Now that the country faces growing to recover economic losses incurred from the Covid-19 pandemic, a new research finds Bangladesh is among 10 "worst countries for working people", with workers’ rights continuing to be severely curtailed last year.
The other countries, according to the study released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Tuesday, are Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Myanmar, the Philippines, Turkey, Eswatini and Guatemala.
The Middle East and North Africa remain the worst region for workers in the world, states the Brussels-based organization.
“In the garment sector, the country’s largest industry, which employs more than 4.5 million workers, attempts at forming unions were relentlessly obstructed while strikes were met with extreme brutality by the industrial police, who fired live rounds and used batons and tear gas to disperse workers,” it says.
“At least six workers were shot and killed by the police during strikes while many others were gravely injured,” ITUC maintains, especially hinting at the police firing on workers at coal-based SS Power I Limited in Banshkhali upazila of Chittagong on July 17, 2021.
“Workers in Bangladesh were also exposed to mass dismissals and criminal prosecution for exercising their right to peaceful protest. The authorities also frustrated the establishment of unions by imposing an extremely burdensome registration process,” the report adds.
Global situation
Workers faced record abuse of their labour rights in the past year, from union bans to violence and murder, the worker’s rights group said.
Physical violence was reported in 50 of 148 countries, including Bangladesh, covered in the group's Global Rights Index – the ninth edition of its kind -- between April 2021 and March this year, up from 45 nations in the previous year.
Trade unionists were killed in 13 countries, including Italy, India and South Africa, the group said.
"We know that workers are on the front line of multiple and extraordinary crises -- historic levels of inequality, the climate emergency, a pandemic destroying lives and livelihoods, and conflicts with devastating domestic and global impacts," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
The index "exposes how this instability is being exploited with so many governments and employers attacking workers’ rights", Burrow said in a statement.
The report lists companies that "violated workers' rights, are linked to a violation of workers' rights, or failed to use their leverage to address workers' rights violations".
The list includes Coca-Cola in Hong Kong and Uruguay, H&M in New Zealand, Amazon in Poland, Nestle in Brazil and Hyundai in South Korea, among many others.
The index also names P&O Ferries, the ferry company that caused uproar in Britain after it sacked 800 seafarers without notice in March and immediately replaced them with foreign agency workers earning less than the minimum wage.