US embassy cable - 05DHAKA2414

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