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Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore how women trade union leaders mobilized during the COVID Pandemic to safeguard rights of women RMG workers in Bangladesh. It will analyse strategies used to confront employers, buyers and government agencies and also to counter the backlash faced from each of these actors.

Paper long abstract:

The Ready Made Garment (RMG) sector is the largest export industry in Bangladesh. It employs approximately 4.1 million workers of which 65% are women. The COVID 19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the industry and on garments workers’ livelihoods. In the first two months after Bangladesh has identified its first COVID-19 patient on 8 March 2020, $3.16 billion worth of orders were cancelled from 1140 factories. Affecting approximately 2.26 million workers, this lead to many workers being sent home without pay and job loss of thousands of workers in first six months.

Inspite of the RMG sector being dominated by women workers the trade unions are mainly led by men. Often contributions of women leaders in mobilizing workers and negotiations for rights are side-lined and remain invisible at national level. However, during COVID an emerging group of women trade union leaders came to the forefront and demonstrated their skills in organizing in-person protests, being vocal in both national and international press, skillfully using social media with evidence all while maintaining close contacts with employers and their associations as well as government agencies and national political leaders for negotiating workers’ rights. The paper will emphasize the struggle women trade union leaders faced to achieve their goals while dealing with the multiple forms of opposition faced. The process of bargaining and negotiating brought out the strengths and weaknesses of a factionalised labour movement when confronted with the interests of global capital and employers supported by the State.