End police interference: IndustriALL

IndustriALL Global Union has called for an end to police interference in Bangladesh’s trade union activities after law enforcement stopped it from holding meetings in Chattogram to form a regional committee.

IndustriALL General Secretary Atle Høie made the call in a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on September 29.

IndustriALL Global Union represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors, according to its website.

Atle said the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) had decided to form a regional committee in
Chittagong as the area has a substantial number of RMG factories and the workers working in some of these factories are members of unions
affiliated to federations, which make up the IBC. 

Accordingly, several leaders had travelled to Chattogram to form this regional committee with representatives of the federations in the area.

The letter said that police did not allow the meeting to take place. On September 24, when the meeting was taking place in the office of
IndustriALL affiliate BIGUF, IBC’s Senior Vice-President Salauddin Shapon received a telephone call from the Double Mooring Police Station that the meeting could not take place.
The meeting was shifted to take place in the Kotwali Thana area on September 25. 

The letter said that the senior vice-president again received a call from the Kotwali Thana police that the meeting could not take place in that area either. Calls made by the IBC leader to the Industrial Police and the police department did not get any positive response.

The global union said, “The IBC decided to shift the meeting to BTGWL office in the Bandar Thana area. When IBC leaders reached the office, police officers, including some in plainclothes, blocked the gate of the office and did not allow anyone to enter.
The incident is a direct violation of the ILO conventions guaranteeing freedom of association. This is also a serious intervention of the police force in the activities of independent trade unions in Bangladesh, which is highly condemnable.”

IndustriALL said that it was a “serious violation” of trade union rights.

The global union has urged the government to conduct an enquiry into the matter and ensure that
the police, including the industrial police, will not interfere in the legitimate activities of trade unions across Bangladesh.