On Human Rights Day, Bangladeshi garment workers demand protections for trade unions
18 December 2009
To commemorate Human Rights Day, the National Garment Workers' Federation (NGWF), a leading Bangladeshi trade union and War on Want partner, organised a large rally of several hundred garment workers in the capital Dhaka.
The marchers called on the government to protect the right to join and form trade unions, which is enshrined under the International Labour Organisation Convention on Freedom of Association. Bangladesh ratified this convention in 1972.
The protestors aimed to bring attention to the fact that despite the country's Labour Law, which protects the right to freedom of association, in practice most workers who attempt to organise face hostile resistance from employers. The garment workers demanded that the national government guarantee this fundamental human right, as well as enforce the country's existing labour laws.
On the same day in Dhaka another rally was organised by the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Workers' Center - sister organisation started by the NGWF in 2000. At the demonstration over hundred workers marched under a banner that read "Trade Union Rights - Human Rights Rally". The NWGF has been campaigning for the rights of EPZ workers, who are prohibited from forming trade unions.
Bangladeshi workers joined in solidarity with garment workers in Thailand and the Philippines who were fired by Triumph International, a clothing manufacturer. NGWF President, Amin Amirul, wrote a letter to the CEO of Triumph International demanding the company reinstate all fired workers and resolve the problem through dialogue with the workers and their trade union.
