International trade union initiative to support Bangladeshi textiles workers

In May 2009, Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, signed a joint statement with the US-based union United Steelworkers and the German United Services Union ver.di in support of labour standards in Bangladesh. The joint statement is the result of growing international concern about labour standards in the Bangladeshi textiles sector. It will require concrete action by all of the parties involved if it is to succeed in its aims.

Background

The National Labor Committee (NLC), a US-based organisation that operates internationally to defend workers’ rights, conducted research that revealed substantial infringements of labour standards in the R.L. Denim factory in Bangladesh. The factory produces a substantial amount of clothing for Metro Group, a German based multinational company. It has also been reported that Metro Group is to end its business dealings with the factory and that the factory will be closed, resulting in significant job losses. In response to this, on 22 May 2009, three major trade unions – Unite in the UK, the United Steelworkers (USW) in the United States and the United Services Union (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver.di) in Germany – signed a joint statement calling for better labour standards within the factory and for the continued use of the factory by Metro Group. The participation of Unite and USW in drawing up the statement occurred within the context of their partnership in Workers Uniting, an international trade union that was established by the two unions in July 2008 (UK0807049I).

Content of joint statement

The [Joint statement in support of R.L. Denim workers in Bangladesh (154Kb PDF)](http://www.nlcnet.org/admin/media/document/bangladesh/RL Denim/Us-EU Joint statement.pdf) contained the following key sections.

• The joint statement started with a description of the labour standards in operation at the R.L. Denim factory. It noted that a mainly female workforce was employed at the factory, that the workers were subjected to long working hours with very low rates of pay, and that health and safety conditions at the factory were exceptionally inadequate. In the statement, the trade unions also referred to the case of an 18-year-old girl called Fatema, who it is claimed died in December 2008 as a result of being overworked at the factory.

• The trade unions then called on Metro Group to commit itself to the commercial future of the factory, to provide workers with back pay and other benefits that were legally due to them, and to compensate the parents of Fatema.

• Finally, the statement called on all trade unions, consumers and governments to fight against breaches of labour standards across the developed and undeveloped world.

Views of trade unions

Commenting in a press release on the joint statement, Unite’s Joint General Secretary, Derek Simpson, stated:

These women in Bangladesh are having to work for as little pay as the employers can get away with [...] We have been told there is evidence that these women have been beaten, kicked and routinely work 13 to 15 hours a day. If they ask for maternity leave, they are kicked out into the street. Adding to the injustice, if production quotas are not met, they are forced to work overtime without pay. Workers Uniting, as a global union, must make a stand not just for our members, but for the rights of workers across the developing world.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard, citing the research of the NLC that uncovered the abuses, commented:

The race to the bottom in the global sweatshop economy is out of control, bringing more misery to the poorest of the poor. We are demanding that this corporate exploitation be stopped and these workers be given their basic human rights not only to be protected by local labour laws but also by the International Labour Organization’s internationally recognised worker rights standards.

Commentary

The joint statement by Unite, USW and ver.di is significant at various levels. The statement itself demonstrates a further instance of the internationalisation of trade union activity. It is particularly noteworthy that the content of the statement addresses the issue of workers’ rights in a country that is foreign to all three of the signatory trade unions. Although there are several examples of trade unions concluding international agreements concerning working conditions in their own national contexts, fewer examples exist of trade unions combining efforts at an international level to pressurise parties in a third country. Sceptics, however, may query the extent to which the joint statement is likely to have an impact on working conditions in the R.L. Denim factory and in the Bangladeshi textiles sector more generally. As is the case with many international trade union agreements, the initiative will require concrete action by a range of parties if it is to succeed in its aims.

Thomas Prosser, University of Warwick