[Onthebarricades] BANGLADESH: Unrest at sweatshops

[Andy]

http://www.nosweat.org.uk/node/598

Bangladeshi workers riot against sweatshop poverty
Sunday Mirror, 23 Sept 07

Tesco have pledged to investigate conditions at a chain of sweatshops in Bangladesh after workers demanding better pay rioted and set fire to a building yesterday.
More than 1,000 poverty-stricken clothing makers stormed the Dhaka headquarters of Nassa, a chain of 28 factories, whose clients include Tesco, H&M and Primark.
The violent scenes in Bangladeshi capital come a month after a Sunday Mirror investigation exposed the appalling conditions suffered by Nassa factory workers. Several revealed how they were beaten for not working quickly enough on gruelling 14-hour shifts which earn them just 4p an hour.
Nassa director Khandakar Alam pledged to investigate their complaints - but in fact little has changed. The lack of action - and the fact staff had not been paid their traditional bonus for working during religious festival Eid - sparked the riot.
Yesterday a spokesman for Tesco, who sell clothes made at two Nassa factories, said: "We are very proud of our high ethical standards. As a responsible organisation we will of course discuss the issue with Nassa to make sure we understand the issues the workers were protesting about."
H&M and Primark did not comment. Other High Street giants including Asda, M&S, Debenhams and Woolworths also produce clothes in Bangladesh, the third poorest country in the world.
There are more than 4,000 garment factories in Dhaka. In many, thousands of workers are dangerously packed into a tiny space to meet garment orders.
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