Washington rules out renewal of GSP trade facility with Dhaka

By Mizan Rahman

Dhaka

US Senator Robert Menendez has said he cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s generalised system of preferences (GSP) benefits as long as union organisers and members are subject to harassment, intimidation, and violence from garment factory owners and managers.

“As chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, I cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s GSP benefits as long as union organisers and members are subject to harassment, intimidation, and violence from garment factory owners and managers,” he wrote in a letter to M Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Menendez urged the BGMEA president to take immediate and substantial steps to end harassment and intimidation of union organisers and members by the garment factory owners in his industry association.

In his letter, chairmen Menendez wrote that “union organisers and leaders in BGMEA factories are still subject to intimidation and termination,” and that he “cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s GSP benefits as long as union organisers and members are subject to harassment, intimidation, and violence from BGMEA factory owners and managers.”

“I strongly urge you to exercise your leadership to end these grave injustices and protect workers’ rights and safety,” he wrote.

In February 2013, Menendez held a hearing on workers’ rights in Bangladesh and released a report on the topic last November.

Menendez mentioned that last year, at their first hearing on this topic, he urged the United States Trade Representative to suspend GSP benefits to Bangladesh because of the dire state of workers’ rights and safety.

The Senator said union organisers and leaders in BGMEA factories are still subject to intimidation and termination. “Just last month, four union organisers, including two women, were reportedly severely injured by two dozen attackers as they tried to organise workers in a large garment factory.”

He mentioned that incidents like these are completely unacceptable and the BGMEA is obligated to play a stronger role in preventing them.