Worked to death - Bangladeshi garment workers take to the streets after workmate dies

[Omaha Steve]

http://libcom.org/news/bangladeshi-garment-workers-take-streets-after-fellow-worker-worked-death-04012008

On Wednesday (2nd Jan) this week several thousand garment workers from around 20 factories completely blocked a main highway from 8am to 5 pm in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh.

The action began when factory bosses locked out workers from SQ Sweaters Ltd in the Sheorapara area of the city; the lockout was in response to protests on the previous two nights when workers allegedly refused to work, seized management officials and held them hostage in the factory.



The events began last week when Salma, a female worker, became ill. Due to management disapproval and fear of being fired, she felt too scared to take time off work. On Sunday Dec 31 she attended work but her condition worsened; the line supervisor refused her permission to leave the night shift, under threat of being sacked. As her condition continued to decline, she was eventually taken home at around 3am. Salma later died at about 4:30am Monday. Workers were told they would be sacked if they attended the funeral service.
Quote:

‘The factory management often forced us to work when we were ill. The management sometimes physically torture us for it,’ a worker alleged.

Since Monday there have been clashes reported inside and outside the factory and work stoppages, with management claiming that factory officials were held hostage by workers for a time on Monday. On Wednesday morning workers arrived to find themselves locked out. Thousands of workers gathered outside the factory and soon brought out workers from 20 surrounding workplaces. They then began the day-long roadblock, which police monitored but did not attempt to break up.
Quote:

The workers said they would continue their strike until the factory’s owner came to them and fulfilled their demands, including showing them Salma’s post-mortem report, expelling the officials who were responsible for firing so many workers within a short period, re-instating the terminated workers, and restoring the earlier two working shifts from 7am to 3pm and 3pm to 11pm instead of the ongoing 8am to 8pm and 8pm to 8am.
They also demanded withdrawal of the cases filed against the workers with Mirpur and Kafrul thanas in the last two months.

FULL story at link.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. What brands do they manufacture for? nt

[liberalla]

2. I found this

from OP link: "Worker unrest is no stranger to SQ Sweaters Ltd and its sister factories. The incident that sparked off the massive garment worker revolt in May 2006 occurred at the SQ-affiliated FS Sweaters Ltd factory..."

Clientele for SQ Group

snip

"SQ has successfully harnessed the benefits of its investments and managerial expertise to cater exclusively to high street retailers. Innovative and higher quality products, response to fashion trends and market needs as well as large production capacities have established it as a key vendor.

Sixty-five percent of SQ products is currently exported to Europe, mainly UK, Spain, Sweden and Germany. Thirty percent is exported to USA, and the rest to Canada and Japan. Our main buyers are GAP and AEO in USA, P&C, Esprit of Germany, Marks & Spencer, George, Mackay’s, Littlewoods and Jeff & Co. in UK, H&M in Sweden and ZARA in Spain."

http://www.sq-group.com/clientele.html

FS Sweaters is part of SQ Group. They boast that FS Sweaters Limited Awarded WRAP Certificate (WRAP = Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production) http://www.sq-group.com/news.html.

They brag about their social responsibility (see Business Ethics).

From the Chairman's Message: "Our goal is to remain a responsible apparel producer through adherence to internationally established codes of social accountability and ethical business practices. We have taken great pains to know our product intimately, and we guarantee its merchandizability all the way into the hands of the final consumer at the retail outlet." http://www.sq-group.com/message.html

Hmmm... Doesn't add up...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. Thanks. I'm going to write Zara and Gap to tell them I won't be buying from them again. nt