The New York Times today has an article on working conditions in factories in Jordan which produce garments for Wal-Mart: 20 hour days, withheld payments and physical violence. And its no surprise to find Bangladeshi workers at the receiving end of all of this.
The important thing to note is the way bangladeshi workers are used in Jordan is tantamount to human trafficking: workers are given false job promises, their passports are taken from them and they are tied to the jobs given to them and and are unable to leave. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee ( US based) described his experience :
These are the worst conditions I’ve ever seen.You have people working 48 hours straight. You have workers who were stripped of their passports, who don’t have ID cards that allow them to go out on the street. If they’re stopped, they can be imprisoned or deported, so they’re trapped, often held under conditions of involuntary servitude.
Earlier this year I talked with a worker who had returned to Dhaka after two years or so in Jordan including a stint in prison. Read my blog post about him HERE.
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Correct me if I am wrong. Bangladesh recently lost her protected status as a RMG exporter in the US market.
So Jordan enjoys the coveted protected status; probably thanks to brotherly relationship of the king (the son of the old king, the grandson of the older King)) with the west and Israel.
And now Jordan, not getting enough cheap labor within her own territory, imports that from Bangladesh. In another words Jordan enjoys protected status despite not having enough job demand and now uses that status to abuse cheap labor from Bangladesh.
And cheap labor is more readily available in Bangladesh now thanks to removal of protected status of Bangladesh in US market.
Do I see some hypocrisy somewhere?
Can someone tell me what is the basic idea behind protected trade status? Can a country justify enjoying protedted status if that country has to import foreign labor to use the status?
Yes confusing isn’t it. Just like definitions of freedom. We have proponents of free trade who are ok with free trade except when it affects their own industries and who are also ok with free mobility of labour so long as it is isn’t to their country.
Jordan is frontline in the war against Iraq. It got paid handsomely.
[…] Trafficking and exploiting Bangladeshi workers in Jordan (3 May 2006)Stories from Dhaka: Migrant work in Jordan ( 14 March 2006) […]
[…] Read the article HERE. This story echoes the news which broke earlier this year about the trafficking and exploitation of Bangladeshi and other workers in Jordan. […]
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