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| 80-85% OF WORKERS ARE WOMEN |
The factory workers are demanding the monthly minimum wage is raised to 8,000 taka ($103) from 3000 taka ($38). A rise to 5,300 taka ($67) was agreed last week by the Minimum Wage Board after rounds of meetings with industry, unions and government representatives. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents 4,500 factories, has rejected the $67 figure as too high, and urged the government against implementing it. A union leader, Muhammad Ibrahim, told AFP that workers were demanding $100 as the minimum wage, but were also protesting in anger over the owners' rejection of the board's proposed rise. The reason Bangladesh is so popular among American and Western manufacturers is that labor is the cheapest.
A basic diet that meets the needs of a family of three alone costs about $67 a month, according to a recent analysis by the Center for Policy Dialogue, a respected research organization based in Dhaka. Because of low wages, living conditions are very poor. Lots of workers cannot get proper food, so many suffer from malnutrition and diseases. It’s not only Bangladesh’s responsibility, it’s a global business.
Raising wages would have a miniscule effect on prices that Western consumers pay. "Raising wages by 80% would add only about 25 cents per T-shirt," explained Rubana Huq, managing director of large garment exporter Mohammadi Group.
"We can't accept the wages that are being offered to us. This is not enough for us," said Kahirul Mamun Mintu, a protest leader at Savar. "Our movement will continue until our demands are met."
Garment factory staff went on strike over wages for six days in September, hitting production at almost 20 percent of the country's 3,200 factories. The strikes followed similar protests over the summer.
Nazma Akter, president of the United Garments Workers' Federation told protesters in September that "Our backs are against the wall, so we don't have any alternative unless we raise our voice strongly. We will not hesitate to do anything to realize our demand. We are not the object of mercy, the economy moves with our toll," In an interview she explains :
"When workers try to raise their voices or join a union, they lose their jobs. If they seek unionism, then the government is not on the side of the workers. That is why amendments to labor laws are anti-union, especially with respect to the minimum wage. If we are talking about factory workers who have problems and want to raise their voice, then the buyer proclaims that the union is not good and will destroy its industry. No one is interested in freedom of association. That is why it’s very important if we are to improve conditions and prevent disasters like Rana Plaza, there must be a trade union. When the factory isn’t safe, the workers didn’t want to go in, but the politicians, the factory owners like Mohammad Rana, forced them to go into the unsafe work place and killed them. They told them if they don’t come to work they wouldn’t get their salaries. Because they need to work, they went into the unsafe factory." She talked about the intimidation union workers face:
"Our office was attacked by goons, and they beat us. These are things that personally I face. Goons hired by the manufacturer broke into our office last year. They broke all our things. They beat our office colleagues and our garment workers, because we protested when one of the factory managers was not properly paying our workers. We were asked to withdraw and not to work in favor of the workers. That is why they hired the goons to attack our office. Many politicians intimidate workers. You cannot say directly that they are goons. They are the politicians threatening the people."
Kalpona Akter is also a key figure in the Bangladesh labour movement, starting work in a sweatshop at the age of 12 in an interview gave some home truths:
Q. Some people look at the situation in Bangladesh and they say Bangladesh is a poor country, anything that improves the safety for the workers there is going to cost people their jobs, or mean that people get paid less, and the workers, by taking those jobs, are voting for the jobs to be that way — that they’re making a free choice to do those jobs.
A. That is not true. That is not true. Workers are forced to do these jobs. It is true that we don’t have alternative industry. But it is not true that these factory owners and these corporations cannot pay more and make things better. They’re making these people — they’re forcing them — to choose these jobs. Definitely these jobs will not go anywhere if they raise the wages or improve the conditions, because Bangladesh is the world’s cheapest paid country, and in this moment there is no competitor that we can say “this country will take our jobs” or “that country will take our jobs.”
Q. When you say people are forced to work there, how so? In what way?
A. They come here for a dignified job, for a better wage, a safe working place, with a union voice, but what do they get? A long shift and hours, an excessive production target, an unsafe workplace — like Tazreen and Rana — and no union voice. They’re forced to do overtime; they don’t have any social life. They work six days in a week — sometimes seven. There is no downtime to have fun.
Q. So do all these companies have blood on their hands?
A. Of course! ...
Q. So where would you put Wal-Mart then?
A. They have blood on their hands, yes.
Q. How democratic is Bangladesh right now?
A. I need to learn what is the definition of democracy. Only democracy is that every five years you vote for someone, that’s all. And then they become what they are: They’re not pro-worker, they’re always pro-management. In fact, I should say that legislators are factory owners.
Q. And how are they able to maintain that much power?
A. They’re in the Parliament, garment owners. By saying that they’re earning 80 percent of our foreign imports, they kind of rule the country. They’re so powerful. Sometimes more powerful than government.
[Full interview here]
Bangladesh's garment export industry is worth $22 billion garment employing around 3-4 million people, mostly women. Low wages and trade deals with Western countries have helped make Bangladesh the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China, with 60 percent of its clothes going to Europe and 23 percent to the United States.
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