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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMeet Aminul Islam who fought for labor rights for garment workers in Bangladesh
He's dead of course. He was a hero.
His tiny office was lost among the hulking garment factories that churn out cargo pants or polo shirts for brands like Gap or Tommy Hilfiger, yet workers managed to find Aminul Islam. They came with problems. Unpaid wages. Abusive bosses. Mr. Islam, a labor organizer, fought for their rights.
Security forces found Mr. Islam, too. His phone was tapped, the police regularly harassed him, and domestic intelligence agents once abducted and beat him, his co-workers and family say. More than once, he was told his advocacy for workers was hurting a country where garment exports drive the domestic economy.
And then no one could find Mr. Islam.
He disappeared April 4. Days later, his family discovered that he had been tortured and killed. His murder bore a grim familiarity in a country with a brutal legacy of politically motivated killings, and it raised a troubling question: Was he killed for trying to organize workers?
Five months later, Mr. Islams killing remains under investigation. There have been no arrests in the case, and the police say they have made little progress.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/asia/killing-of-bangladesh-labor-leader-spotlights-grievances-of-workers.html?ref=opinion
cali
(114,904 posts)than dead labor organizers.
not one Bangladeshi factory owner has been prosecuted in past preventable disasters.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)What a silly idea!
Enrique
(27,461 posts)as advanced by Matt Yglesias and others.
No, Matt, the conditions have to be enforced, to the point of killing labor leaders.
cali
(114,904 posts)are lauding.