Washington, DC – The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) stands in solidarity with trade union organizers and workers in Bangladesh, who went on strike last December to protest and demand an increase in the country’s current minimum wage of $68/month. APALA condemns the arrests of workers and the serious threats against worker rights, and calls on the Bangladesh government to cease the criminalization of trade union activities, increase the minimum wage, and allow for workers to collectively bargain.
Johanna Puno Hester, APALA National President and Assistant Executive Director of the United Domestic Workers, AFSCME Local 3930, commented: “The struggle we see here in the U.S. and abroad are rooted in the same spirit to build worker power and battle corporate greed. We stand by our Bangladeshi sisters and brothers in their fight for better wages and to collectively bargain.”
“Workers without the freedom to form unions and bargain have little alternative than to go on strike,” added Shawn Bader-Blau, Executive Director of the Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO. “So much of the global economy goes ungoverned. What we’re seeing in the rest of the world is a shrinking space for civil society and a deep attack of human rights, including and especially on worker rights.”
APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana said: “I visited Dhaka after the major garment factory collapse of Rana Plaza, and the conditions in which these workers – many of whom are women – face have not changed. Together with the Solidarity Center, we urge the companies sourcing from Bangladesh to immediately contact the government and demand it release the detained labor leaders.”
APALA remains committed to advancing solidarity with workers around the world in our collective struggle to organize and build worker power. For more information, please visit: http://www.solidaritycenter.org/bangladesh-campaign-silence-garment-workers/.
Johanna Puno Hester, APALA National President and Assistant Executive Director of the United Domestic Workers, AFSCME Local 3930, commented: “The struggle we see here in the U.S. and abroad are rooted in the same spirit to build worker power and battle corporate greed. We stand by our Bangladeshi sisters and brothers in their fight for better wages and to collectively bargain.”
“Workers without the freedom to form unions and bargain have little alternative than to go on strike,” added Shawn Bader-Blau, Executive Director of the Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO. “So much of the global economy goes ungoverned. What we’re seeing in the rest of the world is a shrinking space for civil society and a deep attack of human rights, including and especially on worker rights.”
APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana said: “I visited Dhaka after the major garment factory collapse of Rana Plaza, and the conditions in which these workers – many of whom are women – face have not changed. Together with the Solidarity Center, we urge the companies sourcing from Bangladesh to immediately contact the government and demand it release the detained labor leaders.”
APALA remains committed to advancing solidarity with workers around the world in our collective struggle to organize and build worker power. For more information, please visit: http://www.solidaritycenter.org/bangladesh-campaign-silence-garment-workers/.
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| apala_stands_in_solidarity_with_bangladeshi_trade_unionists_and_workers.pdf |
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