We live in a country of horrible news, and of people having short memories. One such horrible news was of 2012’s Tazreen fire, in which more than 117 garment workers were killed, and 200 more were injured. Please read the second sentence again. I neither said it was an accident, nor did I say they died.
I meant it was a “structural murder,” and I used the word “killed” to mean that they did not just die. So, what happened to that Delowar, the owner of Tazreen Fashion and Tuba group? Not until February 8, 2014 – more than 14 months after Tazreen Fashions caught fire – was he arrested.
Very recently, family members of Delowar along with Tuba group’s management have started to seek the help of BGMEA to permanently get bail for Delowar as the memories of the fire have already faded away from the minds of people. What could be a better way of getting bail than making bailing a condition for disbursing three months’ due salary? Please read the sentence again – “making bailing a condition” for the owner who violated not only the fire safety code, but also the norms.
On July 29, when the whole country was celebrating Eid, the workers of Tuba group, owned by the same owner as Tazreen, were passing their second day of hunger strike on the sixth floor of the factory. There demand was payment of due salary and bonus of three months: May, June, and July.
There, one would find young women suffering from severe malnutrition lying on tables, taking saline, and waiting for something they never knew when they would get. Please read the sentence again. I said they did not know when they would get the salary even after the fourth day of the hunger strike – BGMEA has given words to clear salary partially within one week.
The reason is that the workers are used to such breaches of trust. On June 26, in the presence of Mahmuda Akter Mita, chairman of Tuba Group, and two BGMEA representatives, Abdul Ahad Ansari signed a written document promising to pay the salary of May on July 3, the salary of June on July 15, and the salary of the first half of July on July 26.
But they never kept their promises. Is there any reason why the workers would trust them again? Most importantly, it is not at all logical to make these workers wait for one more week when they are already exhausted, indebted, and counting every moment of their sufferings. Read it again. Every moment. Not every week, not every day, not even every hour.
Some of the workers on hunger strike had no home to go as they could not pay rent. They had to loan from their neighbours and nearest shops. They could not feed their children, let alone buy new clothes for Eid.
There is no relation between Delowar’s absence and Tuba Group’s ability to pay three months’ salaries. The operation of the factory never stopped after Delowar was jailed. The owners clearly used the workers to negotiate Delowar’s bail.
After the Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse, the owners of garment factories and their association BGMEA have been vilified by public. The US used the memory of the fire and building collapse to withdraw GSP facility given to Bangladesh.
When the US is threatening Bangladesh in all possible ways to make us improve the factories’ fire safety conditions and comply with building codes, it is ignoring the fact that withdrawal of the GSP, suggested by AFL CIO, is not a step suggested by the unions in Bangladesh. Using a global solution in solving local problems has already been proven to be misguided.
GSP facilities were never given to the garment industry; neither did it appear as a threat to some of the most notorious owners of garment factories. What is happening in Tuba Group is an evidence of failure of using global solutions. What is happening in Tuba Group now is an even worse repetition of what happened before the world’s eye fell on Bangladesh.
In the past, garment workers of some factories used to suffer from nonpayment or low payment, but now there is an unnecessary condition imposed. In the language of workers, it is “the bail of murderer Delowar.” They refuse to call him by his name only. They think “murderer Delowar” is his name.
The BGMEA is trying to hide its shame. For the last few months, they have been promising to pay salaries and breaking promises. In June, they sent their representatives to sign a written promise to workers. After the hunger strike started, on the second day they said through media that they were sorry that the workers could not celebrate their Eid.
Later they said Tuba Group did not have money. Then they said the government should pay if Tuba Group fails to pay. How could Tk4.57cr not be there in Tuba Group’s bank account when 2014’s exports of Tuba Fashion alone exported about Tk39cr worth of merchandise?
Does it not smell of conspiracy to involve the government in the process of bailing? It is hilarious. Read it again. I said hilarious because the BGMEA has spoken to the public without even checking the bank account of Tuba Group.
There are over 90 workers so far who fell sick and were hospitalised. Some are being released from hospitals others, while others are being admitted. The number keeps on changing every hour.
Every few hours, there is a new patient admitted to the hospital. Owners or BGMEA are not paying for their treatments, let alone psychological damage. And Delowar gets bail. He will soon get out of jail and celebrate a belated Eid with his family. What a world we live in.
If you go to the sixth floor or Tuba Group, Hossain Market, Uttar Badda, and if you have an imagination, imagine this: Workers of Tazreen are trying to get out from the factory as fire a breaks out, but the exit is deliberately locked. Would you let Delowar exit jail?
Source: Dhaka Tribune