Support Hazrat Ali, Coordinator of the Mutual Welfare Society in Bangladesh

Hazrat Ali is one of our regional solidarity partners.
His work is important.

He had an industrial accident.
He needs your support.

The situation:

Hazrat Ali was badly burned in an industrial accident at his workplace in December 2009. A gas leak caused an explosion. Two people died.

Hazrat Ali was very badly injured but survived.

Hazrat Ali received emergency and hospital care in Dhaka.
There is no welfare payment or medical benefits scheme or workplace accident insurance in Bangladesh, so all costs until now have been covered by relatives and friends and members of the Mutual Welfare Society, and through obtaining personal loans.  Hazrat Ali needs ongoing treatment.

Hospital costs in Dhaka are15,000 Bangladesh Takas per day. (This is about US $215 per day)
This daily necessary expense is approximately a monthly salary for a worker in Bangladesh. Because of the very high cost of paying hospital care, all the financial resources of Hazrat Ali’s family, friends and colleagues are exhausted.

Because of the financial constraints, Hazrat Ali had to leave hospital and is now in his family home. He is recovering, but needs skin graft operations, and according to medical advice he requires continuing treatment in hospital for operations and rehabilitation in order to avoid major disability.

The request:

It is difficult to raise the amount of money that has been paid to the hospital and what is needed for ongoing treatment from supportive Bangladeshi workers in Dhaka. We therefore seek the assistance of comrades to help to provide medical care for Hazrat Ali as solidarity assistance. AAWL has never done this before. We are doing this because it is for a person who has pioneered important work for the workers’ movement in Bangladesh, and as an important solidarity contribution for Bangladeshi migrant workers as a whole.

Please make your donation via Electronic Funds Transfer
directly to Hazrat Ali’s solidarity account:

Bank Account Name: Mohammad Hazrat Ali
Bank Account Number: 108-101-5655
Bank Name: Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited
Branch: Shantinagar Branch, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh
Swift Code: DBBL BDDH

The reason:

Why support Hazrat Ali with this solidarity assistance?
Hazrat Ali was a founder of the Mutual Welfare Society in 2005. He is also the Bangladesh editor for the LaborNet Asia website published in Seoul, South Korea. The Mutual Welfare Society provides labour rights contacts and advice to Bangladeshi workers who travel to Korea as labourers on temporary visas. As a rule these workers are terribly exploited by their employers.

The Mutual Welfare Society organises discussions to inform prospective Bangladeshi migrant workers, before they travel to Korea, about the employment conditions and social situation they will encounter. Prospective migrant workers are given information on their labour rights and organising rights. They are informed about the economic conditions they will face in Korea, where to go for assistance, how to meet other Bangladeshis and other migrant workers and develop mutual support. Members of the Mutual Welfare Society in Korea have been instrumental in keeping Bangladeshi workers in contact with each other and in helping them to organise for improved employment rights and migrant rights in Korea.

It was members of the Mutual Welfare Society that helped to build the Migrant Trade Union (MTU)

in Korea, which has been organising for the rights of all migrant workers. The South Korean government is very repressive against genuine unions. Because of their union activities, many hundreds Bangladeshi workers, including leaders of the Migrant Trade Union, have been deported back to Bangladesh. When this happened the Mutual Welfare Society was again critical in giving direct support to the deported workers and their families, and also in assisting them to find jobs once again in Bangladesh.

Despite this repression the MTU is now an established union and an affiliate of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The MTU industrial and political activities have been successful in achieving some rights for migrant workers, and it has also influenced other Korean unions on the importance of supporting migrant workers’ rights, uniting all workers to demand better wages and conditions. Hazrat Ali organised the Mutual Welfare Society in all support and education activities, including fundraising in Korea. He also provided direct financial support for the Mutual Welfare Society from his very small computer business, which was the workplace that was destroyed in the gas explosion.

Please support Hazrat Ali today:

Please make your donation via Electronic Funds Transfer
directly to Hazrat Ali’s solidarity account:

Bank Account Name: Mohammad Hazrat Ali
Bank Account Number: 108-101-5655
Bank Name: Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited
Branch: Shantinagar Branch, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh
Swift Code: DBBL BDDH

With thanks from the Mutual Welfare Society
and Australia Asia Worker Links

Hazrat Ali is one of our regional solidarity partners.
His work is important.

He had an industrial accident.
He needs your support.

The situation:

Hazrat Ali was badly burned in an industrial accident at his workplace in December 2009. A gas leak caused an explosion. Two people died.

Hazrat Ali was very badly injured but survived.

Hazrat Ali received emergency and hospital care in Dhaka.
There is no welfare payment or medical benefits scheme or workplace accident insurance in Bangladesh, so all costs until now have been covered by relatives and friends and members of the Mutual Welfare Society, and through obtaining personal loans.  Hazrat Ali needs ongoing treatment.

Hospital costs in Dhaka are15,000 Bangladesh Takas per day. (This is about US $215 per day)
This daily necessary expense is approximately a monthly salary for a worker in Bangladesh. Because of the very high cost of paying hospital care, all the financial resources of Hazrat Ali’s family, friends and colleagues are exhausted.

Because of the financial constraints, Hazrat Ali had to leave hospital and is now in his family home. He is recovering, but needs skin graft operations, and according to medical advice he requires continuing treatment in hospital for operations and rehabilitation in order to avoid major disability.

The request:

It is difficult to raise the amount of money that has been paid to the hospital and what is needed for ongoing treatment from supportive Bangladeshi workers in Dhaka. We therefore seek the assistance of comrades to help to provide medical care for Hazrat Ali as solidarity assistance. AAWL has never done this before. We are doing this because it is for a person who has pioneered important work for the workers’ movement in Bangladesh, and as an important solidarity contribution for Bangladeshi migrant workers as a whole.

Please make your donation via Electronic Funds Transfer
directly to Hazrat Ali’s solidarity account:

Bank Account Name: Mohammad Hazrat Ali
Bank Account Number: 108-101-5655
Bank Name: Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited
Branch: Shantinagar Branch, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh
Swift Code: DBBL BDDH

The reason:

Why support Hazrat Ali with this solidarity assistance?
Hazrat Ali was a founder of the Mutual Welfare Society in 2005. He is also the Bangladesh editor for the LaborNet Asia website published in Seoul, South Korea. The Mutual Welfare Society provides labour rights contacts and advice to Bangladeshi workers who travel to Korea as labourers on temporary visas. As a rule these workers are terribly exploited by their employers.

The Mutual Welfare Society organises discussions to inform prospective Bangladeshi migrant workers, before they travel to Korea, about the employment conditions and social situation they will encounter. Prospective migrant workers are given information on their labour rights and organising rights. They are informed about the economic conditions they will face in Korea, where to go for assistance, how to meet other Bangladeshis and other migrant workers and develop mutual support. Members of the Mutual Welfare Society in Korea have been instrumental in keeping Bangladeshi workers in contact with each other and in helping them to organise for improved employment rights and migrant rights in Korea.

It was members of the Mutual Welfare Society that helped to build the Migrant Trade Union (MTU)

in Korea, which has been organising for the rights of all migrant workers. The South Korean government is very repressive against genuine unions. Because of their union activities, many hundreds Bangladeshi workers, including leaders of the Migrant Trade Union, have been deported back to Bangladesh. When this happened the Mutual Welfare Society was again critical in giving direct support to the deported workers and their families, and also in assisting them to find jobs once again in Bangladesh.

Despite this repression the MTU is now an established union and an affiliate of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The MTU industrial and political activities have been successful in achieving some rights for migrant workers, and it has also influenced other Korean unions on the importance of supporting migrant workers’ rights, uniting all workers to demand better wages and conditions. Hazrat Ali organised the Mutual Welfare Society in all support and education activities, including fundraising in Korea. He also provided direct financial support for the Mutual Welfare Society from his very small computer business, which was the workplace that was destroyed in the gas explosion.

Please support Hazrat Ali today:

Please make your donation via Electronic Funds Transfer
directly to Hazrat Ali’s solidarity account:

Bank Account Name: Mohammad Hazrat Ali
Bank Account Number: 108-101-5655
Bank Name: Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited
Branch: Shantinagar Branch, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh
Swift Code: DBBL BDDH

With thanks from the Mutual Welfare Society
and Australia Asia Worker Links