413 RMG workers sent back from Jordan

Shah Alam Nur Some 413 Bangladeshi garment workers, mostly female, have returned home from Jordan as the Taiwanese-owned garment factory Maintrend International accused them of vandalising and creating chaos in the factory. A number of the women workers who have come back from Jordan however said they were not involved in any type of unlawful activities or protests there. They claimed that some older workers of that factory were involved in the protests. They said they were misjudged by the owner and were forced back to the country for alleged vandalism, strike or protests in the factory. "Now we want to go back there and seek help from the authorities concerned in this connection," they told the FE. Ruma, a 40-year-old woman worker, went to Jordan in July last. She said there was unrest in the factory when she reached there for realisation of various demands including pay-hike, stopping physical torture and ensuring a worker-friendly environment. Some of the older workers were leading the strike, she said. Mahmuda Akter from Narayanganj, another worker, said she did not join any strike or protests. Some older workers got involved in dispute with the management but the Jordanian authority issued order to send them back to Bangladesh, she added. Asma Akter from Mymensingh said she went to Jordan last July. In the first month she got Tk 18,000 as salary. After that protests ensued. Some older male and female workers led the protests. "We wanted to go to the factory for work, but they didn't allow us to do so," she said. "The workers, including some Jordanians and Chinese, went on a month-long strike in mid-September this year. Their demands included an end to beatings, forced deportation when workers cannot reach mandatory production goals, filthy dorms, arbitrary wage cuts and limited access to toilet," Managing Director of Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL) Muhammad Abdullah told the FE. The factory was shut down following losses allegedly caused by a series of labourer strikes protesting abuse, said Mr Abdullah. He said around 500 skilled female workers went to Jordan through the state-owned recruiting agency (BOESL) only seven months ago. The male workers have been in Jordan for several years. He said, "We have been trying to shift these workers to other factories, but the Jordanian authorities are not allowing transfer of them (to other factories) as they had gone on strike, which is illegal in the Middle Eastern country." There are around 30,000 Bangladeshi workers, mostly in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, in Jordan. The country stopped recruiting workers from Bangladesh five years back but in August last year, it opened the labour market only for Bangladeshi female garment workers.