Bangladeshi textiles works in the Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry have been taking industrial action for most of this year in pursuit of an increase in the minimum wage to meet soaring prices on basic commodities owing to an economic inflation crisis.
These protests have been met with fierce repression, including reports of at least four workers having been killed by police, and more than 11,000 being charged with violence and vandalism.
The secretary of Garment Workers Solidarity, and a garment worker himself, Babul Hossain, was kidnapped in October and then discovered as being arrested on November 14. He is facing trumped up charges and false allegations related to setting fire to a car.
The Bangladeshi government is using violence, torture, disappearances and arrests to try to stifle what is the biggest uprising of garment workers in over a decade. And meanwhile, workers remain malnourished and struggling to meet the basic requirements of life.
My guest today is the President of Bangladesh Garment Workers Solidarity, Taslima Akter.