International solidarity must be rallied to expose the unwarranted allegations being levelled against protesting workers in Bangladesh and other countries in Asia and the Pacific. The Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation (SGSF) and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) demand immediate action to bring these injustices to light.
The wage protest in Bangladesh, which has been going on since October 7th, 2023, demands a minimum wage of 23,000 takas ($207). The garment factories in the country – which contribute around 85% to its $55 billion annual exports – supply to some of the world’s top brands like Levi’s, Zara and H&M. Despite the industry employing four million workers (the majority of whom are women), it subjects them to terrible working conditions. Until recently, these women earned a monthly income of 8,300 Taka ($75), an absolute disgrace as it drives them towards impoverishment. These poverty wages have resulted in tremendous suffering, as they can hardly afford to fulfil their basic living needs.
It is high time for the government and employers to acknowledge the dire situation and take the necessary steps to address it. However, instead of considering the workers’ demands, they offered a wage of 12,500 taka ($112). The declared minimum wage of 12500 Taka is unacceptable, and it is a mockery to the workers. They deserve a fair share of the wages; hungry workers will not produce a profit. As a result, workers have disagreed with the government’s inadequate pay, which is unsuitable for their livelihood.
The authorities are clamping down on workers the only way they know how: through violence. Workers are coming out in their thousands, and that terrifies them. Workers are a powerful pack and collectively stronger than the authorities think. Last Thursday, November 9 2023, at least 15,000 workers clashed with police on a highway and Tusuka, a top plant, along with a dozen other factories. With the protest escalating, some workers were killed by gunfire on the same day. Until now, four workers have been killed brutally by police fire and attacked by local goons named Rasel, Imran, Anjuman and Jalaluddin. As the protest escalates, the death toll rises every day, along with thousands of severely injured workers.
To disperse workers, the police have used rubber bullets and tear gas. Although considered to be less lethal, rubber bullets can still cause fatal organ injuries, blindness, fractures as well as other serious wounds. Teargas too can cause respiratory failure, as well as blindness. However, law enforcement authorities are rarely held accountable for these life-altering consequences. Following protests, Bangladesh police charged 11,000 workers. The police, authorities and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) declared the protests illegal and violent. According to Article 13 (1) of the labour code, “an employer may, in the event of an illegal strike in any section or department of any establishment, close down either wholly or partly such section or establishment.” The police and government have blamed the wage protest for closing at least 150 Global North brands’ supplier factories. The police said that during the protests, workers blocked roadways and damaged factories, resulting in the closure of over 150 factories “indefinitely.”
However, these claims fail at the altar of one universal truth – there is no such thing as an illegal strike. The right to protest against deeply exploitative, inhumane and impoverishing working conditions, is often labelled as violent and illegal. However, laws which consider protests against such conditions as illegal, double up as tools of oppression.
(Source: SGSF, 2023)
Bangladesh ratified ILO Conventions No. 87 and No. 98 back in 1972. These conventions guarantee Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining rights of workers. Yet, even as of 2023, workers are still being deprived of their rights to organise and strike, and their actions continue to be treated as illegal and violent. Despite allegations of worker injuries and deaths during these protests, the police have denied any wrongdoing. This is true even in the case of a unionist from the SGSF. As we keep each worker who is protesting against exploitation in our heart, it is crucial to acknowledge unequivocally, that this is injustice. When capitalists suppress labour democracy, and the legal system upholds this bulwark of oppression, it can be difficult to even hope for change. However, we know these workers stand with thousands of other workers in history, across the region, who have usurped their rights when they have been denied.
Continuing this legacy of workers’ protests, we demand that the international community stand in solidarity and demand accountability and justice for all workers, unionists, and labour rights defenders who have been killed, arrested, harassed and denied the right to a living wage and Freedom of Association in Bangladesh. It is time to take action and make workers’ voices heard.
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For the Bangladesh government and authorities to drop all the charges against 11,000 workers and all other labour and human rights defenders and activists;
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For the Bangladesh government and BGMEA to accept the living wage demand of 23.000 Taka, repeal the multiple wage floors in Bangladesh, and take immediate action to replace them with a living wage. For the Bangladesh government to stop the attacks against workers, trade unionists and labour rights defenders and to dutifully fulfil their obligations under the ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining by protecting fundamental labour rights of workers;
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For the Global North and international brands to adopt fair purchasing practices to safeguard workers’ rights, including Freedom of Association, movement, and expression;
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For the Committee of Freedom of Association (CFA) and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association (SRFoA) to investigate the violence and attacks against trade unionists, labour rights and human rights defenders in Bangladesh and other countries in Asia and the Pacific.
Signatories
Alga Association
AMKAS Nepal
Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women Philippines
DemOlolt, Mongolia
Federation of Indonesian United Trade Unions (FSBPI), Indonesia
Feminist League, Kazakhstan
Fiji Women’s Rights Movement
Human rights movement Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan
Initiative for Right View (IRV), Khulna, Bangladesh
Karmojibi Nari, Bangladesh
Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK)
National Indigenous Women Forum (NIWF)
NGO NIHOL -Uzbekistan
Otifa
Palangkaraya Ecological and Human Rights Studies (PROGRESS)
Rumpun Perempuan dan Anak – Indonesia
SCODE, Vietnam
Serve the People Association
SERUNI Indonesia
Sisters for Women Forum For Women In Nepal (WOFOWON)
Stand Up Movement Lanka
Stand Up Workers Union
Tarangini Foundation
Voice of the Plantation People’s Organization
We Women Lanka Network
WOREC Nepal
Zan va Zamin
