Eva Cheng
After suffering vicious cuts in real wages over the last decade, Bangladeshi garment workers' incomes have been further squeezed since January 2005 when the three-decade-old international Multi-Fibre Agreement expired, exposing textile and garment exporting countries like Bangladesh to greater competition.
Bangladesh's garment industry is virtually 100% export-oriented, with Bangladeshi garment bosses serving as agents to manage sweatshops for global capital from the rich countries.
Even foreign minister M. Morshed Khan admitted on July 7 that the official minimum wage of 930 Taka (US$14) a month — unchanged since 1994, while consumer prices have increased threefold — is not enough to live on, yet many bosses don't even pay that amount. In addition, many workers have been left unpaid for months; had their overtime pay owing, unrecognised or ignored; or been injured or killed in highly unsafe work environments. In 2005, 130 garment workers in Bangladesh died on the job and at least 950 were injured.
Garment workers struggled against these appalling conditions, forcing four series of commitments from the bosses between 1997 and 2005. However, according to the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, none of these have been fully implemented and the agreements were made to defuse workers' anger after labour unrest. Nor have the garment bosses implemented the 24-point recommendation by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment in 2000.
More than 80% of the country's garment workers are women, mostly from rural areas, who are also subjected to regular sexual harassment and abuse.
The workers have had enough. On May 20, 1000 garment workers at the FS Sweater Factory in the capital Dhaka refused to work, demanding that their boss release three fellow workers who stood up for their rights. In response, the boss locked up the strikers and cut their power and water supplies amidst sweltering heat. They were forced to fight their way out, barricading a major highway for hours and fighting pitched battles with the police. One person was killed and 70 injured.
Two days later, workers at Universal Garments in an export processing zone (EPZ) in Dhaka demanded wages that were three months in arrears. Assaulted by factory security, the workers went to neighbouring factories for help and were reportedly joined by some 20,000 workers from hundreds of other factories in the area for an angry march. At least two factories were burned down, with hundreds of others ransacked, and hundreds of company vehicles were trashed. The protesters blocked main roads and were met with beatings and bullets from police.
The following day, on May 23, tens of thousands of Dhaka's garment workers downed their tools, encroaching from the industrial suburbs onto the capital. Mass demonstrations ensued in the face of thousands of gun-toting soldiers and police, putting forward a series of demands, including the end of police repression, a minimum wage increase to 3000 Taka a month (plus 1850 Taka of essential allowances), as well as a day off per week, regular public holidays and the payment of wages in arrear. Workers from some 4000 factories went on strike and joined blockades and street actions.
On May 24, facilitated by government intervention, the garment bosses — represented by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association — "agreed" to all of the workers' demands. Workers' protests subsided until BGMEA admitted that it would not honour the commitment, triggering a new round of protests and street battles from May 29. Thousands of protesters were injured and thousands more arrested.
In another attempt to defuse workers' anger, on May 31 the government set up a new wage board to determine the new minimum wage, promised for late July at the earliest. However on July 16, the New Nation reported the BGMEA bosses made clear that they couldn't afford a minimum wage of more than 1230 Taka.
The recent round of protests was a spontaneous revolt — less than 1% of Bangladesh's garment workers are unionised. Fragmentation of the country's trade union movement hasn't helped — there are no less than 23 national federations covering 4600 registered trade unions, which only represent half of the unionised work force. Legal registration is both hard to obtain and maintain. Yellow unions are common.
Now, 16 garment workers' federations — including the National Garment Workers Federation — are representing the workers in negotiating with the government and the bosses. However not all workers are willing to wait quietly for the negotiation results. Workers in several garment factories in the Dhaka EPZ have launched strikes and protested to press for their demands, including workers at the Honour Way Factory, where 37 workers were sacked on July 9 for their alleged involvement in the recent protests.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, July 26, 2006.
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