Fwd: [bangla-vision] Worker rights advocates who are under attack in Bangladesh need your support urgently

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: fayez hossain <fayezaam@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 2:25 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Worker rights advocates who are under attack in Bangladesh need your support urgently

Dear Worker rights advocates who are under attack in Bangladesh need your support urgently. Kalpona Akter, one of the individuals under attack, toured the United States with us in April, describing the abusive working conditions and abysmally low wages.  A former child garment worker, Kalpona is the founder of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, one of Bangladesh's most prominent and well respected human rights organizations. Now Kalpona and her coworkers desperately need your help. It is time for the big brands and retailers that get much of their clothing produced in Bangladesh to take immediate action to ensure that false charges against BCWS staff are withdrawn and the persecution ends. Following last week's announcement of a new minimum wage, which will keep workers in dire poverty as the world's worst paid, garment workers protested for five straight days, demonstrating on the streets, and conducting work stoppages in factories. The government responded by blaming worker unrest on "provocateurs" and "saboteurs"-supposedly trying to destroy Bangladesh's most important export industry-filing fabricated criminal charges, and going on a witch hunt after Kalpona and other human rights leaders. You can learn more about the recent events here. Kalpona and other leaders of BCWS are now in hiding, having to move location every few hours, even at night.  Bangladeshi police and security are threatening their family members with beatings, harassing colleagues, and posing as journalists and even distant relatives in order to trick acquaintances to identify their places of hiding. So far Kalpona has managed to stay one step ahead of the police and security forces.  But she and her colleagues won't be able to hold out much longer.  If captured, we fear for their safety.  When she called the number of a "relative" that had been left with an acquaintance, the "relative" (in reality a security officer) told her bluntly: "We will keep you in our custody and will make your life hell.  You don't know about us and about our power. Now we know where you and your family live, and we know how to get you in our custody." Please take action now to protect Kalpona and her coworkers. Walmart, H&M, and JC Penney have influence with the Bangladeshi government, accounting for a large percentage of Bangladesh's export earnings. They also buy from a factory, Nassa Global Wear, which instigated the government crackdown on BCWS.  Walmart and other companies have long used their economic muscle to drive down prices in Bangladesh. If they truly insist that the persecution of BCWS and other human rights leaders must end, it is virtually certain it will.  Neither the government nor the industry wants to jeopardize orders and investment from the big retailers and brands. We appreciate your support for Kalpona and her coworkers and will keep you up to date as we learn more. Sincerely, Bjorn Claeson Director of SweatFree Communities Campaign International Labor Rights Forum

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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/