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Child Laborer Finally Freed From Captivity After Losing Arm in Cotton Ginning Accident

April 13, 2012

When PRAYAS finally reached the police by phone early Thursday morning, they were informed that Patel had already been released on bail and that he had returned home, where Anil was still being held.  When pressed on whether they had attempted to rescue Anil when they arrested Patel, police washed their hands of any responsibility for the child laborer denying that they had any duty to secure his safety. They instead informed PRAYAS that this was an issue for child services or the labor inspectors, not the police.  When PRAYAS reached officials at the local labor commission, they too denied any responsibility, and in a dangerous game of bureaucratic hot potato, PRAYAS was instead given the names and numbers of three other government agencies to contact.

101st Commemoration of the Triangle Fire Remembers Bangladeshi Fire Victims

April 10, 2012

Kalpona Akter, and her colleagues in the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity struggle against the government’s threats of imprisonment for crimes like “incitement,” and labor organizer for the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity Aminul Islam, was found tortured and murdered on April 9th, 2012. Labor and justice organizations worldwide are now calling for a full and impartial investigation of Aminul Islam’s death, and are mounting campaigns to bring the murderers to justice. In Bangladesh, where garment company owners have great influence with the government, improvements to worker safety and rights come in response to pressure from the outside multinational corporations who source their products from Bangladeshi manufacturers.

Bangladeshi Labor Rights Activist Murdered

April 9, 2012

Aminul had been detained by officials of the National Intelligence Service (NSI) in June 2010. According to Aminul, he was subjected to severe and repeated beatings, which his captors said would stop only if he agreed to give false testimony against his colleagues at BCWS. The NSI officials demanded that he write a letter stating that his colleagues were the instigators of recent worker protests, which had resulted in damage to some factory buildings. Aminul refused. While being transported to another location, he managed to escape his captors and went into hiding.

ILRF Hails Landmark Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement with the PVH Corporation

March 21, 2012

For many years the dirty secret of the steadily growing Bangladeshi garment industry has been its disposable workers.  The lowest paid garment workers anywhere in the world, hundreds of them have died in preventable factory fires and building collapses during the last two decades, and countless more have been injured.  After each tragedy, labor groups have asked: How many more workers will have to die before the industry changes? Workers have demanded “no more fires.”

Iris Munguía Receives SOLIDAR Silver Rose Award

March 13, 2012

I coordinated our women’s programme for twelve years as a member of the Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agroindustrial Workers Unions (COLSIBA), and worked for two years as the sub coordinator. I was elected as Coordinator in August 2011.

The Impact of My Work

As a result of my work, I have learnt to value myself as a woman and have learnt how analytical, positive, creative and committed we women can be. Women have always been involved in the battle to secure our rights, and yet we have gone unnoticed in history. Therefore, we women who work in the banana industry have lived through the experience of actually making and writing history.

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