“Garment factories supplying major fashion brands are using Covid-19 as a cover to crackdown on trade unions. In one case, 900 union workers were affected in India, while 846 and 3,000 union workers have been affected in Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively. There were trade unions in the factories and we have settled down the payment in consultation with the trade union leaders, Mesbah said. However, in all seven cases workers reported that the layoffs disproportionately targeted unionized workers, and in two cases workers reported that the factories made new hires of non-unionized workers shortly after. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has reported a global crackdown on trade unions, with at least 53 countries restricting human and labour rights during the Covid-19 pandemic and local unions reported many other cases also.

Source: Dhaka Tribune August 05, 2020 10:07 UTC