Bangladesh Will Allow Garment Workers To Form Unions Without Factory Owners’ Consent

[DonViejo]

Source: AP/TPM

FARID HOSSAIN MAY 13, 2013, 7:27 AM

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s government agreed Monday to allow the country’s garment workers to form trade unions without prior permission from factory owners, the latest response to a building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people and focused global attention on the industry’s hazardous conditions.

The Cabinet decision came a day after the government announced a plan to raise the minimum wage for garment workers, who are paid some of the lowest wages in the world to sew clothing bound for global retailers. Both moves are seen as a direct response to the April 24 collapse of an eight-story building housing five garment factories, the worst disaster in the history of the global garment industry.

Government spokesman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the Cabinet approved an amendment to the 2006 Labor Act lifting restrictions on forming trade unions in most industries. The old law required workers to obtain permission before they could unionize.

“No such permission from owners is now needed,” Bhuiyan told reporters after the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “The government is doing it for the welfare of the workers.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/bangladesh-will-allow-garmet-workers-to-form-unions.php

[mountain grammy]

1. Gee, maybe we could do that in America. What? We have?

[classykaren]

4. Yes we did a long long time ago

And look what happens when you take that away Right Hersey and Walmart?

[BVictor1]

2. Good for them.

Makes you wonder where manufacturers and big business will try to exploit next.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. A great start.

However, I think the labor movement has to go international, withninternational treaties just like NAFTA, in order to be effective in the long run.

But, dammit, a good start.

[Orrex]

5. This is outrageous! We might wind up spending an extra $0.25 per shirt!

This is great news, but I worry that companies will be inclined to relocate without unions and with even worse protections for workers.

[adieu]

8. As well as they should

These corporatists will exploit African, the last bastion of union-free workers. But eventually, the African people will demand unions once a tragedy like that in Bangladesh occur. Then, there will be no place on earth that the corporatists can go to exploit human labor.

I want to see that transition occur because the sooner these corporatists exploit Africa, the sooner they will end their ability to exploit parts of countries. Once all countries are unionized to the extent that they are or can be, we will all be better off.

[Orrex]

10. You know, I hadn't thought of it like that

I worry about the brutal abuses that will occur in the meantime, but you make a good point. If workers everywhere are protected, then their corporate masters will no longer be able to escape accountability.

[madokie]

6. I'm afraid they will simply be fired if they do

[duhneece]

7. Something good CAN come of the horror

This is a good thing that comes from something horrible.

[Enrique]

9. they do realize don't they

that this will get them added to the Axis of Evil.

[valerief]

11. Good, but...I can see the Goons Wanted ads now to beat down unionizers. nt

[bemildred]

12. Hundreds of Bangladesh textile plants shut indefinitely

DHAKA — Hundreds of factories which form the hub of Bangladesh's garment industry are to close indefinitely after worker unrest sparked by the death of more than 1,100 colleagues, employees announced Monday.

As the search for bodies from last month's collapse of a factory complex wrapped up, the textile industry's main trade body said all operations at the nearby Ashulia industrial zone were being suspended until further notice.

Shahidullah Azim, of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the decision to shut down all the factories at Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, was made "to ensure the security of our factories".

Local police chief Badrul Alam told AFP that workers in 80 percent of the factories had walked out earlier in the day to demand an increase in salaries as well as the execution of the owner of the collapsed Rana Plaza complex in the town of Savar.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g_DY8mUkN8WT75fBwikgfCxMRA_A?docId=CNG.0b960c95949c22ca4d1e33f1878b801b.5f1

[Doctor_J]

13. So now we're behind Bangladesh in worker rights

[Javaman]

14. While I would perfer the garments to be made here, I would gladly

support a union shop in another country.