● In Bangladesh ci sono circa 4000 fabbriche di abbigliamento, con 2 milioni di addetti; esportano, soprattutto in Usa e UE, per $12MD, pari all’80% dell’export totale ($15MD); ($1=69,40 taka). Le industrie dell’abbigliamento occupano circa il 40% dei salariati dell’industria.
● Ad Ashulia e Kanchpur, i due maggiori centri manifatturieri del paese, si produce per catene commerciali internazionali come Wal-Mart, Tesco e H&M.
● Ad Ashulia, a circa 30 km a Nord della capitale Dhaka, lavorano almeno 800 000 salariati in oltre 1000 stabilimenti.
o Dopo una serie di violenti proteste operaie a Ashulia e Kanchpur – lo scorso weekend avevano protestato circa 50 000 salariati.
– Dopo le proteste dei lavoratori del gruppo Ananta (10 000 salariati), lunedì hanno scioperato circa 26 000 salariati di uno dei maggiori stabilimenti (gruppo Ha- Meem), protestando contro i maltrattamenti dei compagni e chiedendo un salario minimo mensile di 5 000 takas (un aumento di $24/mese per un totale di $73/mese), contro i 2 000 takas attuali, uno dei peggiori salari del settore nel mondo, secondo le dichiarazioni della Confederazione sindacale internazionale ITUC. L’ultimo aumento salariale è stato nel 2006.
● Si sono uniti poi agli scioperanti altri 100 000 lavoratori degli stabilimenti vicini chiusi dal padronato per timore di disordini.
● I manifestanti hanno lanciato pietre contro gli stabilimenti e bloccato per alcune ore l’autostrada; almeno 100 i feriti negli scontri con la polizia [informazioni un po’ discordanti sui vari giornali, riguardo alla sequenza delle lotte e alla repressione poliziesca].
– A gennaio 2010 grandi gruppi commerciali occidentali avevano chiesto al primo ministro aumenti salariali generalizzati, dato che i salari attuali “al di sotto della soglia di povertà” hanno “contribuito all’agitazione operaria”.
– Mercoledì sono state riaperte 700 fabbriche (di cui 300 fuori dalla capitale) dopo che il governo ha assicurato di proteggerli.
o L’Associazione dei produttori ed esportatori di abbigliamento del Bagladesh rappresenta oltre 4 5000 fabbriche e occupa 3,5 milioni di salariati, per la maggior parte donne.
● Dopo la promessa di aumenti salariali, sono rientrati in fabbrica la maggior parte dei 200 000 lavoratori degli stabilimenti dell’area industriale di Ashulia.
● 2003, a vent’anni dalla creazione nel 1983 della prima Zona di Lavorazione per l’Export (EPZ) presso la città portuale di Chittagong, il Bangladesh rende legale la creazione di organizzazioni sindacali, su pressione USA, nelle sue 6 EPZ (dove sono impiegati oltre 130700 salariati.
o Il divieto di attività sindacali rientrava tra gli incentivi offerti dalle EPZ agli investitori esteri.
– Il Sud Corea era (2003) il maggior investitore estero nelle zone.
– Sud Corea e Giappone hanno protestato contro l’accettazione di Dhaka delle richieste Usa sul sindacato.
– Un funzionario dell’autorità delle EPZ: aver accettato la pressione americana porterà benefici, in particolare maggiori investimenti USA; e elimina il rischio che gli Usa impongano barriere non doganali alle merci del Bangladesh, come la sospensione del Sistema generalizzato di Preferenza (GSP).
– Gli USA sono il maggior mercato singolo per il Bangladesh, accogliendo circa il 36% del suo export, che con il sistema GSP giunge a $40mn/anno; i gruppi americani hanno investito circa $31mn. nelle EPZ.
– Oltre 20 paesi hanno investito per $674mn in 190 unità industriali nelle zone; il Sud Corea è il maggior investitore, con $215 mn., e occupa oltre 55 000 addetti.
Un dirigente di un gruppo: i sindacati in Bangladesh sono spesso al servizio di gruppi politici e proprietari; in Bangladesh il sindacato è divenuto sinonimo di corruzione dei suoi leader … di fatto è un’organizzazione di dirigenti sindacali e non dei lavoratori, che trae vantaggi solo per sé.
Financial Express 100622
– More than 50,000 garment workers went on the rampage in Ashulia Monday, forcing closure of at least 100 factories as protests over low wages turned deadly amid deep concern of investors.
– Police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse a sea of workers, turning the key industrial zone into a battle-field and halting traffic in the Dhaka-Tangail highway for four hours.
– The violent protests for the third consecutive day have sent shiver down the chin of the manufacturers who are now alarmed over the "survival" of the country’s biggest export earning sector.
– Police said the trouble first erupted at the factories of Ananta Group, where 10,000 workers staged demonstrations, seeking a three-fold hike in their basic minimum monthly wages.
– The unrest spread to Ha-Meem Group, which employs 26,000, where the workers were allegedly mistreated by the management. The labourers held protests and then walked off the factory.
– Soon tens of thousands of workers joined the protesters after the owners of at least 100 factories suspended production and declared holiday for the day fearing large-scale violence.
The workers spilled on the narrow highway linking the capital Dhaka with the northern districts, turning the area into a " human sea" stretching miles from Ashulia to Baipail in Savar.
– "There were tens of thousands of workers, protesting maltreatment of their colleagues and demanding minimum monthly salaries of 5,000 taka," Ashulia police chief Sirajul Islam said.
Islam said while most workers dispersed peacefully, several thousands turned violent, torching at least four cars, damaging dozens of vehicles and pelting stones on the glasses of their factories.
– A top police officer said law-enforcers were forced to use batons and water canons, fire rubber bullets and tear gas shells to break up the workers.
– Instead of leaving the highway, workers fought back by blockading the road for four hours until 6:00pm and throwing rocks and stones at police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion.
– Unions said at least 100 workers were injured in the clashes. Police said several constables and officers were wounded. They won’t comment on the number of injuries of workers.
– Workers blamed police for the violence, saying the law-enforcers guarding factories in the industrial hub attacked them with firearms when they were peacefully demonstrating for higher wages.
– The latest unrest comes a couple of days after the Vienna-based International Trade Union[e] Confederation (ITUC) said the apparel salaries in Bangladesh are the lowest in the world.
It said poor working conditions and refusal of the factory owners to honour wage agreements have led to "frequent violence" in the industrial areas.
– Garment workers – especially the entry level labourers — get 1662.50 taka (25 dollars) as minimum monthly wage following a tripartite deal in 2006 among the government, unions and the owners.
– Unions have demanded the minimum salaries be fixed at 5,000 taka and have asked the government’s newly established minimum wage board to implement the hike as soon as possible.
– Panic gripped the owners as the latest troubles forced shutdown of their factories for the third consecutive day. Angry owners held emergency meeting at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) office to discuss the situation.
In an evening statement, BGMEA said the manufacturers were "alarmed" at non-stop unrest in the country’s main industrial areas such as Ashulia, Savar and Rupganj over the past 15 days.
"The workers are walking out of work, raising irrational demand. As a result, we are compelled to close down our factories," the influential industrial grouping said.
It said the manufacturers are "deeply concerned" as unrest in the workplaces could cripple the industry, shoo away buyers and entrepreneurs to other destinations.
The exporters were forced to spend 13.11 billion taka on air shipment between December and April to meet buyers’ deadline, as workers troubles cost factories weeks of extra days, it said.
"We urge the country to understand the situation and help save the industry," it said.
Apparels made up 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s 15.56 billion dollars export last year. The country’s 4,500 plus factories employ some 3.5 million workers – most of them women.
Protesters had demanded a rise in their monthly wages of 1,660, equivalent to $24, to a new minimum wage of 5,000 taka.
– Operations resumed on Wednesday at 300 garment factories outside the Bangladeshi capital after owners agreed to a pay review for workers whose protests to demand a tripling of their wages shut down the plants for a day.
– Officials said most of the 200,000 employees at the plants in the Ashulia industrial zone had reported for work after owners pledged to raise wages soon. Witnesses said police and security guards were out in force in the district.
– Protesters had demanded a rise in their monthly wages of 1,660, equivalent to $24, to a new minimum wage of 5,000 taka.
New wage levels, to be set at talks between workers and the government, would likely take effect from next month, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
– The association, which represents more than 4,500 factories employing 3.5 million workers — most of them women — said it could offer no more than 3,000 taka a month. Workers said they last received a pay rise in 2006.
Murshedy said the government had assured plant owners it would ensure security in the area.
– At least 100 people were injured in clashes pitting thousands of workers against security men at Ashulia, one of the country’s major textile manufacturing areas on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Among the plants closed were factories that produce and supply goods for global brands.
– Garments, Bangladesh’s biggest export, account for more than 80 percent of annual export earnings of $15 billion, according to commerce ministry data. ($1=69.40 taka)
Police fire tear gas at Bangladesh garment workers
DHAKA — Bangladeshi police on Monday fired tear gas and rubber bullets at tens of thousands of garment workers protesting against low wages and poor conditions, after a similar demonstration at the weekend.
Clashes erupted at the Ashulia industrial area outside the capital Dhaka after workers at one of the country’s largest apparel plants went on strike.
– "Some 26,000 workers walked out of one factory to protest," Dhaka police chief Iqbal Bahar told AFP. "More than 100,000 workers joined them after the neighbouring factories, fearing trouble, sent their workers home."
He said most workers dispersed peacefully but when some damaged cars and pelted stones at factory windows, the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
– On Saturday, 50,000 workers held violent protests demanding wage hikes. Dozens were injured and several factories were ransacked.
Garment workers are currently paid a minimum of 1,662.50 taka (25 dollars) a month following a 2006 agreement among manufacturers, unions and the government.
Unions have demanded that the monthly minimum wage is raised to 5,000 taka.
– The violent protest follows a series of labour disputes at Ashulia and Kanchpur — the country’s two main apparel hubs — where most factories which make clothing for global retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and H&M are located.
– At least 800,000 people work at more than one thousand factories in Ashulia, which is situated 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Dhaka.
Major western retailers in January wrote to the prime minister requesting across-the-board wage increases.
Current wages are "below the poverty line" and have "contributed to unrest" among workers, the letter said.
Garments accounted for nearly 80 percent of Bangladesh’s 15.56 billion dollars of exports last year. The apparel factories employ around 40 percent of the industrial workforce.
– DHAKA, Bangladesh—About 700 garment factories in Bangladesh reopened Wednesday after days of violent protests by tens of thousands of workers demanding better wages.
Owners lifted a shutdown of the factories after the government promised to stop the violence, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
"The factories resumed operation Wednesday and workers are reporting to duty," Mr. Murshedy said.
He said they decided to reopen the factories amid assurance from the government that enough security would be in place while the factory owners talk with the workers to solve their problems.
"We are working together," Mr. Murshedy said by telephone. "Everything is normal today."
– The manufacturers decided late Monday to close their factories because they had no other way to avoid anarchy in the major industrial hub outside the capital, he said.
– Over the past week, thousands of workers took to the streets and attacked many factories. Hundreds were injured in clashes with police who tried to remove them.
– The workers have demanded the minimum wage rise to 5,000 takas ($73) a month.
– The current average monthly salary is 2,000 takas making Bangladeshis the world’s most poorly paid garment workers, according to the International Trade Union[e] Confederation, a Vienna-based labor-rights group. Officially, the minimum wage is $25.
Workers say it is difficult for them to support their families with their current monthly income as prices of daily commodities have risen significantly in recent years.
Rashida Akter, a 23-year-old seamstress at a sprawling factory in Dhaka, said it was once even possible to pay her bills with monthly income of 1200 takas, but now, "it’s impossible. How can we survive?" she asked.
– Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories that export mainly to the U.S. and Europe.
– Garment exports earn the country $12 billion. The industry employs 2 million people in Bangladesh and is a mainstay of the impoverished country’s economy.
– It has been hit hard by the global recession, however, and manufacturers say they’re being squeezed by a slump in demand and higher production costs due to an energy crisis and poor infrastructure.
– DHAKA – Under pressure from the United States, trade unions will finally be allowed in Bangladesh’s export processing zones (EPZs) in January, a step hailed as a victory by labor rights campaigners, but regarded by some government and business leaders as bad for business.
– The decision means that trade union[e] activities will be allowed more than 20 years after the first EPZ opened near the port city of Chittagong, offering foreign investors incentives that included a bar on trade union[e] activities. Unions demanding better pay and working conditions was considered a costly disincentive to business.
The Bangladesh government decided in early December to lift the ban in its six export zones, where more than 130,700 people are employed. The move was taken under pressure from the US government. Although the decision has been made, the debate is far from over.
Critics say that many unions are corrupt, cause trouble, do not actually help workers and raise the costs of doing business in Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on garment exports from the special zones.
Trade union[e] leader Mukhlesur Rahman argues that it is high time that trade unions operated in the EPZs. After all, he says, Bangladesh’s own laws, not to mention International Labor Organization conventions, permit the right to association in almost all spheres of national life. "The law ought to apply equally to all sectors of the economy, including the EPZs," he observed.
– Ali Reza Haider, president of the United Garment Workers Federation, says the truth is that the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), which oversees the export zones, had become a government within the government over the years.
– But an investor from South Korea, the largest investor in the zones, sees a completely different picture. Foreign investors are like migratory birds, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We will settle where the condition for investment is ideal," he said. "With the decision of the Bangladesh government to allow trade unions in EPZs, we foresee trouble, we feel insecure."
– South Korean and Japanese diplomats also had protested Dhaka’s acquiescing to US demands. In October, Bangladesh had asked the US Trade Representative’s Office for three more years before allowing trade unions to operate in the EPZs
The debate over giving employees freedom to organize in the zones, which account for much of Bangladesh’s exports, such as garments, has been simmering for a decade. Long ago the American Federation of Labor Institute had called for union[e] organizing in Bangladesh and its export zones.
– Despite concerns raised by some foreign investors, an official with the BEPZA said that giving in to US pressure would bring bigger benefits, especially more US investments. Allowing trade union[e] activities also staved off the possibility of Washington imposing non-tariff barriers on Bangladesh goods. This could have meant suspension of the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) facilities, if Dhaka failed to establish the right of labor association in the EPZs from January 2004.
– The US market is crucial to Bangladesh since it is the single largest buyer of Bangladesh goods and services, taking in 36 percent of the South Asian nation’s exports.
o Under the GSP, Bangladesh’s exports to US markets fetch about US$40 million annually. US firms have invested about $31 million in the EPZs.
– More than 20 countries have invested a total of $674.54 million in 190 industrial units in the zones. The biggest investor, South Korea, has poured in $215.14 million and employs 55,326 people, according to official statistics. Foreign investment of $103 million in fiscal 2002-2003 is the highest ever since the zones were established 20 years ago.
– But now a number of top industrialists are concerned about the labor situation next year in the zones. An executive of one company, giving his name only as Rahman, told IPS that trade unions in Bangladesh often serve political groups and owners. "In this impoverished country, a trade union[e] is actually the union[e] of trade union[e] leaders and not workers," he said. "The labor leaders exploit both the workers and owners of mills and industrial units for their personal aggrandizement and personal gains. They use workers as means to serve their selfish interests."
– Joining the issue, advocate Abu Ahmed of the Dhaka Bar Association says that while trade union[e] organizing was conceived with the noble idea of safeguarding workers’ interests, this was not always the case in the country. "In Bangladesh, trade unionism has become synonymous with corruption of the trade union[e] leaders, exploitation of the workers, unrest in mills and factories and hampering of production," he said. He recalled how over two dozen jute mills, including the Adamjee Jute Mills, the largest in Asia, had to be shut down after incurring heavy losses over the years due to frequent strikes and internal conflicts.
"Look at the Chittagong seaport, look at the public sector banks, especially the Central Bank, Power Development Board, Telephone and Telegraph Board and other government organizations, where strikes or the threat to strike on different pleas and uneasy situations have become the order of the day," remarked Saiful Haque, a senior officer of a nationalized bank in the capital.
– Already, the Bangladesh Employers Federation says that the government must see to it that outsiders do not get involved in trade union[e] activities in the export zones. Haider of the garment workers’ federation, however, cites a lack of recognition that trade unionism is a basic right that should have been available in the export zones in the first place, so that restoring it now is not a liability.
The question of extending better wages, benefits and working conditions should not depend on the pleasure of the employers alone, he adds. "These issues should be governed by the rules and regulations of a factory or industrial unit."
Workers knowing they can assert their rights is also a plus factor in business, argues Haider. Granting trade unionism would spur workers to work more vigorously to earn more money and this, in turn, would enable entrepreneurs to make more as well.