ALLEGED MANAGEMENT RECRIMINATIONS AGAINST WORKERS

UNCLAS DHAKA 002414

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM PGOV BG
SUBJECT: ALLEGED MANAGEMENT RECRIMINATIONS AGAINST WORKERS
DURING EPZ ELECTIONS



1. (SBU) Summary: Labor advocates allege factory management
of improprieties and recriminations against union leaders
during EPZ elections while BEPZA makes only tentative
responses to address the allegations. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Coinciding with Worker Recreation and Welfare
Committee (WRWC) elections in the Export Processing Zones
(EPZ),Solidarity Center (SC) reports acts of intimidation
against workers, including suspensions of workers. In mid
April, at Shasha Denims Ltd., management suspended one
worker, according to his suspension letter, for meeting with
workers during production time, using vile language, a single
instance of failing to follow instructions to bring supplies
to the assembly line, and threatening the manager. The
worker allegedly confessed to these actions to management.


3. (SBU) The worker, a loom operator, and a five-year
employee, denied the allegations in a letter to the factory
management and stated that he was being singled out because
of his advocacy for WRWC elections. He alleged that he and
others were transferred to other jobs in which they had no
experience and then when he won a seat on the WRWC,
management began to take benefits away from workers, causing
workers to blame the WRWC election for their loss. According
to workers, management called them in and asked the WRWC
members to resign, promised to double their salary if they
did but promised "problems with your jobs" if they did not.


4. (SBU) Bangladesh International Garment Union Federation
(BIGUF) and SC reported several of factories, such as Regency
Garments Ltd., Denim Plus, Kang Book, an alleged supplier for
Reebok, and others located in both Savar and Chittagong EPZs,
have dismissed employees without cause. Many of the
dismissed, were allegedly only expressing dissatisfaction
with management selecting the nominees. The workers
protested, subjected to management harassment, threatened
with firing, and then terminated when they did not agree to
management's WRWC candidates.


5. (SBU) Solidarity Center reported these recriminations and
a number of alleged management improprieties during the EPZ
elections to the Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Export
Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA),Md. Zakir Hossain. The
improprieties include not provided training to employees on
the election, not permitting campaigning by nominees and
managers instructing workers not to take part in elections.
In one case, at Beximco Fashions, factory owners put up
their own list of 15 WRWC candidates and then announced that
because that was the required number of members, no election
was necessary.


6. (SBU) BEPZA has responded to the suspensions by
establishing one-man investigation committees to review them.
Kamal Akhtar, General Manager of the Dhaka EPZ, said that a
one-man committee will review the firing of the worker at
Shasha Denims. He expected that a determination will be made
within one week. Solidarity Center was pessimistic on the
determination, noting that in similar dismissals and
subsequent investigations not one employee has gotten their
job back.


7. (SBU) Comment: Out of the 220 EPZ factories nationwide,
elections have been held in 130, with improprieties reported
in perhaps 20 factories ranging from dismissals without cause
to abnormally large numbers of WRWC nomimees suddenly
withdrawing their nominations. SC reported the
improprieties to BEPZA as early as last December.
THOMAS