The garment sector in Bangladesh is characterised by low wages and terrible working conditions where labour activism is routinely suppressed. In the first couple of months of this year, a new wave of repression saw over 30 garment labour activists either arrested or detained and over a 1,000 workers dismissed. These arrests and dismissals were clearly of a political nature and aimed at disrupting workers efforts to organise and improve their conditions. National and international protests have now led to the release of all the detained labour activists, though there is still uncertainty whether all criminal charges will be withdrawn and whether workers will be able to go back to work with all their due entitlements.
The garment sector in Bangladesh is characterised by low wages and terrible working conditions where labour activism is routinely suppressed. In the first couple of months of this year, a new wave of repression saw over 30 garment labour activists either arrested or detained and over a 1,000 workers dismissed. These arrests and dismissals were clearly of a political nature and aimed at disrupting workers efforts to organise and improve their conditions. National and international protests have now led to the release of all the detained labour activists, though there is still uncertainty whether all criminal charges will be withdrawn and whether workers will be able to go back to work with all their due entitlements.
