Bangladesh Crackdown 2024

Background

In November 2023, during the national wage-revision process, thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers took to the streets to call for an end to poverty wages in largely peaceful protests. Workers were met with an unprecedented level of repression and police violence - four workers lost their lives, 131 people were arrested, and approximately 40,000 people are still facing charges simply because they exercised their legal right to organise and demand dignified pay.

Brand inaction and police violence go hand in hand

Months after the protests, 40,000 workers are still facing arbitrary charges that could lead to lengthy prison sentences, including life imprisonment. The largely baseless charges are used to intimidate the workers' movement in claiming their right to higher wages, with the complicity of brands who remain silent. Some workers were charged based on acts that took place far away from their workplaces, in which the workers could not have taken part.

Although this is the deadliest year in the history of the Bangladeshi National Wage Revision process, it is not the first time that workers have faced widespread violence and repression. In 2019, over 10,000 workers were dismissed after the protests, 3,000 faced charges and one worker died as a result of police violence.

The failure of international brands to publicly condemn the undemocratic wage revision process and include wage demands supported by Bangladeshi trade unions resulted in a predictable cycle of failed wage revision outcomes followed by the ever-escalating violence and repression directed at malnourished and desperate workers. The new minimum wage of 12,500 BDT ($106) per month is among the lowest in the world and far below the trade union demand of 23,000 BDT ($195), a wage that research studies confirm is the minimum required to place workers above the poverty line.

Despite public statements promising to support a fair and independent wage-setting process and to protect the workers’ right to unionise and protest, fashion brands have failed to do their due diligence and take any meaningful action to foster an environment where workers’ voices are included in the wage debate, or ensure that speaking up does not cost workers their freedom or lives. 

As indicated by the side-by-side comparison of the 2019 and 2024 trackers (see below), fashion brands continue to allow this process to endlessly repeat itself despite being fully aware of the deadly consequences for Bangladeshi garment workers.

The situation in Bangladesh shows that brands’ endless promises about living wages and freedom of association are nothing but lip service and an attempt to deflect from the effective outsourcing of worker repression to the Bangladeshi security forces and employer-aligned institutions.

What needs to happen?

Brands whose suppliers have taken part in the repression need to press their suppliers to drop all charges, rehire all dismissed workers with back wages, immediately end worker dismissals and express their strong concerns about this crackdown on workers’ rights and organizing to the Government of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and publicly. Brands need to ensure compensation, in accordance with international standards, to the families of the 4 workers killed in the protests and to the workers who were brutally injured in the violent police crackdown.

Is your favourite brand responsible for the violent repression of Bangladeshi garment workers?⁠

The brand tracker below lists brands* complicit in the repression and outlines the actions they are yet to take to end the repression against workers in their supplier factories.

* Zara, Lee, Calvin Klein and Vans logos were added for recognisability purposes and represent the broader parent companies: Inditex, Kontoor Brands, PVH and VF Company respectively.