17.- 27.10.2017: Round trip: Strong women from Bangladesh – For a fairer fashion industry! Berlin – Hanover – Bonn – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Mönchengladbach Wages in Bangladesh's apparel industry are among the lowest in the world. Working conditions are catastrophic and accidents continue to occur with many dead and injured, such as the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, when more than 1,100 workers died. When thousands of workers went on strike for a higher minimum wage in December 2016 in the Ashulia textile region of Bangladesh, factory owners and the government relentlessly beat back to intimidate workers and trade unions. 600 workers and trade unionists were charged, 1600 were fired, 26 were imprisoned. FEMNET e.V., together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, is organising an event tour from 17 to 27 October 2017. Almost a year after the brutal crackdown on the protests, Bangladeshi activists report on the fight for better working conditions and fairer pay. Details Published: 01 August 2017 Read more …
Anniversary, hunger strike, Nobel laureate: The work of NGWF in Bangladesh: NGWF calls for solidarity with workers July was turbulent at FEMNET's partner organization in Bangladesh, the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF): On 22 July 2017, the union celebrated its 34th anniversary. On this occasion, members and guests reviewed the achievements of the trade union and the developments in the Bangladeshi clothing industry over the past three decades. Details Published: 01 August 2017 Read more …
FEMNET's partner organisations Munnade/GLU in Bangalore/India call for increased minimum wage and better protection against harassment in the workplace Munnade/GLU Demonstration on 01.05.2017. Photo: © MunnadeIn 2017, the women's rights organisation Munnade, together with its trade union arm, the Garment Labour Union (GLU), brought together workers from the clothing industry on 1 May to demonstrate for the implementation of labour rights. More than 3,500 workers had come to fight for fair pay and the implementation of labour law. The unions also called for the implementation of active and functional factory committees to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. The law was adopted in 2013 and requires all employers with more than 10 employees to put in place effective mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment and deal with complaints. However, the requirements are only implemented by a few employers. Sexual harassment by superiors is still common in many factories. Details Published: 01 June 2017
League for Social Justice calls on Tamil Nadu government to end India's modern slavery in spinning mills Ministry visit. Photo: © READIn the spinning mills of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, young girls have to do the hardest work in the shift system for a starvation wage. Intermediaries lure the girls between the ages of 14 and 18 into the spinning mills so that they work there for three years at the lowest wage, in order to ultimately receive a sum that is supposed to represent their dowry. They are kept in overcrowded and poorly equipped sleeping barracks as if in captivity. They are recruited from poor families of the lower castes. FEMNET already has a lot to offer on this subject. Information and campaign work and in 2016 together with the Indian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) READ A project has been launched to combat this modern form of slavery. Details Published: 01 June 2017 Read more …
Rana Plaza Remembrance Day: FEMNET calls for more transparency from the textile industry Bonn. With a street action in the middle of Bonn's city center, the women's rights organization FEMNET has drawn attention to today's memorial day for Rana Plaza. Four years ago today, he died at Factory collapse in Bangladesh More than 1,100 textile workers and 2,000 were injured. In order to address the still widespread lack of transparency in industry and the consequences of fast fashion consumption, the FEMNET activists reconstructed a textile supply chain with three stations ‘in small’ on Bottlerplatz last Saturday, 22 April: In the first room was spun, in the next sewn and in the third, screeching customers rushed to clothes stalls. Countless passers-by stayed with this Pantomime street theatre information about the background of the textile supply chain. Details Published: 24 April 2017 Read more …
Never again Rana Plaza: Trade unions prevent tragedy in Bangladeshi textile factory Workers of a partially collapsed factory protest for their safety Workers protest to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) for necessary renovations and building safety in textile factories. Photo: © NGWF On the afternoon of April 5, 2017, parts of the 15-story Ananta Plaza factory building collapsed in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, while around 3,000 seamstresses worked inside the building. The two factories located in the building, Ananta Fashion and Ananta Apparels Ltd, produce for H&M, C&A, Zara, Mango, Marks & Spencer, GAP, Levis, Jack & Jones and Abercrombie & Fitch, among others. Although no one was harmed, the incident was strongly reminiscent of the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013. Here, more than 1,100 people were killed in the collapse of a factory complex, over 2,000 were partially seriously injured. The fact that there was no repetition of the tragedy in this case is mainly due to the rapid reactions of workers and trade unions, who pushed for the immediate closure of the factory after the collapse of the rooms on the ground floor. Details Published: 18 April 2017 Read more …
Positive developments in Bangladesh - but the crisis in Bangladesh's textile sector has not yet been overcome! Textile factory in Bangladesh Photo: © Gisela Burckhardt, FEMNET After months of international protests by trade unions and non-governmental organisations worldwide, an agreement was reached between trade unions, the Ministry of Labour and employers in Bangladesh to release all imprisoned trade unionists. The Clean Clothes Campaign welcomes this agreement as a positive first step, but warns that it has not yet weathered the crisis in Bangladesh's textile sector. The agreement between IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC), the Ministry of Labour and the employers' association BGMEA came about on 23 February 2017 after some international apparel companies cancelled their participation in a conference of the apparel industry (Dhaka Apparel Summit). Details Published: 28 February 2017 Read more …
NGWF in Dhaka calls for the release of trade unionists Demonstration of the NGWF on 10.02.2017. Photo: © NGWFOn Friday, February 10, 2017, the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) and other unions once again demonstrated for improving the tense situation of trade unionists in Bangladesh. Several hundred seamstresses took part in the demonstration in Dhaka. Your demands are: the release of 25 wrongly imprisoned union members and activists. to drop the illegitimate lawsuits against 11 workers and activists. All unlawfully dismissed 2,600 workers from 65 factories (including 215 NGWF members in 24 factories) must be reinstated The police-closed branches of all trade union federations in Ashulia (NGWF was present here in 12 of 19 factories, 6 of which were illegally closed) and other affected districts of Dhaka, must be reopened so that they can resume their work. the immediate termination of all willful attempts to dissolve 19 factory unions (including 12 from NGWF). to compensate the workers of 84 factories whose wages have been unlawfully withheld. the average wage in all clothing factories must be increased by five percent per year since the last wage increase three years ago, previous arrears must be paid. the wages should be adjusted in the perspective of the cost of living of the workers in order to enable them to live a decent life through a decent wage (‘Living Wage’). an end to the harassment of six trade union leaders, including through the inspection and control of bank accounts of the trade unionists. Demonstration of the NGWF on 10.02.2017. Photo: © NGWFWorkers in Bangladesh have been protesting peacefully for raising the minimum wage since December 2016 and have been harassed massively. FEMNET e.V. supports the demands of the trade unions as well as the petition of the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF), which calls on companies such as H&M, C&A or GAP to stand up for illegally arrested workers. Sign the petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/brands-respect-basic-rights Details Published: 14 February 2017
Arbitrary arrests of trade unionists during a strike in Bangladesh The Clean Clothes Campaign is concerned about the safety of trade unionists and workers in Bangladesh. Some of them had apparently been arbitrarily arrested, while thousands of workers in Ashulia, an area in Dhaka, had participated in a strike for higher wages. The strike began on the 12th. December 2016 in the Windy Apparels factory, which was only recently mentioned in the news in connection with the death of an employee in October. The factory produces clothing for several brand companies, including H&M, Inditex (which owns the Zara brand), Esprit, Tesco, Arcadia, s.Oliver and Debenhams. Within a very short time, surrounding factories also took part in the strike. On the 20th In December 2016, 59 factories were closed. Details Published: 29 December 2016 Read more …
NGWF calls for fair wages in Bangladesh's garment industry The National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) launched a campaign for higher wages in the Bangladeshi apparel industry on October 14, 2016. Under the title ‘Living wage...fair price of garment products’, the union calls for a fair wage for the approximately 4.2 million workers in the garment industry (of which approximately 3.2 million are women). A demonstration by the capital Dhaka with the participation of various national and local trade unions and other civil society organisations drew attention to the concerns of the workers. NGWF demo 14.10.2016 in front of the press club in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo: © NGWF Details Published: 14 October 2016 Read more …
Survivors and survivors of the Tazreen factory fire finally compensated after four years Tazreen factory. Photo:© FEMNET e.V.Berlin. Through the Foundation for the Compensation of the Tazreen Victims, all workers and survivors received their compensation payment in June 2016. The Clean Clothes Campaign and the International Labor Rights Forum welcome this development. On 24 November 2012, a fire broke out at the Tazreen Fashions textile factory in Bangladesh, killing 113 workers and injuring nearly 200. Only three years later, in September 2015, the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust (TCA) was finally established on the basis of an agreement between C&A, the C&A Foundation, IndustriALL Global Union, and the Clean Clothes Campaign. Details Published: 11 July 2016 Read more …
