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.
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.
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.
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).
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:
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
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.
Can't we just raise the price of every piece of clothing to make workers earn a little more...? In response to this question, the Fair Wear Foundation is presenting a new publication aimed, among other things, at clothing brands.
They often do not quite know where to start and how to introduce living wages. For this reason, FWF has compiled the Explorer's Notebook, which contains a variety of useful tips and examples to help brands take appropriate steps to pay higher wages for workers.
Based on case studies, the guide is the first publication of its kind to raise as many questions as it answers about the realisation of living wages.
The full Explorer’s Notebook is available as a free download from the Fair Wear Foundation:
Living Wages: an Explorer's Notebook (PDF file)
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
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.
