Tortured and fired for demanding a fair wage

In early 2013, garment workers at the MN Sweater factory near Dhaka realised they had not been paid what they were entitled to. When sixteen of them complained, they were tortured and fired by the factory's management. The Clean Clothes Campaign, together with the 3F union, has been working to achieve justice for the workers.

In April 2013, the sixteen workers knocked on the door of production manager Rezaul Karim and complained that they and their fellow workers had been paid less than had been agreed. Shortly afterwards, the 16 workers were severely tortured by local thugs, who were possibly paid by the factory management. But the harassment of the workers did not end there. They were dragged from their homes by armed thugs hired by the factory, who continued to torture them and would not let them go back to the factory.

Dialogue from Denmark

With the help of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), a Bangladeshi trade union, the workers lodged a complaint alleging that they had not been paid their dues, including wages, arrears and compensation for their dismissal. All their petitions to the managing director were totally ignored.

In efforts to aid the sixteen workers, the Clean Clothes Campaign worked together with the Danish union 3F (United Federation of Danish Workers) to push DK Company, a Danish buyer of MN Sweater, into action.

In January 2014 the 3F Trade Union confirmed that DK Company was willing to find a solution through dialogue with the trade union of the sixteen workers. The 3F trade union has facilitated the dialogue between MN Sweater and NGWF, who represents the workers, to find a solution to the dispute.

On 6th of March 2014 the workers received their back wages and compensation for the violence they suffered.