Bangladesh

5

No guarantee of rights

Same as last year

Bangladesh is one of the 10 worst countries in the world for working people

  • Regressive laws

  • Obstacles to union formation

  • Brutal repression of strikes

Workers’ rights in Bangladesh continued to be severely curtailed. In the garment sector, the country’s largest industry, which employs more than 4.5 million workers, attempts at forming unions were relentlessly obstructed while strikes were met with extreme brutality by the industrial police, who fired live rounds and used batons and tear gas to disperse workers. At least six workers were shot and killed by the police during strikes while many others were gravely injured.

Workers in Bangladesh were also exposed to mass dismissals and criminal prosecution for exercising their right to peaceful protest. The authorities also frustrated establishment of unions by imposing an extremely burdensome registration process.

Workers' rights violations

Murders

Many garment workers were injured on 13 June 2021 following a police crackdown on strikes at Lenny Fashions and Lenny Apparels in the Dhaka export processing zone (DEPZ), Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The workers were demanding their wages after the closure of the factory. Garment worker Jesmin Begum, thirty-two years old, suffered fatal injuries after she hit an iron pole while running away from the site of the protest as police violently dispersed the demonstrators. Many workers were injured when police fired rubber bullets, threw tear-gas shells, used water cannons and baton-charged protesting workers. Over 6,000 workers lost their jobs when Lenny Fashion and Lenny Apparels, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Must Garment, closed on 20 January 2021. Management said it would pay unpaid wages by May, but the company never fulfilled its commitment.

Murders

At least five people were killed and dozens injured on 17 April 2021 after police opened fire on a crowd of workers protesting to demand unpaid wages and a pay rise at the SS Power Plant, a construction site of the coal-fired plant in the south-eastern city of Chittogram, Bangladesh. The workers were protesting over unpaid wages, unscheduled cuts in their working hours and for a Ramadan holiday and reduced hours during the religious festival.

Right to free speech and assembly

Bangladeshi police repeatedly banned union meetings and then physically stopped participants from joining a meeting where a regional committee of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) was to be formed.

The IBC is the coordinating body of Bangladeshi affiliates of the global union IndustriALL. On 24 September 2021, a meeting was planned to take place in the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) office in Chattogram to form a regional committee. However, a phone call from the police to IBC’s senior vice president, Salauddin Shapon, put a stop to that.

Another meeting was planned in a different area the following day. But again, the police contacted the vice president to say the meeting could not take place there either.

In a third attempt, the IBC decided to hold the meeting at the office of another affiliate, the Bangladesh Textile & Garment Workers League (BTGWL). When IBC leaders arrived, police officers, including some in plain clothes, blocked the gate and did not allow anyone to enter.

Right to civil liberties

On 6 August 2021, the Bangladeshi Industrial Police filed a criminal case against Babul Akter, general secretary of Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), and 24 union leaders and members in relation to incidents at Crossline Factory (Pvt) Ltd and Crossline Knit Fabrics Ltd. The factory management also filed a criminal case against its workers. These criminal complaints were filed after the factory workers formed two unions in their respective factories and filed registration applications with the Department of Labour in March 2021.

Union-busting

On 24 September 2021, a meeting was planned to take place in the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) office in Chattogram to form a regional committee of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC). However, a phone call from the police to IBC’s senior vice president Salauddin Shapon put a stop to it. Another meeting was planned to be held in a different area the following day. But again, the police contacted the vice president to say the meeting could not take place there either.

In a third attempt, the IBC decided to hold the meeting at the office of another affiliate, the Bangladesh Textile and Garment Workers League (BTGWL). When IBC leaders arrived, police officers, including some in plain clothes, blocked the gate and did not allow anyone to enter.

Workers excluded from labour protections

In the garment sector, which represents an overwhelming share of Bangladesh’s export economy, over 500,000 workers employed in export processing zones (EPZs) were not allowed to form or join unions, which left them without real power to bargain for better working conditions. The situation worsened with the implementation of the 2019 Export Processing Zones Labour Act (ELA) which states that the workers can only be a part of a workers’ welfare association (WWA), where the workers may not be given the full scope of collective bargaining. It is strictly prohibited for the workers to organise any protest within the EPZ, and any protests are often met with violent retaliation from the EPZ authorities.

Garments workers in Bangladesh protest against forced resignations and illegal layoffs. The country is one of the worst for working people, who face regressive laws, obstacles to union formation and brutal repression of strikes.Mamunur Rashid / NurPhoto via AFP

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