Related Research Articles
A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, or uncomfortably/dangerously high or low temperatures. The work may be difficult, tiresome, dangerous, climatically challenging or underpaid. Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with unfair wages, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage; child labor laws may also be violated. Women make up 85 to 90% of sweatshop workers and may be forced by employers to take birth control and routine pregnancy tests to avoid supporting maternity leave or providing health benefits. The Fair Labor Association's "2006 Annual Public Report" inspected factories for FLA compliance in 18 countries including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, China, India, Vietnam, Honduras, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. The U.S. Department of Labor's "2015 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor" found that "18 countries did not meet the International Labour Organization's recommendation for an adequate number of inspectors."
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund", was founded in 1986, and the organization's mission statement reads: "ILRF believes that all workers have the right to a safe working environment where they are treated with dignity and respect, and where they can organize freely to defend and promote their rights and interests. ILRF works to develop practical and effective tools to assist workers in winning enforcement of protections for their basic rights, and hold labor rights violators accountable."
The textile and clothing industries provide a single source of growth in Bangladesh's rapidly developing economy. Exports of textiles and garments are the principal source of foreign exchange earnings. By 2002 exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments (RMG) accounted for 77% of Bangladesh's total merchandise exports.
Dragon Group is a group of garment factories and other companies in Bangladesh. The group produces mainly for the international market and exports to more than 30 countries, especially the United States and Canada. Its subsidiary Dragon Sweater employs more than few thousand workers and in 2018 was the most traded stock on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
KiK, legally KiK Textilien und Non-Food GmbH, is a German clothing discount store chain headquartered in Bönen.
IndustriALL Global Union is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012.
The 2012 Dhaka garment factory fire broke out on 24 November 2012, in the Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and over 200 were injured, making it the deadliest factory fire in the nation's history. The fire was initially presumed to be caused by an electrical short circuit, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has since suspected that the fire had been arson and an act of "sabotage" due to the occurrence of previous comparable events. This event and others similar to it have led to numerous proposed reforms in workers' rights and safety laws in Bangladesh.
The Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eight-story commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building. It is considered the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history, the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh.
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was signed on 15 May 2013. It is a five-year independent, legally binding Global Framework Agreement between global brands, retailers and trade unions designed to build a safe and healthy Bangladeshi Ready Made Garment (RMG) Industry. The agreement was created in the immediate aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse that led to the death of more than 1100 people and injured more than 2000. In June 2013, an implementation plan was agreed leading to the incorporation of the Bangladesh Accord Foundation in the Netherlands in October 2013.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, also known as "the Alliance" or AFBWS, is a group of 28 major global retailers formed to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding, five-year undertaking with the intent of improving safety in Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) factories after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse. Collectively, Alliance members represent the majority of North American imports of ready-made garments from Bangladesh, produced in more than 700 factories.
The Machinists is a 2012 British documentary film directed by Hannan Majid and Richard York. The film documents the exploitation of garment workers in Bangladesh with the personal stories of three young women working in factories in Dhaka.
Tears in the Fabric is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Hannan Majid and Richard York. The film documents the toll that the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster has taken on a Bangladeshi garment factory worker named Razia Begum.
Kalpona Akter is a labour activist from Bangladesh. She is the founder and executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity and was awarded Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges award for Extraordinary Activism in 2016.
The Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Centre (GWTUC) is a trade union federation of garment workers in Bangladesh. It is one of the largest trade unions in that sector, with more than 20 factory trade unions affiliated to it. It has enough members to be formally recognised as a trade union, but does not have that status, as is not uncommon for left-oriented unions in Bangladesh. Politically, GWTUC is aligned with the Communist Party of Bangladesh.
The National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) is a registered national trade union federation of garment workers in Bangladesh. With 87 registered factory unions, it ifs considered one of the four main federations of garment workers' unions. NGWF is the initiator and a member of the Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council and a member of the Bangladesh Center for Workers' Solidarity. It is affiliated with the IndustriALL Global Union and one of the signatories of the Bangladesh Accord.
The Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council (BGWUC) is a national trade union centre in Bangladesh. The centre unites 21 garment worker trade union federations.
The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) is a think tank for trade union activity and other labour matters in Bangladesh. It was founded in 1995 to support the building of trade unions and their activities and to promote trade union causes within government and society. Today, 12 Bangladeshi trade union federations are affiliated with BILS. Unlike many other labour organisations in Bangladesh, the institute is not affiliated with any political party. The institute publishes a biannual journal, Labour.
The 2018–2019 Bangladesh protests, also known as the Bangladeshi Social Revolution, was a series of public social unrest and Strike actions by Garment workers and Trade unions against low wages and high unemployment and demanded the resignation of the government. Over 50,000 protesters participated in the nonviolent movement. Anti-wages and anti-fee hike demonstrations loomed in Factories and Company buildings in Ashulia and Rajshahi, where most protesters staged their protest and sit-ins. Dhaka and other minor areas with factories experienced massive increasingly violent and severe street demonstrations while growing street opposition. Civil disobedience and massive labour unrest rocked the country as Garment workers and Farmers demonstrated nationwide against the results of the 2018 Bangladeshi general election, the ousting and sacking of workers in Factories, harsh working conditions and deteriorating wage conditions. Police brutality and deadly clashes was met at protest movement sites and many people were killed in the strikes and Nonviolent resistance and Civil resistance movement at towns and regions nationwide. The protests was suppressed by the military on 13 January, 2019 after a wave of crackdowns for 7 days and clampdowns on the 2018 Bangladesh election violence. The result of the massive movement was mobs were arrested and 1500+ workers are sacked.
Joly Talukder is the current general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Centre (GWTUC).
Mushrefa Mishu is a Bangladeshi trade unionist and politician. She is the current president of the Garment Workers Unity Forum and general secretary of Bangladesh's Democratic Revolutionary Party.
References
- ↑ "Rights Abuses Still Rampant in Bangladesh's Garment Sector". Inter Press Service. 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ↑ "Bangladesh garment factories reopen after wage protests". BBC. 2010-06-23. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ↑ "In Solidarity with Garment Workers in Bangladesh" (Press release). Amnesty International. 2010-12-20. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
- ↑ "Amnesty urges probe into CEPZ deaths". bdnews24.com . 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
- ↑ Tanjeem, Nafisa (2017-04-21). "Thinking beyond Accord and Alliance". The Daily Star . Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ↑ "More for show than safety: Certificates in the textile industry. Complaint on audit report by TÜV Rheinland on Rana Plaza factory". European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights . Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ↑ Russell, Michelle (2018-07-09). "Bangladesh garment factories reopen after wage protests". Just Style. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ↑ Hossain, Nadim; Hasan, Md. Kamrul; Shahariar, Hussain Mohammad (2016-12-22). "DB 'invites labour leader to tea' as eight others sent to jail". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
