A Lack of safety measures once again led to a tragic accident in the capital’s Siddheshwari area, where three construction workers died after they fell from an under-construction building on Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Joynul, 18, Sayeem, 17, and Jahangir, 26, who all come from from the Uttar Alampur village of Golapganj upazila in Sylhet, said Bachchu Mia, sub-inspector of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) police station.
Moshiure Rahman, officer-in-charge of Ramna police station, said that it happened because of a lack of implementation of safety measures and negligent supervision by the construction company. Rahman said: ‘We have visited the spot but haven’t found anyone from the building authorities.
A case for ‘negligence of supervision’ will be filed regarding the incident. Shipon, a worker at the site said: ‘The three victims fell off from the 10th floor of the building around 3:00pm while they were working on a bamboo scaffolding to set up a lift. The three were rushed to DMCH immediately where the doctors declared them dead.’
Around 25 youths from Sylhet were working at the construction site for the past one year. On Wednesday, they started working around 8.00am and the three fell off just after their lunch break. Three security guards were guarding the under-construction building. Some broken pieces of bamboo and blood stains were seen on the building’s basement where the three workers fell.
No official from the construction company was found at the site. When contacted, an officer of Rupayan Group, the site’s construction company, said they were aware of the incident and were looking into the matter. According to Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation, around 147 construction workers died in 2016.
• IndustriALL calls on state oil company PETROBANGLA to intervene and ensure decent working conditions at Chevron Bangladesh. Chevron, one of the world’s biggest oil companies and the largest foreign direct investor in Bangladesh, has sacked 148 workers in the past two years.
Chevron kept them as temporary workers for more than a decade, and sacked them when they demanded permanent jobs and the right to form a union. Challenging Chevron’s unjust termination, over a hundred workers filed cases in the labour court seeking reinstatement.
Workers are deeply concerned as Chevron is now in the process of selling its assets to Himalaya Energy. Chevron has also threatened to fire its present staff, who demand that the company address employees’ concern before proceeding with the deal. Chevron’s exit without addressing workers’ concerns will have a major impact on the lives of workers and their family members.
To defend workers’ interests, IndustriALL Global Union has called on the state-owned Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (PETROBANGLA) to make use of its right of first refusal over the sale of Chevron Bangladesh to Himalaya Energy, until Chevron settles all pending matters.
This includes court cases, reinstatement of all dismissed workers, back compensation payments, and job security, for at least three years, in the new company. Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriALL said: ‘It is essential that PETROBANGLA intervene to guarantee that Chevron Bangladesh act in full accordance with national labour law, and international core labour standards.
‘In this regard, Chevron Bangladesh should fully inform and consult the workers, as well as engage in collective negotiations with the representative union to ensure a fair transition.’ The letter urged PETROBANGLA to help safeguard the fundamental rights of workers at Chevron Bangladesh, regardless of the future ownership of the company.
• Workers at Azim Group’s Orchid and Savar factories in Chittagong have been subjected to violence, threats and coercion for demanding the right to form a union in the workplace. On May 27, security guards threatened and physically attacked workers and leaders of a proposed union in front of the factory gate.
The violence continued the following day as workers and union leaders were again beaten and warned that, if they continue to organise unions, they will be killed. The local police force who had officers at the scene stood by and watched as union leaders were assaulted.
Company security guards even went to union leaders’ homes and threatened family members.
One union leader’s wife was threatened at knifepoint and another leaders’ brother was kidnapped. The Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) an IndustriALL affiliate has been trying to form a union since early 2016 at the Orchid and Savar factories, located in the same building.
In March this year, workers filed a fourth registration application for unionisation at Savar Sweater Ltd. Sromik Union would have a potential membership of 2,200 workers, and in April for Orchid Sweater Ltd. Workers Union with a potential 1,760 membership. The application for the Savar factory union was again rejected by the labour administration on flimsy grounds and a decision on the Orchid factory union is expected soon.
The Azim Group has a long history of interference with workers’ rights to form a union. IndustriALL’s Sanches said: ‘Azim Group’s interference with workers’ attempts to exercise their freedom of association is a clear breach of national labour legislation as well as international core labour standards. We demand that the physical attacks must end immediately and that the Azim group engage in genuine negotiations with BIGUF.’
Although Bangladesh has ratified the International Labour Organisations’ Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, and Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, the government and factory owners have recently been cracking down on the labour movement.
• Over 3,000 Indonesian workers have been fired for striking, and the Indonesian government must ensure the workers are reinstated says IndustriALL. US company Freeport-McMoRan has fired 3,000 workers over the last month at the massive Grasberg copper and gold mine in West Papua.
The sackings violate the workers’ fundamental rights, the collective bargaining agreement and Indonesian law. The workers had struck in protest against the company’s unilateral decision to put them on long-term leave of absence related to a dispute between Freeport and the Indonesian government.
The conflict has spread to Java, where over 300 workers have been fired at a joint venture between Freeport and Mitsubishi known as PT Smelting, which processes copper from Grasberg. The Indonesian government cannot allow Freeport and Mitsubishi to abuse workers in this way. The volatile situation could result in an outbreak of violence that would be difficult to contain. Mining and metals unions around the globe have demanded Indonesia enforce its own law and defend the right to strike, so far to no avail.
