Calls for fashion brands to back fair wage demand of Bangladeshi RMG workers
The Clean Clothes Campaign has alleged that repression during this year’s wage-setting process has reached “unprecedented levels” with another protesting garment worker losing their life.
The apparel labour union alliance, Clean Clothes Campaign(CCC), has condemned the growing violence against garment workers that have been demanding a wage increase to Tk23,000 a month after a garment worker was recently shot dead.
These protests began in Gazipur after the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) proposed a new minimum wage in the garment sector of Tk 10,400. This amount is less than half of the trade union's demand of Tk23,000 per month.
The CCC has alleged that repression during this year's wage-setting process has reached "unprecedented levels" with a protesting garment worker losing his life, reports JustStyle.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The organisation says fashion brands sourcing from Bangladesh have "an undeniable role in the recent developments as well".
It also points out that while workers are risking their lives to voice their demands, most brands sourcing from Bangladesh "...refused to put out a public statement in support of trade unions' demand for 23,000Tk, ignoring several requests to do so from trade unions and CCC".
The CCC continues: "Despite their codes of conduct and commitments to transparent and inclusive wage-setting mechanisms, most failed to ensure that workers' voices were heard during the wage negotiations."
It is calling on all brands sourcing from Bangladesh to condemn the violence used against workers demanding a minimum wage, confirm their commitment to fair pricing, call for the demands of workers and independent trade unions to be heard by the Wage Board and ensure that workers' right to freedom of association is protected.
A few global fashion brands including Adidas and Levi Strauss & Co, sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last month, asking for the minimum wage review mechanism to incorporate all stakeholders' views and reflect the country's economic realities.
