http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/03/busi.html#3
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Saturday, April 3, 2008
Shrimp industry blamed for rights abuses
Bangladesh shrimp industry faces allegations of extensive worker and
human-rights abuses, according to a re****t by the American Federation
of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisation.
The industry uses child labourers and exploits women workers, the
re****t alleges.
AFL-CIO, a voluntary federation of 56 national and international
labour unions, last month published the re****t =EF=BF=BDThe True Cost of
Shrimp=EF=BF=BD on shrimp industries in Bangladesh and Thailand.
But industry associations in Bangladesh said the re****t was based
on old statistics.
They said the re****t would create cynicism when the government and
the associations were working together to implement the labour law
made in October 2006.
Industry leaders said the damning re****t would hurt the industry
leading to buyers hesitating to im****t from Bangladesh.
They also said that a vicious circle was working to ruin the shrimp
industry.
The re****t says a number of organisations have identified
=EF=BF=BDextensive worker and human rights abuses=EF=BF=BD in the shrimp
ind=
ustry.
It says =EF=BF=BDmost re****ts have concentrated on power imbalances on
shrimp farming=EF=BF=BD, which help local power brokers grab lands from
farmers to set up farms, causing environmental devastation.
Organisations such as the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
have identified land grab, use of child and forced labour, and reduced
local access to land, water and other resources as key abuses.
Many international NGOs and development agencies also expressed
concerns over the impact of shrimp trade on local peoples and the
issues such as food safety and environmental preservation, according
to the re****t by AFL-CIO.
It also says the Solidarity Centre and its partner organisations
had found labour abuses, including =EF=BF=BD****fts over 12 hours a day,
forc=
ed
and unpaid overtime, failure to get minimum wages, inadequate
healthcare and childcare resources, and insufficient health and safety
standards at most facilities from interviewing shrimp processing
workers=EF=BF=BD.
On worker wages, the re****t says factory owners pay a
=EF=BF=BDperplexing=
variety of wages to workers most of which are very low=EF=BF=BD.
The newer workers=EF=BF=BD pay is equivalent to $23 a month while more
experienced ones earn more or less $26, the re****t says.
Still, they are much fortunate than contract employees who work for
piece rates and are often paid 15 cents for every 22 pounds of shrimp
they clean, it says.
Workers have to work from 8.00am to 8.00pm. Some say that they
stand the entire time. Workers of five different processing companies
noted a straight 26-hour ****ft that takes place every other Friday
morning and ends Saturday evening.
The pressing concern however is the industry=EF=BF=BDs dependence on
chil=
d
labour, according to AFL-CIO. It is estimated that 13.4 per cent of
Banglade**** children, aged 5 to 14, are labourers.
=EF=BF=BDThey are involved in loading finished products onto trucks and
n=
ot
counted as a company=EF=BF=BDs employee.=EF=BF=BD
Speaking on the re****t, Syed Mahmudul Haque, chairman of Bangladesh
Shrimp and Fish Foundation, said the re****t would create cynicism in a
time when the associations and the government are working together to
implement the labour law.
=EF=BF=BDThe re****t used old statistics. It can cause boycott of our
products by consumer-rights associations of different countries which
would lead to a decline in ex****ts as well as closures of plants and a
rise in unemployment,=EF=BF=BD he told the news agency.
Haque quoted Wally Stevens, executive director of Global
Aquaculture Association, as saying they expect a solution to the
problems rather than creating an =EF=BF=BDair of uncertainty=EF=BF=BD.
Stevens challenged the re****t in an interview on CNN that was aired
in the US edition of the network.
Stevens re****tedly questioned why the authors chose to release the
re****t without contacting GAA, arguably a leading global aquaculture
standards-setting organisation.
Bangladesh Frozen Foods Ex****ters=EF=BF=BD Association president Kazi
Belayat echoed Haque.
David John Wales, resident representative of American Centre for
International Labour Solidarity, according to Belayat, also said the
re****t had used old statistics.
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