UK trade unions, NGOs urge Bangladesh to improve RMG workers’ wages

Trade unions and campaigners today (24 April) delivered a joint letter to the Bangladesh High Commission in London, calling for urgent action to address wages and assure trade union freedoms for workers making clothing in Bangladeshi factories. 

UK trade unions including UNISON, GMB, PCS, CWU, IWGB and civil society groups such as Labour Behind the Label and War on Want, Amnesty International UK and No Sweat submitted the letter.

They also held a rally where speakers called for the interim government to urgently ensure wage reform, grow social security for RMG workers, and build support for trade union freedoms.

The event, held on the 12th anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, also included a moments' silence to honour the lives of the 1138 Bangladeshi garment workers who were killed on this date in 2013, following decades of inaction over their working conditions and rights.
 

The event, held on the 12th anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, also included a moments’ silence to honour the lives of the 1138 Bangladeshi garment workers who were killed on this date in 2013. Photo: Courtesy

In the face of uncertain trade tariffs, climate fluctuations and volatile markets, campaigners said boosting the social security situation for garment workers in Bangladesh is essential now more than ever.

"Dickensian conditions faced by workers under colonial trade policies are something many think of as a thing of the past, but Bangladesh unions are fighting every day in a system rigged to build money for fashion brands and keep workers in economic enslavement. Trump is only the latest white man to have a go at taking money from the women of Bangladesh. The Interim Government has a chance to set laws and social security that protects their workers from global bullying," said Anna Bryher, Policy Lead for Labour Behind the Label. 

"After decades of suppression of wages and trade union freedoms, the current administration has an opportunity. They must take it and urgently act to advance conditions for the workers making our clothes."
  
The interim government of Bangladesh has been holding a labour reform review process where unions have submitted their requests to a commission. The letter calls on the interim government to act with haste on the local union recommendations. 
 
In specifics, the letter highlights multiple spurious court cases still pending against tens of thousands of workers and trade unionists following the 2023 wage protests in Bangladesh. 

Nine of the 37 cases have been dropped but many are still standing, creating fear around participation in trade union organising and marking the continued repression of human rights in the sector, reads the letter.

The letter calls on the interim government of Bangladesh to unilaterally drop the remaining repressive legal cases and take action to improve the climate for freedom of association for garment workers across Bangladesh factories. 

Kalpona Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment & Industrial Workers Federation said, " In an industry where union repression is rife, getting the cases dropped is just a first but very necessary step on the way to an industry in which workers can live a decent life off their wages and in which barriers to freedom of association are taken down. We won't live in fear. We are calling for living wages that support our families."