Activists, labor rights advocates and union representatives have launched an international campaign condemning fashion brands’ inaction and calling for the withdrawal of 36 legal cases against workers’ groups and protesters. Up to 40,000 garment workers are still at risk of arrest as they are charged with repressive legal charges and issued with blank arrest warrants, the Clean Clothes Campaign said in a statement. Dhaka – Fashion brands including H&M and Zara have been criticized for failing to take action to protect the fundamental rights of Bangladeshi workers, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).
One year after protests by Bangladeshi garment workers for better wages were violently suppressed by the government and employers, 40,000 workers are still at risk of arrest as they are issued with harsh legal charges in the form of blank arrest warrants. Activists, labor rights advocates and union representatives have launched an international campaign condemning fashion brands’ inaction and calling for the withdrawal of 36 legal cases against workers’ groups and protesters. “Brands like H&M and Zara have a responsibility to ensure that complaints against unnamed protesters are not used to intimidate workers and their representatives,” CCC chief campaigner Anne Bienias urged brands to act quickly.
“Brands’ refusal to support union-backed wage demands and unwillingness to drop these cases despite being in dire poverty speaks volumes about who is profiting from the status quo and who is not. Brands are clearly profiting from it,” Bienias said in a statement. The CCC has linked 45 fashion brands to their suppliers who have filed 36 cases against garment workers in Bangladesh and has been pressuring the brands over the past year to ensure the cases are dropped. While some brands have taken initial steps to ensure suppliers drop false charges, a year on, all brands and suppliers have failed to follow through and not a single case has been resolved.
The CCC is launching a new action tracker to reveal which brands are linked to outstanding warrants, including H&M, Zara, Next, Matalan, Levi’s, Bestseller and more. Activists hope the tool will expose complicity in the industry and ensure brands and suppliers are aligned to drop charges once and for all. The launch of the coordinated campaign to pressure brands coincides with the anniversary of last year’s massive wage protests in Bangladesh.
Police and the military cracked down on protesting workers who were unhappy with the disappointing outcome of long-awaited minimum wage negotiations. Four workers were killed, hundreds were seriously injured and 131 were arrested as a result of the violent police crackdown.
“In an industry where union repression is rife, dropping these cases is only a first but necessary step to enable workers to make a decent living from their wages and remove barriers to freedom of association,” said Kalpona Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation. “We will not live in fear. We are asking for a wage that is enough to support our families.”
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