ACTION: Demand the release of workers arrested in Bangladesh
Thursday, 01 June 2006 19:08
{mosimage}Demonstrations demanding better rights for garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh have left two workers confirmed dead, hundreds injured, and at least a hundred factories torched. Reports suggest as many as 4,000 people may have been arrested for their alleged role in the riots.
Your support is needed to call for the charges to be dropped and those workers imprisoned to be released. The government must be pushed to launch an immediate investigation into the root cause of the riots and instigate measures to address them, including raising the minimum wage.
Workers had been demonstrating for several days after a dispute regarding piece rate at the FS Sweater factory in Gazipur (producing among others for Auchan, H&M, Gap, M&S, Inditex, Tesco and Next) led to 10 workers being arrested. After a worker from the factory was shot by the police, the fighting spread to the Savar EPZ and further, workers tended to single out factories where there had been problems including Universe Garments, Bandhu, Ringshine and A-One.
The protesters are calling for an end to the low wages and long working hours. Given the unsafe conditions and the almost complete lack of respect for workers fundamental rights, particularly the right to organise and to bargain (including the development of functional industrial relations and grievance mechanisms) it should come as no surprise that people take to the streets.
Over the past year CCC has regularly called attention to the need for structural measures to end the consistent and ongoing violations in the Bangladeshi garment industry, repeatedly warning that workers are getting desperate and frustrated. With great persistence we, together with unions and NGOs in Bangladesh, have called upon brands, the Bangladeshi government, factory owners and their associations to take immediate action. This has resulted in a lot of talk but minimal concrete improvements in the lives of the workers. Clearly, many of them by now feel they have nothing to lose.
Rather than launching an immediate investigation into the root causes of the riots and developing measures to address them, the government instead had the police arrest several union officials, either in their offices or on the road (none of them at the protests). Reports suggested that in some cases detained union officials were blindfolded and severely beaten and tortured by the police. Whilst a number of people have been released (see recent updates) many are still under arrest or facing charges.
These workers need your support! Contact the Bangladesh authorities and demand that they release the arrested workers and immediately begin to address the root causes of the recent unrest.
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Recent Updates
On May 26 we received reports that four arrested union staff were released. We have since heard from the
Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) that the charges against three of their staff will not be dropped until the police have submitted their formal report to the court. As many as 19 charges have been filed against Mishu Mushrefa of the Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF), who is currently out of jail on bail, seven of these charges have been filed at the Ashuli-Savar Thana (police station) and twelve at Gazipur Thana.
An unknown number of garment workers are under arrest or facing charges: BIGUF reports that in the Gazipur area at least 21 persons remained in jail. GWUF reports 11 garment workers still in jail. The total number is probably far higher; earlier this week sources stated that up to 4,000 people may have been charged and may be facing arrest for their alleged role in the riots.
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Meanwhile, though most workplaces are reportedly operational, protests continue particularly over the extremely low wages paid to garment workers, but also on many of the other violations of workers rights:
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May 28th: Local newspapers report that at least ten workers were hurt in a clash over wages at Experience Sweater, a Pakistani-owned knitting factory in the Dhaka EPZ
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May 29th: workers at the Ownerway factory in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone began a work stoppage in the afternoon and confined management by closing the doors and the windows of the factory. Workers had become upset following a statement from management suggesting that wages for 1,300 workers would not be raised (300 of the total workforce of 1,600 had received a wage increase). The workers released management after the owners assured them that the problem would be resolved.
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31st May: clashes broke out between workers and management at the A-One factory in Savar and work stoppages occured at Youngone, Soft Text and Honourway, leaving 50 people injured and one of the factories damaged. They were demanding the owners implement an 11 point plan which includes wage increases, increased holiday allowance, payments of overdue wages and health and saftey.
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1st of June: hundreds of workers began stoppages at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, again to demand the implementation of the 11 point plan. Stoppages occured at numerous factories including: Lani Fashion, Fahmee Fashion, Ring Sign, Shine Fashion, Honour Way Textile and Apparels, Swan Loan, Youngone, Soft-tex, A-1, Red Point, Sheba Garments, Grameen Knitwear,Dhaka Beijing Garments, Dhaka-Ria Fashion, Zong Shine Fashion, YKK Industry, Asia Plastic and Anupam Sweater factory. A futher 50 or so workers where injured after being attacked by the police and a number of the factories were damaged.
Following last week’s announcement of the setting up of a “Wage Board”, the BGMEA has now apparently agreed to raise the basic minimum salary within 90 days of the formation of the wage board, but still refuses to state by how much wages could be increased. The labour organizations are pressing for an increase of the workers’ minimum monthly wages to Tk 3,000 (18 dollar cents an hour).
The minimum wage for the garment sector workers was last fixed in 1994 at 930 Taka. Since then, according to official statistics, the cost of living has shot up by about 50 per cent, although independent economists put it at nearer a hundred per cent. In dollar terms, where the wages were worth $33 ten years ago, today they are worth only $16 due to the devaluation of Bangladesh Taka against the dollar. In the same period, the garment industry in Bangladesh has seen spectacular growth, which is continuing today. According to minister for Home Affairs Babar, in 2001 the garment export was 5$5 billion per year, and now it it is higher than $10.5 billion.
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Take action
Please use this form to send a message to the Bangladesh High Commissioner His Excellency Mr. Sabihuddin Ahmed, urging the Bangladesh authorities to release the arrested workers and to take action to address the root causes of the recent riots.
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You could also copy and/or adapt the message above and send it by email, letter or fax to the following authorities in Bangladesh:
Begum Khaleda Zia
Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Prime Minister's Office
Old Parliament House,
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
E-mail:
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;
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Fax: +88 2 8113244 / 811015 / 8113243
HE Mr. Moudud Ahmed
Minister of Law, Justice, & Parliamentary Affairs
Fax: 880 2 8618557
E-mail:
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HE Mr. Amanuallah Aman
State Minster of Labor and Employment
Fax: 880.2.716.86.60
HE Minister of Commerce
Fax : +880.2.961.57.41
Email :
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