[olympiaworkers] The rage over the wage

Libcom.org Aug 4 2010

View video about struggle in the garment industry at:

http://libcom.org/history/video-machinists-against-machine-bangladeshi-garment-workers-struggles

Dhaka minimum wage protest - August 2010

The past four days have seen widespread protests and rioting against the
announcement of the new minimum wage structure for Bangladeshi garment
workers.

The industry's monthly minimum wage was last raised after the mass revolt
of 2006. The increase, to Taka 1,662[£15/$23/€18], was already inadequate
- and since then inflation of basic foodstuffs has risen over 70%. While
workers were demanding Tk 5,000[£45/$71/€54], the final offer from the
tripartite negotiations between government, the employers federation BGMEA
and a minority of claimed labour representatives (who have little actual
influence over workers) was Tk 3,000[£27/$42/€32] - an effective wage cut.
Breaking a previous agreement, the increase has also been delayed until
November - thus conveniently missing out the workers' Eid holiday bonuses
due before then. A union leader who opposed acceptance of the increase
said "...in the sixth grade, workers would get paid Tk 3,210 a month and
about 50 per cent of the total apparel workers fall in this grade. Workers
in the seventh grade being promoted to the sixth grade will have an
increase of only Tk 210 in their wages..."

The minimum salary at the entry level has been fixed at Tk 3,000: Tk 2,000
in basic pay, Tk 800 in
house rent and Tk 200 in medical allowance. The apprentice level wage was
fixed at Tk 2,500, up from the present Tk 1,200. The poor spend around 60%
of their income on food to provide a basic two meals a day. How little the
wages will buy can be seen when one compares it with the expenditure of
relatively well paid higher-grade garment workers;

Subarna, an 18-year old lady, works in a garment factory at Mohakhali
in Dhaka city. She is married to a young man who also works in the
same factory and has one cute child: a two-year old son. This 3-member
family lives in a tiny room of tin shed measuring 10 feet by 8 feet
with a low ceiling at a slum area known as "Korail Bosti" ( urban slum
).

"Korail Bosti" ( urban slum ) a huge area near Gulshan where thousands
of garment workers along with thousands of other petty technicians,
day laborers and low-paid servicemen live with their family members in
inconceivable congestion---more than crammed like sardines---in a
multitude of sheds so densely erected that it is hard for one to move
with a handbag stuffed with shopping through any of the narrow
pathways provided in between the sheds. These makeshift houses are
constructed on government-owned land and rented out by some local
musclemen who wield enormous strength to thwart any move from any
quarter to question their right of renting the slum dwellings.

Subarna pays Taka 1,500 for house rent and her other monthly expenses
include Taka 360 for three electric points---one light, one fan and
one television and Taka 200 for cosmetics and toiletries. Her daily
expenses include Taka 42 for 6 Kg firewood, Taka 64 for 2 Kg rice,
Taka 20 for half liter cooking oil, Taka 10 for onion and garlic, Taka
12 for vegetables, Taka 16 for potatoes and occasionally Taka 50 for
fish. One particular expense Subarna hates to defray is on cigarettes
her husband smokes draining Taka 25 every day from her skimpy budget.
Every month Subarna and her husband earn approximately Taka 14,000 and
spend Taka 11,000 for their own consumption and remit Taka 2,000 to
her ailing father living at Charfashion in Bhola.

Union presence in the industry is marginal and the groups have little
function as mediators and negotiators of day to day labour relations. None
of the 'workers' representatives' and 'unions' involved in the wage deal
can claim any very substantial support, membership or validation among the
3.5 million garment workers (85% of whom are female); the majority appear
to not even be garment workers themselves. They are reported as having
been cherry-picked by the government for the negotiations. But some
workers' reps were happy to give the settlement the appearance of
legitimacy and to accept the offer on the workers' behalf;

Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, a
platform of 40,000 garment workers, welcomed the announced minimum
wage at Tk 3,000 for the entry-level workers.

Akter, a former garment worker who has gained a foothold on the career
ladder of NGOs and international lobbying has previously been happy to
collaborate with garment bosses and publicly lie to deny any workplace
abuse of garment workers(1). The National Garment Workers Federation(2)
also accepted the offer. Both Federations have condemned violent protests
by garment workers and the NGWF have, absurdly, denied worker involvement.

Emerging from a tripartite meeting, held at Bangladesh Garments
Manufacturing and Exporters' Association building late in the evening,
National Garments Workers' Federation convenor Amirul Huq Amin said
they did not differ with the new wage structure. [...]
'The workers are not involved in the on-going violence in the apparel
industry,' Amirul Huq told reporters after the meeting He called for
identifying and punishing those involved in the recent incidents of
violence. http://www.newagebd.com/2010/aug/02/front.html#3.

The employers - many of whom have become enormously wealthy - admit that
the increase is not a living wage, but plead poverty and ask for patience;

The BGMEA president, Abdus Salam Murshedy, has said garment factory
owners are unable to implement the increased wages of the workers in
next three months as global recession and infrastructural bottlenecks
have affected their business. ... Talking with reporters in his office
on Friday, Murshedy insisted that the factory owners needed some time
to implement the new wages.
'Given the present state of business, the amount of wage increase is
justified,' he admitted. 'We also feel that even the revised wages are
not enough for workers given the increased cost of living; but we
would request them [workers] to give us some time.'

Yet only in May 2010 the BGMEA had stated that business was booming;

... The major buyers, however, have raised the prices of garment
products, especially the knit products, by around 30 per cent in
recent weeks, industry people said.
When asked about the price rise of the RMG products, Mr Mohiuddin said
price rise will actually compensate for the raw materials', including
cottons', prices which went up following production shortfall in the
major growing countries.
The prices of raw cotton remains stable at $1.50 a pound. The price of
30-count yarn also remains stable at $ 3.90 a kilogramme (kg).
The buyers including New Wave of Sweden, Terna of Italy, Wlimp of
Germany, Jerge of Germany, Metro of Germany and Flazeazer of England
have raised the prices of garment products ranging 20 to 30 per cent,
industry people said.
"Buyers have increased prices of the garment products leading to
larger export earnings this year," said Ashraful Hassan, managing
director of Grameen Knit.
The apparel sector fetched $12.59 billion out of the country's total
export worth $14 billion in the last fiscal.
"My buyers who earlier used to pay $1.5 for a piece of T-shirt now are
proposing $2.0 for the same," Mr Ashraf added.
He said buyers have now realised the hardship facing the local garment
manufacturers and started offering better prices.
Industry insiders said 'discount-buyers' who dominate the Bangladeshi
market also started to increase the prices for the RMG products.
Apart from this, the export of apparel goods also increased in April
over the same period in 2009.
EPB data shows that in April, export of knit apparel rose 13.52 per
cent while that of woven products rose around 13.0 per cent during the
period. ...

Dhaka, capital city - last Friday morning (30th July), the day after the
wage announcement ; in the Gulshan, Banani, Kakali, Mahakhali and Tejgaon
areas of the city thousands of workers streamed onto the streets and began
blockading the main highways with burning tyres. Police responded with
teargas, truncheon charges and water cannon (the water is mixed with an
indelible dye to aid catching demonstrators). But, heavily outnumbered,
the cops could not contain the workers and the protests spread outwards.
Making the link between their class status and the contrasting
concentrations of wealth in the city landscape, workers were quite
specific in their targets; as well as attacking garment factories, 200
businesses were targetted. In an unusual development that shocked many,
the wealthy Gulshan Avenue neighbourhood - close to the diplomatic zone
and embassy area of Baridhara - was invaded by 5,000 workers who smashed
up offices, banks and shops. Media and TV offices were also attacked.
"Gulshan police chief said the protesters had targetted the area's
high-end shops."(3)

Garment worker Parvin said, "We were forced to take to the streets as
the owners exploited us right under the government's nose. I have to
spend Tk 1,000 for food and Tk 1,500 for house rent. How will I
maintain other things with this wage?"
"Moreover, the factory owners want to deprive us of the increased Eid
bonus by trying to implement the wage structure from November," she
added.

In the central district of Mohokhali around 3,000 workers attacked
police, stoned factories and blocked a flyover, said local police
chief.
"We have the situation under control, but there are still protests
erupting in other parts of the city," he said, adding that several
factories in his area had been seriously damaged.

Meanwhile, at Tejgaon Industrial Area, protesters broke into a dyeing
factory; massive piles of fabrics were dragged into the road and burnnt to
ashes. At least 20 people, including five cops,were injured in the
clashes.

Late on Friday night police began raids against union leaders. Montu
Ghosh, an elderly labour leader, Communist Party official and Garment
Workers Trade Union Centre adviser was arrested and charged with
instigating workers' protests. Ghosh had been outspoken in opposing the
wage settlement. Several other labour leaders were reported to have also
been arrested. Another indication of the limited influence of these
'leaders' is that their detention had no effect on the intensity of the
protests - except to add calls for their release as another demand.

But in the midst of these struggles, the majority of union leaders -
enticed by being promised (not for the first time) a greater role in
labour relations - have been eager to show their loyalty to the industry;

Earlier, on Sunday night the leaders of 42 labour organizations held a
meeting with Labour Minister, leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA at BGMEA
office in the capital where the labour leaders reassured the
government and garment factory owners that they have accepted the
minimum wage for garment workers and would now work to restore
normality in the garment industry by
Monday.http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=329339

These "unelected" representatives were denounced by 14 other union leaders
for acceptance of the deal.

Despite the prime minister's observation last week that garment wages were
"insufficient and inhuman" - in supporting the miserly increase and
promising repession of those who oppose it, she clearly feels that
sufficiency and humanity are not worth the money;

On Saturday Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told "workers to accept the
pay hike and return to work", threatening tough action against those
who remain on the streets. ... She said tough action would be taken
against the people who are creating anarchic situation in the garment
sector over the minimum wage.
'We will not spare anyone who is behind this. We will find out the
provocateurs and try them,' Mahbubul Hoque Shakil quoted the prime
minister as having said.

The cops didn't bother to make any pretence of non-political police
impartiality;

Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque on Friday
warned against any attempts by any quarters to destabilise the
country's garment sector in the name of wage demands.
[...] He said the authorities would show 'zero tolerance' to any
attempts by any quarters to disturb law and order.
Terming practical the new RMG wage structure announced by the
government, the DMP chief urged garment workers and leaders to accept
it.
'We will arrest the persons who are hatching conspiracies to
destabilise the top foreign exchange earning sector. We will find out
the troublemakers and take stern action against them,' he warned.

In the days since, in the various garment factory zones, similar clashes
have continued as workers continue to demand a higher wage. Thousands of
workers have fought police, blocked roads, attacked and looted factories
and forced hundreds to suspend operations, attacked hundreds of
businesses, shopping centres and banks. Massive numbers of armed police
and the para-military Rapid Action Battalion have occupied the garment
areas; but even when prevented from taking to the streets, workers have
stopped work in the factories or not turned up for work. At one factory,
"Witnesses and police said around 1000 workers of Liberty, Metro and Micro
Fibre garment factory staged demonstration inside their factory wearing
red cloth on their head ... to press home their demand." Employers have
also closed many factories, fearing further trouble.

The continued labour unrest and disruption in the garment industry -
alongside infrastructural problems of energy supply shortages that
regularly interrupt maximum productivity - are worrying both foreign
buyers and local suppliers. The narrow national economic dependency on a
single export industry's ability to deliver competitive rock-bottom prices
and reliable fast delivery times means garment workers still have
considerable weaknesses to exploit in the class struggle. The government
and employers may finally - after years of hinting at it whenever labour
unrest reaches a certain peak - begin to allow full trade union
representation in the sector. But the majority of labour leaders, having
now been courted to play the role of giving legitimacy to the miserable
settlement, may have lost more than they've gained. The state and bosses
could easily again break their promises on union recognition - and, as
they continue their struggles, the most militant workers will not look
kindly on the unions' class collaboration and meek acceptance of the poor
wage offer.

Massive deployment of security forces in the industrial belts along with
sweeping raids and arrests have, for the moment, quietened the unrest.
But, with little resolved, the antagonism is set to continue.

NOTES
1) See quotes here;
http://libcom.org/news/bangladesh-carrot-stick-security-forces-fire-garment-workers-government-recalls-unions-1608
2) The US section of the Industrial Workers of the World has cultivated
links with the NGWF - see comments below article here;
http://libcom.org/history/video-machinists-against-machine-bangladeshi-garment-workers-struggles
Like other Bangladeshi 'unions', the NGWF - which itself has close links
with Western NGO's - appears to function more like an NGO than a labour
union.
3) http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/leading%20news.htm#lead%20news-01