Hunger
strike and seizure of machines by garments workers in and near Dhaka,
the Bangladesh capital, during the last part of July 2014 were part of
Bangladesh labor action that is moving unabated through experiences of
gains and failures. In distant Greece, labor from Bangladesh witnessed a
court verdict that further bloodied already bloody strawberries. The
incidents once again confirmed the dominating reality: dominance of
capital. The incidents, on the opposite, also showed an emerging
reality: labor’s increasing action.
Eid, Moslems’ holy festival after a month
of fasting and practicing restrains on aspects of life, was
approaching. That was July. All salaried employees and wage laborers
usually get festival bonus. It’s the rule, practice and tradition. The
bonus provides a small opportunity to mend torn down life of the
hard-pressed labor and low-salaried employees.
But alas! Workers in a garments factory
were not going to have it. Their salaries for the months of June were
not paid. Uncertain was the festival bonus. The aggrieved workers had to
resort to action: demonstration. And, then, they had to resort to
strike. The owner and his management cadres fled away. A few accounts
officials were gheraoed, kept seized, for five days that led to a
“resolution”: payment of all unpaid salaries and festival bonus by July
21, 2014. It was a written commitment from the factory management. The
seizure was withdrawn.
The owner-committed time limit for
payment of salary and bonus passed. Eid approached nearer. Darkness of
uncertainty was coming closer to the workers. They frantically tried to
contact the owner. But, to no avail! He was beyond reach.
The desperate situation and violation of
commitment led workers to seize a part of machineries of the factory.
They successfully found a buyer also. The machines were sold away. A sum
of money came in. It was more than Taka, the Bangladesh currency, 1.7
million. [$1=Tk. more than 78] The sale proceed was distributed among
the workers by the workers. The money distributed was treated as salary
for the month of June. A police official confirmed the sale of
machineries by the workers. [bdnews24.com (Baanglaa version), July 27,
2014, “Workers sale factory machinery to realize unpaid salaries”; name
of the factory: Trade Mark Fashion Limited; place of occurrence:
Gazipur, a few kilometers from Dhaka; period of occurrence: Last week of
July] It was a labor action without adventurism that gave no scope for
highhanded interference. And, it was an exposure, and a lesson, and an
experience.
About 1,500 workers of five garments
factories in Dhaka resorted to protests and about three hundred of them
went on a hunger strike to realize their unpaid salaries for the months
of May and June and festival bonus. The hunger strike continued for
days, and it was during the Eid festival while millions of citizens were
celebrating the festival and the entire country was in a festive mood.
Scores of the workers were sent to hospital as they collapsed from
hunger strike. The workers returned to the factory, place of the hunger
strike, and joined their striking colleagues after recovering from
hospital. Progressive Doctors’ Forum, an association of physicians
connected to the Communist Party of Bangladesh, extended medical care to
the striking workers.
Commitments for the payment of salaries
and bonus were made thrice on behalf of the owners. But all the
commitments remained unfulfilled. As the festival neared the workers
began protest that later led them to resort to hunger strike. Initially,
there was none to unknot the problem of non-payment. Later, the
garments manufacturers’ association sought another week for a partial
payment.
It was reported that the factories, owned
by Tuba Group, produced garments amounting to Tk. 260 million during
the recently concluded World Cup Football.
It should be mentioned that in 2012,
Tazreen Fashions, a factory owned by the same company, burned down that
killed hundreds of workers. The owner, Delwar Hossain, is now in jail
for negligence causing deaths.
The workers’ series of protests for
non-payment of salaries was going on for a long time. One leader of the
garments manufacturers said: “We’re really sorry. They could not
celebrate Eid and they’re on a hunger strike.” One of the garments
manufacturers “urged the government to take charge of paying [the
workers’] salaries at any cost.” One of the striking workers asked: We
are fined for delay in work. But, who shall be fined now for delay in
payment of salaries? [bdnews24.com, July 29, 30 and 31, 2014]
Thus it appears: The manufacturers are
“sympathetic” to the workers as the workers had no Eid celebration but
the manufacturers’ association could “not” arrange money; the
manufacturers now need government help; government should take charge
for paying salary, not for making profit.
It’s a “story” of trickery, and of indifference, and of cruelty, and of capitalizing workers’ distress.
Entrepreneurs’ organizations lobby for
formulating policies favorable to them, influence national budget
allocation, banking, financial, fiscal, export policies. But they can’t
influence one entrepreneur in paying salaries and bonus. Entrepreneurs
make profit, take full of it. But they ask government to take
responsibility whenever they face problem they create. It’s the public
that bears government expenses. So, it stands: “I make profit, you, the
public, bear the cost.”
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