Congratulating the compensated workers from SD fashion factory by YCOWA

On April 10, 2015, the ceremony of congratulation to the compensated workers of the SD Fashion factory was held by Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association at the safe house in Mae Sot, Tak district.
 
The Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association has recorded their achievement of asking compensation from the employee of SD Fashion factory since March 22, 2012 until April 9, 2015. 
 
In the ceremony, U Moe Swe, General Secretary of YCOWA, gave the speech about the experiences and difficulties helping the migrated workers and also had threatened by the employers. Then, the representatives of the compensated workers were received the recorded congratulated certificates.
 
Thereafter, SD fashion factory workers donated a pair of speaker and its accessories for YCOWA.
 
It said that 52 workers were received 837652 Bath from the employer of SD fashion factory. Moreover, they are going to take compensation for 5 workers at Labors Protection Office ( Sawattekan) on coming April 23.
YCOWA

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Held ceremony of novitiate by Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association and Burmese migrant workers of Mae Sot

The cooperative ceremony of novitiate was held by Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association and Burmese migrated workers at Waparkaung monastery in Mae Sot, Tak district on April 5^th, 2015.

They started from Yaung Chi Oo’s safe house to monastery by cars. Moreover, they performed with tradition buffalo dance and band.
 
It is said why Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association held cooperative donation was to preserve and not to forget traditional festivals of Burmese people.
 
There were Burmese migrant workers from Mae Sot in the ceremony of novitiate and even some poor people donated. It is said that there were 74 monks in the cooperative donation.
YCOWA

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Myanmar Workers in Hlaing Thar Yar Protests, Calls for 3000 Kyats Daily Wages (Video)

Myanmar Workers in Hlaing Thar Yar Protests, Calls for 3000 Kyats Daily Wages . Watch on following link.

Credit - Kamayut Media

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More Than 200 Workers Protest in Yangon over 14 Taw Win Workers Detained in Insein Jail (Video)

More Than 200 Workers Protest in Yangon over 14 Taw Win Workers Detained in Insein Jail (Video). Watch on following link.

Credit - Kamayut Medai

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123 th May Day 2013

In 2013, May 1st at RUJIRA hotel, many migrant workers and activists in Maesot joined 123th May Day ceremony which was celebrated by Yaung Chi Oo Workers’ Association and other organizations, NGOs. In that ceremony, Ko Htwe Naing, Yaung Chi Oo’s temporary responsible person, told the ambition of this ceremony and the history of MAY DAY. And Yaung Chi Oo made some quiz about Labor Rights.

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More maids from Myanmar running away

A rising number of Myanmar maids are running away from their Singapore employers, saying they find it unbearable to work for months without receiving any pay.
The reason is that they arrive with large debts to repay, and until those are cleared some receive no money at all. Others get just $10 or $20 a month.
Maid agents estimate that there are close to 27,000 Myanmar women working here as domestic workers, up from about 20,000 at the start of last year.
Although Myanmar bars its women from going overseas to be maids or entertainers, more have been arriving to make up for the shrinking number of new Indonesian maids.
Since January this year, 32 Myanmar runaways have sought shelter at foreign workers group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
This number is half of the 64 who turned up over the whole of last year. Home sheltered 29 runaway Myanmar maids in 2011 and 13 in 2010.
Agents say the women get demoralised when they go unpaid for up to eight months while repaying placement fees of $3,200 to $3,360.
The going rate for Myanmar maids is between $400 and $420 a month, lower than what Indonesians and Filipinas command.
Many also arrive underage and untrained, do not speak English and find it hard to cope with working here, agents said.
The president of the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore), Ms K. Jayaprema, said the placement fees for Myanmar maids has spiked from the equivalent of five months' pay to eight months' pay over the past year.
She blamed agents in Myanmar for jacking up their fees, knowing that their counterparts here were desperate to make up a shortfall in supply after months of wrangling with Indonesian recruiters over fees for their maids.
She said the extra costs are passed on to the women, not employers, because agents here are anxious to keep the cost of hiring a Myanmar maid low.
Many agents charge employers $300 or less for Myanmar maids.
Ms Jayaprema felt the Myanmar government needs to stop agents there from jacking up their fees.
Meanwhile, some agents here have begun putting a limit on the placement fees that Myanmar maids have to repay. Some have capped it at the equivalent of four months' pay, and raised the fees employers must pay to close to $1,000.
Agent Carene Chin said: "I tell customers if their maid's loans are lower, we can motivate them to work harder and be happier."
A Manpower Ministry spokesman said fees that are paid overseas and the regulation of employment agencies in foreign countries are beyond Singapore's jurisdiction.
"However, the ministry works closely with the respective foreign embassies and shares relevant information obtained during the course of its investigations," she said.
She added that Singapore laws bar agencies here from charging foreign workers fees that exceed one month of pay for each year of the duration of their work pass. The total amount charged must not exceed two months' salary.
Employment agents who flout these guidelines can be fined up to $5,000, jailed for up to six months, or both. They will also be issued demerit points.
Agents must also ensure that all maids brought here are at least 23 years old.
Last year, seven agencies were warned and four of them were issued demerit points for bringing in underage maids.
Home chief executive Bridget Tan felt there should be a more coordinated effort by the Singapore and Myanmar authorities to improve the employment terms of Myanmar maids.
"Myanmar women are eager to leave their country to earn a living and will agree to any terms given to them," she said. "The Singapore and Myanmar governments need to step up checks to prevent them from being abused."

Credit - The Straits Times

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Myanmar workers pay $300 each to Jordan garment factory owner to come home

Ninety-one Myanmar workers have returned home from Jordan after paying compensation to the boss of their garment factory for the breach of job contracts, the returnees say.

They arrived back in Myanmar on Friday after paying $300 each to the factory employer.

More than 1300 Myanmar workers at a garment factory owned by Jordan’s Century Miracle Apparel had been protesting from February 14 to March 25 against unhealthy and exploitative working conditions, including poor salary and racial oppression.

One returnee, Thet Nwe Soe Kyaw, said: "The employer first asked for $400 from each employee. We got $400 each for security welfare and bonus. But we came home with only a hundred dollars in hand because we had to pay him $300 in compensation."

According to her, some Myanmar workers still remain in Jordan as they have difficulty with their financial problems while some others are waiting for their contract periods to complete.

Four Myanmar women were wounded in a fight among Myanmar workers on March 2 after the Myanmar workers staged protests at the factory, which is owned by a Chinese. The fighting broke out as the owner reportedly hired Jordanian co-workers to physically attack the Myanmar workers.

Thet Nwe Soe Kyaw also said: "The job agency in Myanmar first told us that we would be paid $500 a month in Jordan. But actually, we got $158 a month, which only totals about 120,000 in Myanmar kyats. We waited for six months to have a pay rise but the employer didn't. Apart from the poor salary, meals they provided were awful so we had to arrange our meals out of our own pockets. Myanmar's ministry of labour said it would send two officials to Jordan to solve the problem. But they didn't show up yet."

According to the returnees from Jordan, the factory owner did not comply with the three points the protestors demanded – pay rise, no racial oppression and providing of healthy meals.

As Myanmar does not have an embassy in Jordan, it is solving the problem through the embassy in Israel.

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security earlier this month said they would send officials who have experienced in labor affairs and settle the dispute as soon as possible.

 

Credit - elevenmyanmar.com

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Refugee camp death toll rises to 42

The toll from a blaze that swept through a camp in northern Thailand has risen to 42, a Thai official told AFP on Saturday, after hundreds of temporary homes for refugees from Myanmar were reduced to ashes.

Dozens of people were injured in the fire, which broke out on Friday at the Mae Surin camp in Mae Hong Son province, with women, children and the elderly believed to make up the majority of the victims most of whom are ethnic Karenni.

Rescue workers were on the scene at the remote mountainous camp area, Mae Hong Son provincial governor Narumol Paravat told AFP by telephone.

Authorities believe the fire was sparked by an unattended cooking flame.

A local district official said hot weather, combined with strong winds caused the fire to spread quickly among the thatched bamboo shelters.

Police on Saturday said around 400 temporary homes had been incinerated, while the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Bureau said a school, clinic and two food warehouses had also been destroyed.

The Thai government pledged an investigation into the fire at the camp, which houses roughly 3,700 refugees.

Ten camps strung out along the Thai-Myanmar border house a total of about 130,000 people, who first began arriving in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, local NGOs such as Women's Education for Advancement and Empowerment (WEAVE) have mobilized relief efforts and are accepting donations.

Credit - Mizzima








 

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Cambodia orders wage rise for garment workers

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government told garment manufacturers on Thursday to raise the minimum wage paid to employees in one of the country's key industries, a move that will see basic pay rise from 61 to 75 dollars a month.

The announcement followed recent talks between unions and the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia, a trade body. Talks stalled after some unions insisted on a monthly wage of 100 dollars. Manufacturers had refused to pay more than 70 dollars.

Ath Thorn, the president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, a grouping of independent unions, said he was not satisfied with the 14-dollar per month raise, but would take it to the confederation’s 83,000 members to hear their thoughts.//DPA

"The (offered) amount is still too small, and it’s not enough to feed the workers and to meet their other (requirements)," he said. "I’m not sure what my members will say, but I will talk to them and if they are satisfied, then it’s OK." The pay rise is scheduled to come into effect on May 1. When combined with a statutory five-dollar health payment, workers wille arn 80 dollars before overtime.

Credit - The Nation

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Labor attachés to oversee migrant workers abroad

The vice-minister of Myanmar’s Department of Social Welfare has said that labor attachés will be positioned in those countries which have large amount of Myanmar migrant workers.

“We have labor attachés in Thailand and [South] Korea, and we have plans to assign them in Malaysia too,” said Win Maw Tun at a Lower House of Parliament session on March 12.

She said the ministry had drawn up a draft law on Labor Migration policy based on international standards. She said it had already been approved by the President’s office and had been submitted to the Union Government.

Currently, temporary passports have been issued to a total of 1.2 million Myanmar people enabling them to work in neighboring Thailand.

According to Andy Hall, an expert on Myanmar migrant labor, some 6 million Myanmars—perhaps 10 percent of the country’s population—now live abroad.

However, in December, Myanmar’s Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security announced that according to its data some three million Burmese are currently working abroad—the vast majority in neighboring Thailand.

Credit - Mizzima

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Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies aged 58

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died aged 58, after 14 years in power.

Mr Chavez had been seriously ill with cancer for more than a year, undergoing several operations in Cuba, and had not been seen in public for several months.
Foreign Minister Elias Jose Jaua Milano declared seven days of mourning and said Mr Chavez's body would lie in state until his funeral on Friday.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro would assume the presidency until an election was held within 30 days, Mr Jaua added.
Mr Chavez's illness prevented him from taking the oath of office after he was re-elected for a third term in October and the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, had been expected by some to take over as interim president in the event of his death.
However, he was not among the political and military leaders who flanked the vice-president when he announced Mr Chavez's death.

Credit to VOA

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Yaung Chi Oo Workers' Association providing medical aid to victim of blaze

In 17.2.2013, Yaung Chi Oo Workers' Association provide medical aid to victim of blaze.The victims are being temporarily stayed in the Safe House of YCOWA.

The blaze at the houses, which is located near TK Lay factory and near Mae Sot General Hospital, happened about 4:30 pm on Sunday, February 16. Fires were reported with 17 families’ rooms were damaged or destroyed.  Over 2 hundred migrant workers are currently facing difficulties with accommodations cause of fire. Among them, 97 victims are distributed aids temporary in Safe House of Yaung Chi Oo Workers’ Association.

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Yaung Chi Oo Worker’s Association aids to victims of blaze, Burmese migrant workers

The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. The victims are being temporarily stayed in the Safe House of YCOWA.

The blaze at the houses, which is located near TK Lay factory and near Mae Sot General Hospital, happened about 4:30 pm on Sunday, February 16. Fires were reported with 17 families’ rooms were damaged or destroyed.  Over 2 hundred migrant workers are currently facing difficulties with accommodations cause of fire. Among them, 97 victims are distributed aids temporary in Safe House of Yaung Chi Oo Workers’ Association.

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Malaysia: Minimum wages for all

Malaysian trade unions and civil society called on the Malaysian government to withdraw the recent cabinet decision that allow the employer to deduct from the migrant workers’ wages of the amount employer paid to the government to employ foreign workers. In July 2012 the Malaysian government announced that workers in Malaysia would receive minimum wages of RM 900[USD291] (for Peninsular Malaysia) and RM800 [USD259] (for Sabah and Sarawak). The announcement came into force from 1 January 2013. The minimum wage is a basic wage excluding overtime, existing allowances and other benefits. However, to avoid paying minimum wages some employers calculate other benefits as part of minimum wage and some force workers to sign that they received minimum wages, while actually paying them less. As large number of workers work on short term-employment contracts, with the fear of non-renewal of contract, they do not speak for their rights. In addition the Malaysian Government through its Minimum Wages (Amendment) Order on 28 December 2012, allowed employers to apply for the right to be exempted from paying the minimum wages. Through this more than 500 employers got the right to delay paying the minimum wages. However, in this process the government did not provide space for the involvement of workers or their trade union before processing the application of employers. In case of levy on foreign workers, the government earlier allowed employers to deduct from wages of the foreign workers to recover expenses made by the employer for employing the foreign worker including the levy paid to the government. However, the government stopped this practice from 1 April 2009. Once again on 30 January 2013 the Malaysian cabinet decided to allow employers of migrant workers to recover the levy they pay the government by deduction of wages of migrant workers. In a joint statement released on 5 February 2013, trade unions and civil society activists expressed serious concern that the government’s move towards reintroducing the provision would merely shift the burden on to migrant workers. In an appeal to the Malaysian government, 75 civil society organizations and trade unions across the world stated, “that all workers, including migrant workers, are entitled to receive minimum wages, whereby this is the basic wage and should not include allowances, benefits and other work incentives. Employers should not be permitted to remove pre-April 2012 worker entitlements and benefits, being the date the Minimum Wage Order 2012 came into force, from existing and subsequent employment contracts.” They called on the Malaysian government and to immediately withdraw the decision made by the Malaysian cabinet and end all forms of discrimination against workers. Credit to IAGU

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South African union slams minimum wage compliance criticism

The South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) has taken issue with a report by the Centre for Development Enterprises that claims efforts to establish minimum wage compliance in the clothing sector is destroying the sector and resulting in massive job losses. The report asserts that the clothing sector provides an example of how sector labour market institutions and industrial policy creates collusion between government, trade unions and big business that adversely affects jobs in labour intensive sectors. The report criticises the tough stance taken by the clothing industry bargaining council to ensure that workers are paid the minimum wage. It was released about the same time that five small clothing companies are challenging having to comply with the legislated minimum wage. Andre Kriel, General Secretary of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) has spoken out on the attack on minimum wages in the sector, which start at USD42 a week and even at the highest pay grade, clothing workers are the lowest in South Africa’s manufacturing sector. Kriel contests circulating information that the bargaining council intends to close down 450 factories for non wage compliance, which would result in 16,000 job losses. He reports that the council holds writs against 297 companies that employ 5,500 workers and that many of these companies are taking steps to become compliant. “The issue is not a trade off between jobs and decent work, almost as if the two issues are mutually exclusive. Competitive advantage cannot be based on illegality and a race to the bottom,” states Kriel. Kriel blames massive job losses in the sector on trade policies and a fast tracked tariff reduction regime introduced more than 15 years ago. Whilst this is true, it is no secret that many South African companies looking to escape minimum wages in the sector have relocated their operations. In Lesotho, a haven for such companies that is surrounded by South Africa on all sides, factory shells can’t be built fast enough for South African clothing companies that want to move in. Clothing workers in Lesotho are challenging their low wages. An IL0 study in 2011 showed that real wages had declined over a five year period and that the minimum wage in the clothing sector was below that of the general minimum wage in Lesotho. At the time minimum wage in the sector ranged from USD92 to USD113 a month according to job tasks. Unions demanded a massive increase of up to 172 per cent to USD238 a month and a massive stay away was orchestrated but secured a wage increase of less than 10 per cent. This seemingly unrealistic demand was supported by an ILO Living Wage study in 2012 and efforts continue in Lesotho to push up wages in the clothing sector, which if successful would erode Lesotho’s competitive advantage. There is no easy solution to achieving decent work in the clothing sector, which is characterised by unfair competition based on wage exploitation and the race to the bottom. In a globalized world, unions need to look beyond national labour legislation to protect wages in labour intensive sectors. International solidarity is required to address competition in the sector that drives down wages and maintains poor compliance with international labour standards. Credit to IAGU

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Workers on strike at Cerrejón in Colombia

Workers at Carbones del Cerrejón, represented by their union, Sintracarbón, have begun a strike for improved working conditions. Negotiations failed to reach an agreement and the interim settlement deadline passed without the company making an acceptable offer. After negotiations ended without an agreement, 98 per cent of Carbones del Cerrejón workers, members of Sintracarbón, voted to go on strike. Sintracarbón, an IndustriALL affiliate, has been negotiating a list of demands since the end of last year with the transnational companies BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Anglo American. With more than 50 million members throughout the world, IndustriALL has followed these negotiations, supported the workers and called on the companies to immediately accept their just demands. On receiving news of the workers’ decision, the IndustriALL National Council in Colombia convened a meeting at the workers’ temporary camp so that affiliated unions could show their solidarity and support for the striking workers. In a video conference, Assistant General Secretary, Fernando Lopes, reaffirmed IndustriALL’s decision at the world level to support the strike. In addition to calling for improvements in working conditions for directly employed workers at Carbones del Cerrejón, Sintracarbón is leading the fight to extend the freedom of association and the rights to collective bargaining and strike to outsourced workers. It is also helping to organise civic committees to defend the region's water resources and supporting a series of community struggles in Guajira department, in the north of the country. Credit to Industriall global union

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60,000 workers march through Mexico City

The 31 January mass demonstration brought together working people and activists from many sectors including mining, energy, aviation, teaching, telephone and agriculture calling for a new economic and political direction for Mexico. The 60,000-strong mobilization denounced the injustice handed down by the country’s Supreme Court on 30 January against Mexico’s oldest democratic union the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME). That decision overruled an appellate court ruling taken in line with national labour legislation that clearly passes employer responsibility to a company that takes over operations of another company, as occurred for SME members. There is no way to interpret this unjust Supreme Court ruling that runs contrary to Mexican law, other than as an effort by the ruling elite to crush the SME electrical workers’ union. The SME General Secretary Martín Esparza in his address to the demonstration that climaxed in the national Zócalo plaza asked if marchers would accept the Supreme Court decision and give up their three-year struggle for reemployment. The loud, unified shout back was “NO!” Pressure is building on the new President Enrique Peña Nieto that his PRI Party government cannot continue the repressive policies of the previous PAN Party government and must end the establishment’s repression of social movements. A similar call for changes was made in a letter to the Mexican President sent by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and all Global Unions on 6 February 2013. The ground is prepared for a strong Global Days of Action for workers’ rights in Mexico on 18-24 February. IndustriALL Global Union affiliates around the world are linking up with trade unionists from other sectors to demonstrate the international indignation at the concerted union-busting in Mexico. Unified action in Mexico will be carried out by all democratic national unions, supported by international colleagues. Actions there will include a joint press conference, a public meeting, embassy visits, a solidarity caravan, a commemoration silent march in memory of the Pasta de Conchos victims, and a large-scale march through the capital. The Tri-National Solidarity Alliance of unions in Canada, Mexico and the US are playing a leading role in planning activities in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New Orleans, New York, Ottawa, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle, Tucson, Vancouver, and Washington DC. Unite the Union in the UK is hosting a public meeting on 20 February in partnership with the TUC and other groups. See here the 6 February joint letter to President Enrique Peña Nieto from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and all the Global Union Federations. The four main demands of the Global Days of Action 2013 are: • Justice for the families of the 65 miners killed at Pasta de Conchos on 19 February 2006; • End the use of employer dominated protection contracts, which deny the worker the right to democratic representation and collective bargaining • Repeal of the Labour Law enacted on 1 December 2012 that encourage dismissal of union activists, increases subcontracting and lead to massive expansion of precarious employment • Reinstate unlawfully fired union activists from SME, PKC, Vidriera de Potosi/Grupo Modelo; Honda; Calzado Sandak /Bata and allow free and fair elections at PKC, Excellon, Honda, Atento. Credit to Industriall global union

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Higher wages will keep Burmese migrants in Thailand, say researchers

High wages in Thailand are likely to keep the majority of Burmese migrant workers here over the next three years, a labour researcher says. While Myanmar [Burma] is currently taking steps toward democratisation and a freer market, finding good jobs there remains difficult, Premjai Wangsiripaisarn of the Asian Research Centre for Migration at Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Asian Studies said. Most Myanmar migrant workers are able to find work easily here and earn enough so they can send money home, she said. Foreign remittance payments from Myanmar workers is a big source of revenue for the Myanmar government. Encouraging its workers to return home would result in large financial losses for the government, she said. However, she said Thai businesses should look at ways to adjust if fewer workers become available in the future. Ms Premjai was speaking at a labour seminar held at the institute on Tuesday, January 29. She was responding to concerns of some business operators that migrant workers will become scarce now that Myanmar is slowly opening its economy. Ms Premjai said the centre conducted an opinion survey of Myanmar migrant workers between July and August last year and found around 10% of them wanted to return home this year. But most of them said they planned to make only a brief visit before returning to Thailand to work. Many of the respondents said they had yet to earn enough money to return to Myanmar permanently to take care of their families. Some workers said they would consider going home permanently if the economy in Myanmar were to create jobs that paid at least two-thirds of the wages in Thailand. The survey polled 204 legal and illegal Myanmar workers between the ages of 18-35 in Tak, Samut Sakhon and Bangkok—the three provinces with the highest concentrations of Myanmar workers. Ms Premjai said 30% of the respondents said they earn 10,000 baht or more a month. Forty-six percent said they earn between 5,000-10,000 baht, and 24% said they earn less than 5,000 baht per month. Earlier this week, Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap backed a call by the National Fisheries Association of Thailand to bring in 50,000 Bangladeshi workers for the fishery industry. The association says the fishery industry is facing a critical labour shortage. Yongyuth Chalamwong, the director of labour development research at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the local market will be reliant on migrant labour for at least five more years. The government should provide healthcare and welfare for the children of migrant workers, he said. Mr Yongyuth said Myanmar's industries will take 10-15 years to develop to the level where foreign businesses can be certain of adequate legal protection and returns for their investments. Credit to Mizzima

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Migrant workers face atrocious conditions in Malaysian electronics plants

Migrant workers in the Malaysian electronics industry face atrocious conditions while making parts for brands such as Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba, according to new field research released 18 January 2103. Employed as outsourced labour, the migrant workers are heavily indebted by the time they start working because of extortionate fees of recruitment agencies. Migrant workers are paid less, sometimes even only half of what they were promised, by the agencies that recruited them, and deductions are made from wages without proper explanation. Workers undergo HIV testing as part of medical screening and women workers have to have mandatory pregnancy tests and are sent back home if they get pregnant. Contracts, if received at all, are often in a language not understood by the migrant workers, and migrants regularly work up to 72 hour per week. In addition, most workers interviewed had their passports held by the outsourcing agencies, to prevent them from leaving. These atrocious working conditions, along with other violations were found by recent field research presented in the makeITfair-report ‘Outsourcing Labour’, which was released by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) on 18 January 2013. Researchers in Malaysia interviewed over one hundred workers. The factories that were investigated provide parts for DVDs, cameras, and TVs, chips and remote controls to large brand names like Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. These companies take inadequate steps to protect migrant workers in their supply chain, the research shows. The reseach found that labour rights violations are directly linked to the current outsourcing practices in Malaysia, where recruitment agencies increasingly act as direct employers, blurring employment relationships and obscuring responsibility for labour rights violations. Credit to IGU

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IndustriALL demands real action after fire in Bangladesh

7 die and 20 are injured in a blaze at a garment factory in Dhaka only two months after the tragic fire at Tazreen factory in November last year which took the lives of 112 people. The fire emerged during lunch time on 26 January at a small garment factory Smart Fashions in Bangladesh capital Dhaka. The 7 reported victims have all been identified and are all female workers between 15 to 28 years old. The factory is said to employ 300 workers. Reportedly, garments for some famous brands including Bershka and Lefties (Inditex), KIK, New Look, were found on site. Inditex says that it was not aware of an unauthorized subcontractor to an Inditex supplier with poor fire safety conditions. Inditex and IndustriALL Global Union have agreed on joint action based on their global framework agreement. It covers also suppliers and their subcontractors, which shall provide a safe and healthy workplace to their employees. The incident demonstrates the difficulties major companies have in controlling their global supply chains. Soon after the tragedy at Smart Garments, Inditex and IndustriALL exchanged information they received from their partners and affiliates in Bangladesh, and started working on a remediation action plan. A joint mission will arrive in Dhaka on Tuesday 5 February to examine the situation and discuss necessary measures to minimize the effects of the incident to the victims. Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union commented, “It is with great sadness that we have learned of another fire incident that claimed the lives of seven young female colleagues in the garment sector and caused injuries to many other workers. As in the Tazreen Fashion case, poor safety conditions resulted in a tragedy at Smart Fashion. Our deepest condolences go to the families of the perished and injured workers.” “Industriall Global Union is calling for urgent and serious action to prevent further tragedies. We invite all major international brands, national employers and the government of Bangladesh to start an urgent discussion with us on a concrete plan of action. It must include strict health and safety regulations, efficient inspection and union participation in workplace cooperation, ensuring freedom of association in line with internationally recognized ILO labour standards, and a program to raise minimum wages to at least living wage levels in the country,” added Raina. Over 4,500 factories operate in the garment sector of Bangladesh. Working conditions remain poor and the wage for most workers amounts to 3000 BDT ($38 US) per month making it only one third of a living wage in Bangladesh. After years of service, based on seniority, a worker can eventually reach 5,500 BDT (approximately $70 US). Very few factories are unionized, despite the effort of trade unions to get registration enabling them to conduct collective bargaining. In the Dhaka region out of 26 unions fulfilling the condition of majority representation at the enterprises only one has so far received official registration enabling them to bargain collectively. Hence the difficulty for the workers to raise their concerns on safety to a trusted entity: a union which could bargain with the employers on safety issues among others. Prior to the incident, on 23 January, Monika Kemperle, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL met with the buyers’ representatives in Bangladesh where both recognized the importance of engaging all stakeholders for a common approach and that the government takes primary responsibility in ensuring the safety of the workers. Together with affiliates IndustriALL will join an ILO Conference promoting fundamental principles and rights at work which will take place on 3 to 4 February in Dhaka. This conference will serve to make strategic planning and to analyze needs and build capacity of garment sector trade unions in Bangladesh. Credit to Industri all

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