Bangladesh
Bangladesh: carrot and stick - security forces fire on garment workers as government recalls unions
Garment workers continue their agitations... and the uncertain role of unions.
Wednesday 13 Aug - Dhaka; over 5,000 workers at Reedisha Knitex factory staged a demonstration inside during their lunch break at 1pm; they demanded a pay rise to compensate for the rampant inflation of food and other essentials such as rent and transportation. Their demands being ignored by management, they set about ransacking the factory.
Bangladesh; garment workers attack factories as thousands wildcat and riot
.jpg "garment workers' riot")
The ongoing unrest in the garment factories continues...
Savar, Dhaka area; thousands of garment workers came out on strike over the weekend in a new outbreak of unrest. On Friday 8th Aug two workers on the overnight 'graveyard' shift at Biswas Synthetics Limited were caught sleeping by 'ansar men', who then assaulted them.
Bangladesh: migrants export class struggle
In recent days over 800 Bangladeshi workers have been deported by the Kuwaiti government for organising strikes and violent protests.
There are about 200,000 workers from Bangladesh in the Gulf countries, mostly employed in cleaning services, security guards or construction. Every year thousands of poor Bangladeshis pay a labour recruiting agent (dalal) to arrange temporary jobs in Kuwait and other wealthy countries.
Water transport workers in Bangladesh in national wildcat
After around 38 hours, passenger vessels resumed services in Bangladesh on Saturday 12 June as water transport workers partially called off their countrywide wildcat strike demanding higher wages.
The workers stopped working at midnight Thursday, calling for increased wages in keeping with the current prices of essentials and cost of living.
A world food crisis; empty rice bowls and fat rats
A short look at the problems in world food production and supply, and its links with rising oil prices, global warming and changes in farming techniques.
In the Chittagong hill tracts of rural south-eastern Bangladesh the bamboo is in bloom - and the local poor are hungry and facing famine. Bamboo blooms and seeds itself roughly once every 50 years; the rats love the seeds, and their high protein content causes them to breed four times faster than normal.
Bangladesh; life's a gas! $100 a month employee grabs 'bonus' of $145 million
The extent of the corruption discovered within the Bangladeshi gas supply industry is astonishing even the anti-corruption investigators (see earlier story).
The head of the state-owned Titas Gas Distribution Company has estimated that 80% of his employees (including, as he was obliged to admit, himself) are corrupt - investigators are trying to trace just how many millions have been siphoned off. It is claimed that "almost everyone in the company is a millionaire".
Bangladeshi garment worker murdered by bosses - and other developments
Last Wednesday (30th Jan) two workers in World Dresses Ltd, Mirapur, Dhaka, were attacked and beaten by management staff at the end of an evening shift.
Khokon and Malek were apparently almost the last of the workforce on the premises at 8pm, as they were washing themselves before leaving. Five officials appeared and accused them of loitering with intent to rob the company. They then beat the workers severely:
Bangladeshi garment workers keep up the pressure - more clashes
Bangladeshi workers continue the protests and strikes that have been escalating in recent weeks.
Trouble in the garment industry has continued in Dhaka(see earlier report); yesterday (Tues) several thousand workers again fought cops in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ).
Bangladeshi garment workers out again and escalating
There have been more clashes in the Mirpur industrial area of Dhaka (see previous report); on Saturday 12th thousands of garment workers again demonstrated for improvements in conditions.
Bangladeshi garment workers return to work
Dhaka, Bangladesh: there has been a return to work after two days of strikes and protests which spread to 50 factories and involved thousands of garment workers in Mirpur, Dhaka (see earlier report).
