WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVE (1994-2014) OF THE MAQUILA SOLIDARITY NETWORK. For current information on our ongoing work on the living wage, women's labour rights, freedom of association, corporate accountability and Bangladesh fire and safety, please visit our new website, launched in October, 2015: www.maquilasolidarity.org
On March 8th, International Women’s Day, an expected 30,000 garment workers, the vast majority of whom are women, will come together in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park for a mass Forum on Labour Rights to continue their struggle for an increase in the minimum wage to US$160/month, trade union rights, and the release of 21 activists who have been held in jail since early January. Meanwhile, photos published in local newspapers just one day prior to the forum showed approximately 2,000 riot police preparing for tomorrow’s Forum.
On February 10, trade union and human and labour rights organizations around the world staged demonstrations and delivered messages to Cambodian embassies calling for the release of 21 workers who are being detained for participating in a national strike for an increase in the minimum wage.
Thirty major apparel brands, together with the global unions ITUC, IndustriALL and UNI, have signed a joint letter to Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Sen, calling on his government to launch a prompt and thorough investigation into violent events of January 2-3.
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Solidarity actions are taking place around the world in support of Cambodian garment workers who are facing government repression for taking part in a massive strike for an increased minimum wage. The workers currently receive some of the lowest wages in garment-producing countries around the world.
(Photo: National Garment Workers Federation October, 2013)
Twenty-five human rights, faith, women's, teacher, student, community, overseas development and trade union organizations have signed an Open Letter calling on Canadian retailers and brands to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. To date, only one Canadian company, Loblaw (owner of Joe Fresh), has signed the Accord.
The companies to which the letter has been sent - Canadian Tire (owner of Mark's and Sport Chek), Giant Tiger, Hudson's Bay Company, Sears Canada, Walmart, YM Inc. (owner of Suzy Shier, Stitches, Bluenotes, Urban Planet, Sirens) - have so far refused to sign the legally-binding Accord. Instead, they have joined a voluntary, company-controlled initiative, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.
One year after the Tazreen factory fire and seven months after the Rana Plaza disaster the survivors and families of those who died are still waiting for justice.
Six months after the Rana Plaza building collapse, more than 2,500 injured workers and the families of more than 1,100 workers killed in the disaster are still waiting for compensation.
(photo: Laura Gutierrez)
(Photo: CETIEN)
In August, the Centre for Reflection and Labour Action (CEREAL in Spanish)
in Guadalajara, Mexico released its 2012 report on labour issues and cases
of worker rights violations in the country's electronics manufacturing industry.
The report highlights the problem of employer protection contracts signed
between hundreds of electronics manufacturing firms and unelected
union leaders.
The Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) mourns the loss of life in yet another factory fire in Bangladesh and is calling on the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Loblaw and all other companies that have been using the factory to provide just compensation to the victims and work through the Accord on Fire and Building Safety program to ensure such tragedies do not happen in the future.
Please sign an online petition to HBC initiated by the campaign network SumOfUs .
Thanks to international solidarity from trade union and labour rights organizations around the world, as well as pressure from the U.S Department of Labor, the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh (NAB) has restored the legal status of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS).
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