Under the law, Bangladeshi garment workers have the right to unionise. Whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing is immaterial. The simple fact of the matter is that it is their legal right, and there can be no excuse for firing workers who are attempting to unionise.
Recent tragedies have brought into sharp focus the need for protection of worker rights and the security of working conditions in the RMG sector. There can be no doubt that this must be the pre-eminent concern of the industry today.
We do not wish to editorialise here about the efficacy of trade unions, or whether allowing unionisation is the best way to ensure that abuses are curtailed and that worker rights and conditions are secured. We simply point out that it should be incumbent on garment manufacturers to abide by the law, whether in respect to fire safety, or building safety, or the right to unionise.
We have laws in place to regulate all industries. We simply ask that these laws be respected and followed. It is the flagrant disregard for the laws of the land that led to the Spectrum and Rana Plaza tragedies, and if there is one thing we would hope for the RMG sector to have learned, it is that their contempt for the law is unacceptable.
Firing workers who attempt to form trade unions is against the law, and it cannot continue.