Bangladeshi woman wins rights for garment workers
Source: Christian Science Monitor (Original Article)
from the June 25, 2008 edition
Dhaka, Bangladesh - With a rush of rain cooling the steamy night air, Nazima Akter hurried through the muddy, narrow alleyways of one of Dhaka’s
many slums. Without knocking, Ms. Akter, a trade union activist, strutted straight into the cramped home of a sewing machine
operator.
The worker, a young mother of three who went by the name Nazma, had just returned from a long day at the factory, her lunch
pail empty and swinging from her arm. She collapsed onto a sagging mattress, telling Akter about the poor sanitary conditions
at her garment factory, one of thousands in Bangladesh’s biggest industry, and the need for an increase in wages.
Nearby, Nazma’s husband, a gaunt rickshaw driver wearing a flowing saronglike loongi and chewed-up flip-flops, paced in front
of the women, waiting for his wife to start cooking his supper. But he quickly got reprimanded.
“Cook dinner for your wife,” commanded Akter, president of Bangladesh’s United Garment Workers Federation. “Your wife is working
for the family from sunrise to sunset. It’s time to thank her.”
Looking defeated and slightly nervous, he boiled water for rice and tea as the women continued their informal meeting.
With stern black eyes, a puff of curly mocha-colored hair, and a self-described “low tolerance for fools,” Akter is not afraid
of confrontation. And these days, there is plenty of confrontation in Bangladesh.
With prices for food and other basic goods skyrocketing here and around the world, Akter’s role as a champion of labor is
more important than ever. On behalf of workers, she campaigns for wage increases to make sure that staples such as rice and
oil are affordable. In meetings with manufacturers, she presses for rice subsidies so that workers and their families don’t
go hungry. Her efforts have paid off, with several factory owners agreeing to her demands.
Over the Amex Credit Cards years, she has fought for maternity …continue reading