Now we do not feel hesitant nor shy anymore

Eight Workers’ Group (WG) members have been working for more than 3 years in a fashion garment’s factory situated in Mirpur, Dhaka, as sewing operators or helpers. During this period, these women have not received any wage increment from their employer. In September 2017, some workers belonging to this WG took the initiative to organize and discuss this issue with their supervisors and linemen. From their side, there was not a positive reply as they could not do anything for them, but they suggested to the women to bring it up to the top level management. Subsequently all the workers, including the supervisors and linemen, went directly to the Managing Director requesting for a wage increment. Workers explained to managing director their impossibility to manage their house rent and all other costs with the present wages. Unfortunately, the factory’s Managing Director did not agree to increase their salaries. Collectively the workers united decided to stop their working for a period of 7 days and continued their calling for wage increment. The factory owner threatened the workers with bodily harm. The workers united persisted in their demanding in front of the factory. Finally, the factory management accepted it and agreed to increase their wages by 200 taka per month.

One member of the WG shared that “through the training and meetings of Jukta Hoe Mukta Project they were able to gather the strength to raise their voice and claim their rights”. Before this, they did not know about their rights, how to claim them, nor how to talk with the top level management. “Now we do not feel hesitant nor shy to talk with the factory’s management”.