Bangladesh among 10 worst countries for workers, says labour rights report

Bangladesh is among the 10 worst countries for workers, according to a report by labour rights group International Trade Union Confederation or ITUC.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 22 June 2017, 05:54 AM
Updated : 22 June 2017, 07:58 AM

The ITUC Global Rights Index 2017 report states that the continued suffering inflicted by the government and employers on trade unionists in the country led to Bangladesh receiving a rating of 5, which means that workers have ‘no guarantee of rights’.

The other countries on the 10-worst list are Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Turkey and the UAE.

India, Pakistan and Myanmar also received a rating of 5 from the ITUC, while Nepal and Sri Lanka scored a better rating of 3 -- ‘regular violator of rights’.

“In too many countries, fundamental democratic rights are being undermined by corporate interests,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

The ITUC report published on June 13 says police brutality, mass arrests and discrimination are the main contributors to the repression of labour organisation in Bangladesh.

It highlights the reaction to the garment workers protests in Ashulia in December 2016 as a major example of such repression.

Thirty-five union leaders and workers’ rights activists were detained following the week-long strike and complaints were filed against more than 1,000.

The report says Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association had suspended production at 59 factories in retaliation for the strikes.

Two factories affected by the strikes, Windy Apparels and Fountain Garments, have filed criminal complaints against 239 workers, while Ha-Meem Group was reported to be filing complaints against as many as 1,000 workers, the report says.

“By early January 2017, more than 1,600 workers had been suspended and police had filed cases against 600 workers and trade union leaders,” ITUC said.

The ITUC also notes Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s order to strikers to return to work and the labour minister’s threat of stern action against them.

Anti-union discrimination is also present at the systematic and practical levels in the country, the report says.

Only about 10 percent of Bangladesh’s 4,500 garment factories have registered unions in part because the labour law requires an unreasonably high 30 percent of workers to agree to form a union and mandates excessive registration procedures, while the government has vaguely defined powers to cancel a union’s registration, according to ITUC.

Anti-union dismissals could be seen in the case of Chevron, the report argues, which dismissed 145 workers in December 2016 after they attempted to unionise in May 2015.

The Habib fashions garment factory tried to block the formation of a union by workers and then shut down in August 2016 in retaliation, the report says.

The murder of Barguna Road Transport Labourers Union leader Md Haider Ali in September 2016 is also mentioned as evidence of anti-union activity.

According to the overall report violence against and the repression of workers is on the rise across the world.

The number of countries experiencing incidents of physical violence and threats against workers has risen 10 percent since the 2016 report. Fifty-nine countries saw attacks on union members in 2016.