Bangladesh response to international pressure not good enough International pressure has brought badly needed labor law changes to Bangladesh, where too many workers, particularly garment workers, have perished in fires and building collapses due to lax or non-existent worker protections. Most recently, 1,129 workers were killed in the April 24 Rana Plaza collapse. They were forced to their workstations by the employer despite their concerns of huge cracks that had appeared in the building. In the past decade, more than 6,000 workers died in similar incidents, yet few Bangladeshi business owners have been held accountable. Calling the new labor laws “reform” is inaccurate at best. The changes are more an appeasement to a global marketplace that suddenly, after years of worker abuse, seems to care about workers in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi workers will now be able to form labor unions without the blessing of factory owners. Previously, workers would need the owners’ permission to form a union, which meant there were very few, if any, unions for garment and other workers. But the new law requires that 30 percent of all workers in a factory approve forming a union. In the United States, a 30 percent vote is needed as well, but the United States has nowhere near the massive factories found in Bangladesh, nor the communication and travel challenges. Proponents had wanted 10 percent approval. Regardless, unions are still banned from the governmentcontrolled export manufacturing zones, where most of the factories producing clothing for Western retailers are located. Even with the 30 percent approval, the workers must petition the registrar of labor to grant approval for the union’s formation, meaning the workers’ rights to collectively organize will still require a bureaucrat’s approval in a country that is notorious for corruption and where business interests hold great power. It appears workers will have just as difficult a time or worse to get approval for a union. Some of the new labor rules also call for more enforcement on new building codes and construction, but the penalties are too weak to expect much compliance. “The greed for profit has pushed Bangladesh’s garment industry into its present, disastrous condition,” Salim Ahsan Khan, legal counselor at The Solidarity Center, a global labor rights group, told The Huffington Post. “And it’s for the same greed that we miss this opportunity to strengthen laws needed for a growing garment industry.” September 2013 The Work Force 5
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