These workers died this week in order for Western consumers to pay pittance for their clothes. They died because companies like Primark chose profit over protection for their workers. Bangladeshi workers should have the same rights as British workers.
Some facts to inspire you to stand up in solidarity:
- Bangladesh's garment workers are some of the hardest working women in the world, but also among the poorest.
- Pregnant women are being cheated of their paid legal maternity leave and fired without their back wages, severance, vacation time and their Eid religious festival bonus.
- Working 86- to 92-hour weeks, workers earned just 21 to 25 cents an hour.
- Workers are prohibited from speaking during working hours, and if they do so, they are beaten.
- Supervisors throw garments in the women's faces, cursing at them to go faster.
- Workers have no health care; no paid sick leave.
- Management strictly prohibits even the mention of a union. If workers are suspected of organizing, they will be immediately terminated.
- Workers and their families are housed in tiny tin hovels not fit for human habitation. One hundred fifty people share just two water pumps, washing with their clothes on as there is no privacy.
See you there.
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