Garment workers in Bangladesh work in poor conditions and face anti-union tactical tussle with the employers including assault on union organisers, Human Rights Watch in its report said yesterday. The HRW called on Bangladesh government, factory owners and western retailers to ensure respect for workers’ rights and end unlawful target of labour leaders by factory owners and supervisors. The report said efforts are underway to make Bangladesh factories safer, but the government and western retailers should do more to enforce international labour standard to protect workers’ rights, including the one to form unions, and advocate for better working condition. “If Bangladesh wants to avoid another Rana Plaza, it needs to effectively enforce labour law and ensure that garment workers enjoy their rights and voice their concerns about safety and working conditions without any fear of retaliation or dismissal,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of HRW. “If Bangladesh does not hold factory managers accountable who attack the workers and refuse their right to form unions, the government will perpetuate practices that have already cost the lives of thousands of workers.” The report titled “Whoever Raises their Head Suffers the Most”: Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories,” is based on interviews with more than 160 workers from 44 factories. According to the report, there are a series of violations including physical assault, verbal abuse – sometimes of a sexual nature – forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, failure to pay wages and bonuses on time or in full. Many workers who try to form unions to address such abuses face threats, intimidation, dismissal, and sometimes physical assault at the hands of factory management or hired third parties, added the report. Union leaders told Human Rights Watch that they continue to be targeted by factory management, risking abuse by both managers and supervisors, or thugs acting at their behest. A union leader at a factory in Gazipur said when she and others tried to set up a union in January 2014, they were brutally assaulted and scores of workers were fired. A Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) official told Human Rights Watch: “We have a bitter experience about unions. They believe they don’t need to work and they will get paid.” But a Chittagong garment worker, Mitu Dtta, ran counter to what the BGMEA official said. He said: “Four people were holding me and beating me in the legs with bars and two were beating my wife with iron bars.” She had to get 14 stitches on her head, Mitu said, adding that when they were beating up Mira, they were saying, “You want to do union activities, right? and then we will shower you with blood.” In our factory, 80% of workers are female and they will get pregnant but the managers are not doing anything about maternity leave and bonuses, described Mitu. “When we protested against the injustice, our supervisors used to hurl slang at us, saying, if you are all concentrating on getting pregnant, why are you working here? Go and work in a brothel,” a female worker at a Dhaka-based factory said, seeking anonymity. The Bangladesh government and retailers need to ensure that factory owners and management start respecting workers’ rights, and the government must hold accountable those who abuse labor rights, Robertson suggested. The Bangladesh government should carry out effective and impartial investigations into all workers’ allegations of mistreatment, including beatings, threats and abuses, and prosecute those responsible, he said.
