Blog: December 2010

Garment Workers Leader Moshrefa Mishu Arrested and Remanded Illegally

The outcome of her court hearing was a 2-day remand, despite her obviously ailing health, and lack of evidence surrounding the allegations. After fainting on her way to the police van after the hearing, Moshrefa was finally admitted to the National Hospital. She was transferred several times as her condition worsened, and she is currently in the emergency ward at DMCH.

Bangladeshi Ha-Meem Group Garment Factory Goes Up in Smoke and Flames

Unbelievably, Humayin Kabir, a production manager, denied the workers’ assertions that the exits were locked, explaining, “Maybe the workers could not find their way to the emergency exits as they have claimed that the tenth and eleventh floors were already dark with smoke.”

About 5,000 people work at the Ha-Meem Group factory producing garments for big name brands such as Gap, Abercrombie, JC Penney, and Phillips-Van Heusen (owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Arrow, Izod, and Bass).

Worker Cooperatives in Colombia: The Reality Behind the Rhetoric

Employers create CTAs in order to avoid having to support unionization, collective bargaining, and other basic labor rights to which they would normally be subject if their workers were treated as such: employees. Whereas employers are traditionally responsible for paying two-thirds of contributions to government benefit programs such as the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA), the Colombian Institute for Family Well Being (ICBF), the Family Equalization Fund and the social security system, which includes health care and retirement payments, CTA associates are responsible for making all of the legally-mandated government contributions themselves.

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