The rebellion of 1000’s of garment employees in Bangladesh over chronically low wages in current weeks has not gone unnoticed by U.S. lawmakers, eight of whom wrote to a number one attire trade commerce group Monday to demand its assist for the employees.
Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-In poor health.) spearheaded the letter to the American Attire and Footwear Affiliation (AAFA), and co-signers embody Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), David Trone (D-Md.), and Susan Wild (D-Penn.).
The lawmakers urged AAFA CEO Stephen Lamar to make use of his affect to assist safe residing wages for employees who assist the $351 billion U.S. attire trade run, noting that Bangladesh’s wage board in October rejected the employees’ minimal wage demand of $208 per thirty days.
The Bangladesh Garment Producers and Exporters Affiliation supplied simply $90 per thirty days—up from the $75 per thirty days that employees now obtain at least wage, forcing them to work lengthy extra time hours to make ends meet.
The wage enhance “wouldn’t even meet the rising price of residing,” wrote the lawmakers, calling the U.S. attire trade’s refusal to again the employees’ demand of $208 per thirty days “not solely disheartening however shameful.”
“Whereas we had been inspired to see a number of U.S. manufacturers categorical assist for a wage enhance and a good, clear wage setting course of, phrases will not be sufficient,” stated the Democrats, asking the AAFA to “stress the federal government and garment producers of Bangladesh.”
Earlier this month, journalist Sonali Kolhatkar famous that the employees’ marketing campaign for honest wages has escalated as customers within the U.S. and different rich nations take pleasure in vacation gross sales.
“On the opposite facet of the planet, there is a excessive price for these low costs,” wrote Kolhatkar at OtherWords.
She famous that the AAFA has requested the Bangladeshi authorities to respect collective bargaining rights and the U.S. State Division issued an announcement commending U.S. clothes retailers “who’ve endorsed union proposals for an affordable wage enhance.”
However Kolhatkar questioned whether or not U.S. corporations are “actually dedicated to elevating garment employees’ wages,” declaring that corporations like Zara and H&M have “underpaid factories for garment purchases, making it more durable for them to pay their employees.”
Of their letter Monday, lawmakers additionally raised alarm about Bangladeshi authorities’ violent response to garment employees who’ve joined in mass protests in current weeks.
“Police have responded with violence in opposition to protesters and commerce union leaders, leading to no less than 4 deaths, quite a few accidents, and a wave of unjust arrests, detentions, and indefinite manufacturing unit shutdowns,” reads the letter.
The lawmakers pressured the AAFA to “name for a right away finish to the violence perpetrated by police and different safety forces in opposition to employees,” urge authorities to cease arresting employees and union leaders, and demand an finish to retaliatory ways by garment trade suppliers in Bangladesh, which have filed “false prison costs” in opposition to employees who’ve protested and subjected them to “dismissal, blacklisting, or different harassment.”
“We imagine that our actions overseas ought to at all times replicate our values at residence,” states the letter. “The historic challenges confronted by garment employees in Bangladesh are a part of a shared international battle for good-paying jobs, protected working circumstances, and the proper to arrange. Once we assist employees’ rights in a single a part of the world, we bolster the struggle for these rights in all places.”