The United States has announced a new visa policy including sanctions, trade penalties and visa restrictions for those who threaten, intimidate or attack union leaders, labour rights defenders and labour organisations.
Presenting the strategy in front of union members at a San Francisco hotel on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken credited US diplomacy as having real results on labour rights, pointing as an example to Bangladeshi garment workers who faced threats until US intervention.
The labour movement has been going on in Bangladesh for the past few weeks. In this context, Blinken said, "We want to be there for people like Kalpona Atker, a Bangladeshi garment worker and activist, who says that she is alive today because the US Embassy advocated on her behalf."
"We believe that every worker deserves to have their rights and dignity respected," he said.
In a memorandum as he took part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, US President Joe Biden for the first time formally instructed US ambassadors and other diplomats to "directly engage in labour diplomacy and enhancing programming and public messaging on workers' and labour rights."
The strategy comes a week after the US Department of State, in an unusual public move, urged Bangladesh to revisit a decision on its minimum wage after protests by garment workers that drew police violence.
The readymade garment workers’ unrest in Bangladesh left four dead and injured hundreds, while numerous factories were vandalised and several others were torched.
More than a hundred workers have also been arrested and sent to jail in connection to acts of violence.
Blinken said, "We will strengthen the federal government’s capacity to advance worker rights abroad by prioritising greater job opportunities for employees with labour expertise, training our personnel to know about worker rights, to look for and prevent abuses.”
He said they will work with governments and multilateral institutions like the United Nations, with the G20, to promote labour rights and standards.
He said they will step up their due diligence and enforcement to ensure that their own trade agreements and supply chains protect workers, and that “we’re not importing goods made with forced labour”.
Blinken said they will engage governments, workers, labour organisations, trade unions, civil society and the private sector around the world to protect and promote respect for internationally recognised labour rights.
The US Department of State will also begin implementing key actions from Biden’s Presidential Memorandum on "Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally."
"Labour rights are integral to building democracy, achieving economic growth, strengthening supply chain resilience, and levelling the playing field for American workers and companies," said Blinken.
This new whole-of-government approach will advance worker empowerment and unions, in line with Biden’s policies at home, according to an announcement made by the US Department of State.
The department’s efforts to advance internationally recognised workers’ rights will be carried out alongside interagency partners, including the US Department of Labor.
This memorandum is intended to raise global labour standards, building on the full range of existing authorities and tools in diplomacy, foreign assistance and programming, law enforcement and global trade and economic cooperation, consistent with relevant international obligations and commitments, read the announcement.
In Bangladesh, protests demanding a wage hike started after RMG makers on October 22 proposed Tk 10,400 as the minimum salary instead of the existing Tk 8,000. In response, the workers’ representative in the Minimum Wage Board demanded Tk 20,393 while unions demanded Tk 23,000 as the minimum salary for RMG workers.
In the aftermath of the apparel makers’ proposal, agitated workers started protesting on October 23 demanding Tk 23,000 as the monthly minimum salary considering the rising inflation and cost of living in the country.
During the protests, which ended on November 13, four RMG workers were killed and hundreds of others injured. Agitated workers vandalised at least 25 factories and torched several factories.
To bring the situation under control and protect factories, BGMEA announced factory closures and at least 400 factories shut production. Among them, 78 followed the “no work, no pay” policy under the labour law.
On November 8, the US Department of State condemned the “attack” on RMG workers and asked to create an environment for peaceful workers’ demonstrations.
A European Union delegation led by Paola Pampaloni, managing director (Acting) for the Asia and Pacific Department at the European External Action Service (EEAS), also raised concerns regarding the unrest and death of workers, in a meeting with BGMEA on November 14.
