Brands also committed to expanding the new accord to at least one other country beyond Bangladesh. The NationTwitterFounded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism. Bangladesh police chase protesting garment workers in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 9, 2019. Fashion brands sign new deal on Bangladesh garment workers' safety ... fighting. Human Rights Watch interviewed eight witnesses to the police violence, fourteen dismissed workers, and three union leaders, and also reviewed lists of fired workers and dismissal notices posted on the factories. As well as being threatened, our workload was increased so it was hard to find the time to talk to my colleagues about the union. http://libcom.org/library/tailoring-needs-garment-worker-struggles-bangladesh. I showed up with friends to support him and his family—that’s me second from right in the PPE. The government and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) should ensure compliance with the labor law, and sanction companies which abuse worker rights. Behind Wal-Mart’s Still, stereotypes of women workers as passive and powerless persist. Both times I said yes. The students announced a strike for the following day. Police said about 1,500 workers had been sacked or suspended but Akhter says the actual number “may be as much as 3,000”. The disaster put pressure on global brands to improve factory conditions, and substantial safety improvements have been made, labour advocates and industry leaders say. The 78-page report, '"Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most': Workers' Rights in Bangladesh's Garment Factories," is based on interviews with more than 160 workers from 44 . Garment workers and activists protest in Ashulia, outside Dhaka, on International Womens Day, March 6, 2020. “I still do not know what my crime was and why I was dismissed,” he says. When Clothing Labels Are a Matter of Life or Death, Bangladesh: Stop Persecuting Unions, Garment Workers, “Paying for a Bus Ticket and Expecting to Fly”, Ukraine: Izium Apartment Victims Need Justice, Indian Girl’s Alleged Rape and Murder Sparks Protests, Senegal: Violent Crackdown On Opposition, Dissent, Bangladesh police used water cannons, tear gas, documented previous use of this technique, Video: Violence and Rape by Zimbabwe Gov't Forces After Protests. In addition to all the workers at Wal-Mart there are the millions who are not The site where the eight-storey Rana Plaza building once stood is now an open field, overgrown with lush greenery. percent are women. The EU will conduct a review in the summer of 2014. as Wal-Mart, which sells items produced by the RMG. "There is a narrative that garment workers are always oppressed. Can you point to some primary sources of info from/on the NGWF and the general situation ref workers struggles in Bangladesh. Share this via LinkedIn Even with an increase of he same amount this time, Malik notes, “you’d still be seeing Bangladesh as a location on the lower end of global wages in this industry”. Following three days of a large and noisy protest outside the factory and offices, the bosses continued to refuse to bow to the worker’s demands. Yanoor Akter, who was 15 when she worked at a factory housed in Rana Plaza, survived the disaster but was left with debilitating injuries to her legs and abdomen and has struggled to find stable employment as a result. The man asked me if my name was correct and then asked if I worked at the factory. A small cement sculpture depicting a clenched fist holding a hammer and sickle commemorates the victims of the disaster. (Fariya Rahman), Activist and former garment worker Shama, center with hat, was forced to get an emergency heart valve replacement during the pandemic. Nearly 80% of the 4 million people working in the sector that produces clothes for companies including H&M and NEXT are women who work long hours for minimal pay. “But I was working at my station. In the sewing section, when the line supervisor walks up and down, he says that anyone who is in the union will be stripped naked and kicked into the street. A garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013. Bangladeshi Workers Fight Back Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights 1.71K subscribers Subscribe 9 Save 5.8K views 10 years ago Notice Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines) Other ways to share from October through November. One woman was attacked with cutting shears. One female worker said that when the workers in her factory presented their union registration form to the company owner, he threw it in the dustbin – then threatened the workers, saying he would never allow the union to start. They said, “if you come near the factory we will break your hands and legs.” I was so scared I moved to a new house, but I still went to the factory. DHAKA, April 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Their factories are safer, but many Bangladeshis stitching clothes for big Western brands say they still face dire pay and working conditions 10 . As his family’s sole breadwinner, it is nowhere near enough. 'Made in Bangladesh' premiered in the United States on Dec. 6 and Akter, who is played by actor Rikita Shimu, said she hopes the film will encourage garment workers to speak up when it screens in Bangladesh next year. It must have slipped the bosses minds that it’s unpaid salaries that have sparked the dispute. The new agreement contains many of the hallmarks of the original, including the ability to subject retailers to legal action if their factories fail to meet labor safety standards; shared responsibility for governance between suppliers and brands; safety committee training and monitoring overseen by the Bangladeshi-based RMG Sustainability Council; and an independent complaints mechanism. They are primarily young women, who live and work in close quarters, and they are at high risk for airborne infections like tuberculosis. of Action to Defend Public Education, and the international student movement is (modern). One of my friends told me he doesn’t even stay at his own house, afraid the police will harass him.”, Another worries that he will not be paid for the weeks in December when the factories were shuttered. This was about 15-20 days after we submitted the forms. Corporate officials have denied workers overtime Hundreds of students A colleague of Mia’s told Human Rights Watch that he and Mia were returning from their lunch break when they got caught in the protests: “Police started shooting and the workers started running away, so Sumon and I started running and suddenly Sumon was shot in his chest and he fell down. “Factories in Bangladesh should not use false criminal complaints and mass terminations to stifle workers’ collective action.”. Investigate allegations against factory owners who engage in anti-union activity. Police have arrested more than 20 of their labor leaders. “The government has belatedly begun to register unions, which is an important first step, but it now needs to ensure that factory owners stop persecuting their leaders and actually allow them to function.”. But NGWF have admitted that at high points of struggle they 'have no control over workers'. Middle-class Bangladeshis stockpiled months worth of food, and immediately began avoiding crowds, with those able to work from home doing so. Garment exports, which account for 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual export revenue, fell 17 percent in 2020. We want food and wages first.’’ Police have arrested more than 20 of their labor leaders. The production manager said, “the union will not help us so don’t try to fight the owner. “No factories will give them work now,” one man in his late 20s says, asking that his name be withheld. (Fariya Rahman), Garment workers protest against withheld wages, May 11. Human Rights Watch considers dismissal for exercising the right to strike a disproportionate disciplinary sanction. Copyright (c) 2023 The Nation Company LLC, Spain’s Left Is in Turmoil—and Now It’s Facing a Huge Electoral Test, Get Ready for AI Surveillance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Congress Is Sticking Students With the Check, The Right’s War on Drag Is Flagrantly Unconstitutional. The workers said they did not do any work in the factory yesterday in protest as the authorities sacked Majibar Rahman, one of their leaders on Sunday and the hired thugs beat up two other leaders - Sayeed and Ashraf - on Monday night who were protesting the termination. Others said that factory managers refused to meet them. The garment sector accounts for 84 percent of the export income for the country, but workers are entitled to only a paltry monthly minimum wage that works out to about $95, with the lion’s share of the profits going to the international brands that buy the workers’ output. Labor activists also complained that some of the unions in factories are not genuinely independent, but are so-called “yellow unions” that have been established by the factory owners themselves to control workers and prevent them from establishing or joining the union of their choice. Some local gangsters beat me up and told me not to encourage other workers to join the union. Rumours abound that a blacklist of troublemakers is doing the rounds of factories in the area. But garment workers haven’t been able to afford this luxury: They continued to go to their factories during the lockdown, and many live in cramped housing that doesn’t allow for the type of social distancing health authorities recommend. After relentless pressure, the management agreed to pay them two months salary, but this has not been paid in full yet. We don’t have any alternative except coming into the street doing this protest. I’ve been taking photographs throughout this crisis, but I’ve also been continuing my work with the workers’ rights organization Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati (Bangladesh Garment Workers Solidarity), organizing meetings on Facebook, and holding discussions on Zoom. “Everyone seems scared of being harassed by the police,” says one tea seller, frowning from his stall. (Photos by Fariya Rahman), Everything is changing so quickly, and the number of Covid-19 cases are increasing every day in Bangladesh.
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