US stresses ending harassment to union organisers

US Senator Robert Menendez has said he cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s GSP benefits as long as union organisers and members are subject to harassment, intimidation and violence from factory owners and managers. “As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, I cannot support the renewal or expansion of Bangladesh’s GSP benefits as long as union organisers and members are subject to harassment, intimidation and violence from factory owners and managers,” he wrote in a letter to BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam. Menendez urged to take immediate and substantial steps to end the harassment and intimidation of union organisers and members by the garment factory owners in his industry association. In February, Chairman Menendez held a hearing on workers’ rights in Bangladesh and released a report on the topic last November, according to UNB.