry. Discussions focused on strengthening worker voices – particularly of women and youth – recognising trade unions and collective bargaining as a business case, and addressing emerging issues such as wages, gender, climate, Just Transition and automation.

As Abil Bin Amin, Executive Director of ETI Bangladesh, noted: “Enough pilot work has been laid down in these ten years; the next ten years need to be paved by an ambitious vision built on concrete steps toward practical action.”