Bangladesh has been ranked as one of the “worst countries” in the world in terms of workers’ rights.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) published the 2015 ITUC Global Rights Index, titled ‘the world’s worst countries for workers’.
It says countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights, workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.
The ITUC Global Rights Index depicts the world’s worst countries for workers by rating 141 countries on a scale of 1 to 5+ based on the degree of respect for workers’ rights.
It categorises world countries in six groups — irregular violation of rights, repeated violation of rights, regular violation of rights, systematic violation of rights, no guarantee of rights. Bangladesh is grouped under the ‘no guarantee of rights’ title.
The index added, workers in countries grouped in ‘no guarantee of rights’, faced brutal violence, even murder with impunity in several parts of the world, just for standing up to their employers.
Police crushed marches and demonstrations where workers demanded minimum wages and job security, the report added.
In Bangladesh, unions are prohibited by law, allowing only for the establishment of worker welfare associations, which do not have the same rights as unions.
In most EPZs, labour inspections are rare or under the purview of a special EPZ inspection criteria which does little to enforce the law.
The report notes that serious violations of trade union rights occur in EPZs throughout Asia, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
As an example of suppression of labour unions, the report refers to an incident on 22 February 2014, saying one garment worker leader and four organisers of the Bangladesh Federation for Workers Solidarity, two of whom were women, were attacked by a group of approximately 2 dozen men while speaking to employees of Chunji Knit Ltd, a garment manufacturing company.
All five union representatives were beaten, kicked and thrown to the ground. One organiser was taken from the scene, beaten unconscious and dumped nearby. A female organiser was beaten, had her clothes torn off and was threatened with rape. The garment worker leader went missing.
Source: Prothom-Alo
