what gap says is not what old navy does€¦ · what gap says is not what old navy does preface ......

Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights(Formerly National Labor Committee) 5 Gateway Center, 6F, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 , U.S.A.+1-412-562-2406 | [email protected] | www.globallabourrights.org

October 2013

Author Charles Kernaghan

Research Barbara Briggs, Elana Szymkowiak, Brennan Kaye, Jennifer Martin

We would like to thank Scott Prouty, who joined Charles Kernaghan, Barbara Briggs and the Institute’s South Asia team in Bangladesh, for generously lending his skills as a photographer, videographer and social media campaigner to help the Bangladeshi workers win justice.

Preface: What Gap Says Is Not What Old Navy Does...by Charles KernaghanExecutive Summary

Next Collections, Where Grueling Forced Labor Is the NormGap Workers Are Trapped in MiseryAt Next Collections, the Minimum Shift Is 14 hours

Grueling Hours – Even during RamadanWomen Denied Their Maternity Benefits, Trapped in Extreme Poverty

I. Testimony of Zesmin KhatunBase Wages the Garment Workers Need to Survive

II. Testimony of Morium BegumTotal Disregard for a Woman’s HealthWorkers Cursed and Beaten at Next Collections Sweatshop

III. Testimony of Taniya BegumMaternity Benefits and Wages OwedPolice Force in Bangladesh Wracked with Corruption and GraftStatement by Mazharul Islam: Beaten with sticks and threatened with death

A Brave Young Worker Blows the Whistle on Gross Overtime ViolationsNext Collections Scam Goes Right to the Top, Implicating Gap and the Ha-Meem GroupDriven by Hunger and Long Hours, Workers Strike for Food and Win. Worker Leader Threatened and Fired

Ha-Meem Group’s That’s It Sportswear: 29 Workers Killed, 100 InjuredCorporate Responsibility in Gap/Old Navy’s Supply Chain What Must Be Done To End Gross Sweatshop Violations at Next Collections of the Ha-Meem Group

AddendaA. Company ProfilesB. Baby’s Jeans from Next Collections to Gap/Old Navy Distribution Center in OhioC. Form of Resignation LetterD. Work Hour Regulation in BangladeshE. Maternity Leave Law in BangladeshF. Pay Grades in Bangladesh’s Garment IndustryG. Zesmin Khatun’s Pregnancy DocumentationH. Mazharul’s Medical DocumentsI. Complaint Filed by Taniya Begum at Ashulia Police StationJ. Managers at the Next Collections LimitedK. Illegal and Excessive Overtime

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Table of Contents

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Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

What Gap Says Is Not What Old Navy DoesPreface

By charles KernaghanDirector, Institute for Global Labour and Human rights

In fact, Gap and Old Navy appear to have no idea what is going on at the Next Collections Limited factory — part of the massive Ha-Meem Group in Bangladesh — where their garments are being sewn. And this de-spite the fact that Gap and Old Navy appear to account for 70 percent of total production at the factory!

If Gap/Old Navy have deployed “corporate monitors” to audit working conditions, hours and wages at the Next Collections factory, we urge Gap to release its audit reports. We can, however, inform Gap and Old Navy that the 3,750 workers at the Next Collections Limited factory in Ashulia are routinely forced to work over 100 hours a week, while being shortchanged of their legal wages — which are already well below sub-sistence levels.

Gap is in violation of its own code of conduct and these abuses have been going on for more than two and a half years.

The giant Ha-Meem Group, with its 26 factories, including Next Collections, and well over 30,000 gar-ment workers, is in serious violation of Bangladesh’s labor laws and the International Labour Organization’s internationally recognized worker rights standards. Across the giant Ha-Meem Group of garment factories, workers are being routinely cheated of approximately

15 percent of their legal overtime wages. In this report, we provide documentation to confirm these serious violations.

We hope that Mr. Stefan Larsson, Global President of Old Navy, will meet with the Institute for Global La-bour and Human Rights, in Bangladesh, at his earliest convenience.

Young women sewing Old Navy children’s cloth-ing have been arbitrarily fired and denied their paid maternity leave, while also being shortchanged of their outstanding legal benefits. A young woman just 20 years of age recently lost her baby in her seventh month of pregnancy due to being forced to work over 100 hours a week. She was working on Old Navy jeans.

It does not have to be this way. I believe that if we can work together in good faith, both Gap and the Bangla-deshi workers will be better off. For over two decades, the powerful Ha-Meem Group of factories has actively blocked the garment workers’ right to organize an in-dependent union. We hope that Gap/Old Navy agrees that Bangladeshi garment workers — among the hard-est working yet poorest workers in the world — should have their legal rights respected.

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Children’s jeans made in Bangladesh on display in an Old Navy store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Workers smuggled Old Navy skinny and bootcut jeans hangtags out of the Next Collections factory in July 2013. These jeans are sold for $19.50 in the United States.

It is excellent that Old Navy hangtags are made of recycled material. It would be great if Gap showed a similar concern for the workers who toil under horrific conditions, making Gap and Old Navy clothing at the Next Collections sweatshop.

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“Made in Bangladesh” Old Navy jeans sewn by young workers at the Next Collections factory.

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• The 3,750-worker Next Collections factory in Ashulia, Bangladesh on the outskirts of Dhaka is part of the Ha-Meem Group, Bangladesh’s second largest garment exporter which owns 26 factories and employs over 30,000 workers.

• At the Next Collections sweatshop, approximately 70 percent of production is for Gap and Old Navy. Gap is the largest specialty apparel chain in the U.S.

• Next Collections workers are forced to toil 14- to 17-plus-hour shifts, seven days a week, rou-tinely putting in workweeks of over 100 hours. Workers are visibly sick, exhausted and dazed from the grueling and excessive hours.

• Workers live in poverty, earning just 20 to 24 cents per hour.• Physical punishment and illegal firings are the norm.• Pregnant women are illegally terminated and denied their legal paid maternity leave.• For the last two-and-a-half years, Gap has been complicit with Next Collections/Ha-Meem Group in a scam

to defraud the workers of their legal wages and benefits. ─ Management hands out phony pay slips to pretend that Gap is in compliance with legal hours and wages.─ Workers are paid in cash, off the books and cheated of 15 percent of their grueling over-time hours. Workers are being robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year at Next Collections alone, and millions if one includes all the factories of the Ha-Meem Group.

• Workers live in miserable poverty in tiny primitive hovels. By the third week in a month, most have no money left for food.

• Bangladesh garment workers continue to be the hardest workers in the world and are also among the poor-est.

* According to the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) directory, Next Collection has 4,500 workers total. The workers estimate of 3,750 is for production workers.* Ha-Meem Group has an estimated 30,000 workers in its 26 woven apparel facilities. Workers estimate that Ha-Meem group has some 60,000 workers in total in its apparel and non-apparel businesses.

executive SummaryNext Collections Sweatshop, part of the Ha-Meem Group in Bangladesh

Next Collections Limited factory in Ashulia, Bangladesh.

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Late one Saturday night in June, we met with a group of Next Collections workers in a safe location outside Dhaka. We were shocked to see the condition the work-ers were in. They were exhausted, skinny, dazed and with deep shadows under their bloodshot eyes. In nearly 30 years of interviewing workers across the developing world, we had never seen workers who looked so exhausted.

The 3,750 workers at the Next Collections factory work seven days a week, including on Fridays, which is sup-posed to be their weekly day off. It is typical for the workers to toil from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m., sometimes 3:00 a.m. or even later. Fifteen- to 17-hour shifts are routine in the finishing section.

As of the third week in June, these workers had already toiled nine grueling 17-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., eleven 15-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and — on the last day of our visit — a 16-hour shift, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight.

In just 21 days in June, these workers were kept in the factory for a stunning 334 hours! And it is common for these workers to toil 14 ½ to 15 ½-hour shifts on their weekly holiday, Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 or 11:30 p.m.

We immediately sensed that Next Collections was a place of forced labor, where the normal rules regarding legal working hours, wages or factory conditions do not ap-ply. When workers ask how long their shift will be, their managers always shout the same answer: “Keep working until it is done!”

Workers told us that Gap and Old Navy clothing make up about 70 percent of total production at the Next Collections sweatshop.

We met with workers again on Sunday, June 23. On that day, they were kept for a 21-hour shift — from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.! On the following day, they worked a 19-hour shift, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Next collections Where Grueling forced Labor Is the Norm

Imagine Your Daughter Working Here

Despite the fact that she was pregnant, exhausted and sick, management at the Next Collections factory forced 20-year-old Morium Begum to work over 100 hours a week. She lost her baby in her seventh month of pregnancy. “I gave birth at 9:30 a.m., but the baby was immature and died…That was my first baby which I lost…For me, it is a loss I will never get over.”

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Despite the mind-numbing mandatory overtime, if an exhausted worker arrives even a minute late to work, he or she will be docked their entire attendance bonus. If a worker punches his or her timecard out a minute early, he or she will be docked an entire hour’s wages.

Physical punishment is the norm at Next Collections. No matter how many hours a worker has toiled, if she makes an error in production, she will be slapped, shoved or even punched.

Anyone who dares challenge the gross human, wom-en’s and workers’ rights violations will be immediately fired.

When a young woman helper makes a mistake, man-agement humiliates her in front of all her co-workers, forcing her to stand in front of her sewing line for one-and-a-half hours.

Young women are routinely robbed of their legal, paid maternity leave. Once a woman is six months preg-

nant, management begins to harass and bully her to “get out.” These women are fired (or forced to resign) with nothing — denied their maternity benefits, paid vacation days they have earned, their severance pay and sick days. We will provide many concrete exam-ples of how young women workers have been abused and robbed.

On Saturday, June 22, 2013, buyers from Gap and Old Navy arrived at the Next Collections factory at around 10:30 a.m. Workers said the buyers looked like us: like “white foreigners.” As always happens before Gap auditors arrive, workers were alerted by management over a loud speaker that buyers were coming. Workers knew the routine and were ready to respond with lies, as instructed: “We work just two hours of overtime a day... We are always paid double time for these over-time hours... Factory conditions are very good... We are given face masks and caps... Yes, there are needle guards...”

Next Collections Ltd.1323-1325, Beron, AshuliaDhaka-1341 Bangladesh

Head Office (Ha-Meem Group)241, Tejgaon Industrial AreaDhaka, Bangladesh

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Working an all-night, 20-hour shift is often required at the Next Collections factory. On this particular day in July 2013, workers toiled a 22-hour shift, sewing jeans and shorts for Old Navy. They left the fac-tory at 6:00 a.m.

Gap monitors do not spend much time on the plant floor, maybe just 15 or 20 minutes per floor. They take some pictures and then head to the office to meet with management.

The bathrooms at Next Collections are normally filthy. But when the buyers come, management has them cleaned and uses air fresheners.

The workers were 100 percent adamant that Ministry of Labor officials have never visited or investigated the Next Collections factory, or for that matter any other garment factories. The workers think that if the Ministry of Labor actu-ally did anything, they might have a better life and more decent working conditions.

No Bangladeshi worker — and especially those sewing Gap’s Old Navy clothing at the Next Collections factory — can afford to open a bank account. In fact, they told us that they run out of money every month, usually late in the third week of the monthly pay period. Then they have to rely on the cheapest food they can purchase on credit. No matter how long and hard they work, these workers are always behind and never able to catch up.

A typical, primitive, one-room hovel that houses two or three workers can cost 2,000 taka [$25.94] a month. Workers have to limit their food costs to just 1,000 taka [$12.98] a month.

Bangladeshi garment sewers are among the hardest workers in the world, and also the poorest.

For the last two-and-a-half years, Gap and Old Navy have been blissfully ignorant and totally detached from the actual conditions on the ground in the Next Collec-tions factory, which is an illegal and violent sweatshop.

Gap hides behind its phony code of conduct, which is never enforced. Yet Gap happily goes along with the pretense that the workers toil a regular shift of just 48 hours a week and never more than 12 hours of “volun-tary” overtime, for a workweek that never exceeds 60 hours, with Fridays off. Gap also assures us that the workers have the right to organize, to form a union and bargain collectively.

How easily Gap and Old Navy monitors have allowed themselves to be duped. A high school student would know better. All you need to do would be to drive past the Next Collections facility, where the lights are always on as workers toil well into the night. Parents and their high-school-aged teenagers could watch firsthand as ex-hausted and gaunt workers stumble out of the factory at midnight, 1:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., or even 6:00 a.m. But shouldn’t Gap be effectively monitoring hours and con-ditions, and assuring that its supplier factory complies with the law?

What we have here is a denial of truth, integrity and the rule of law. When will Gap come clean?

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Bangladeshi workers sewing Gap and Old Navy clothing put in mandatory 100-hour workweeks at the Next Col-lections factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

When you look at the hip, feel-good Old Navy clothing, it is hard to believe that Gap workers live in some of the poorest hovels in the world.

It is common for two, three, or even more Gap workers to share a small six-by-nine-foot room. In one home we visited, workers spread out a blanket to sleep on the concrete floor. They cannot even afford a makeshift wooden bed. Their primitive bamboo roof is torn. They have tried to repair it with cardboard, but the rain still pours in.

Other Gap workers rent small one-room “homes” with walls and roofs of corrugated sheet metal. They heat up like ovens when the sun shines.

When our team of investigators met with the workers in their small rooms in June, we were soaked within 15 minutes, dripping in sweat in the humid, 100-degree heat. When we tried to write down the violations the workers were describing at the Next Collections factory, our notebooks became so soaked with sweat that the pages began to fall apart.

Workers share one squat toilet with several neighboring families. There are just a couple of water spigots where several households can wash their pots and dishes. Tenants must line up and wait their turn.

The American and Canadian people who buy Gap and Old Navy clothing made in Bangladesh have no idea how miserable and illegal conditions are for the 3,750 workers at the Next Collections factory.

Gap Workers are Trapped in Misery

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finishing SectionOne thousand two hundred finishing section workers are routinely forced to toil over 100 hours a week, with mandatory 14- to 16-hour shifts, seven days a week.

Finishing Section(Standard hours, seven days a week)

8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Work; 5 hours1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch; 1 hour2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Work; 3 hours5:00 p.m. to 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. Overtime; 5 to 6 hours

Workers are at the factory 98 to 105 hours a week, while actually working 13 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week for a total of 91 to 98 work hours a week.

The workers have just one hour off for lunch, and may receive a 15-minute snack break when they work to 10:00 p.m.

It seems almost impossible to believe that 1,200 finish-ing section workers could have been kept at the Next Collections factory for nearly 500 hours in the month of June. When we met with several Next Collections work-ers in a safe location one evening in late June, we could immediately see that these young workers were sick, dazed and exhausted. There were deep shadows under their eyes, which were terribly bloodshot.

Duties at the finishing section include:• Ironing,• Attaching buttons,

• Cleaning stains from garments,• Folding,• Inspection, and• Packing garments in plastic.

Sewing Section• 2,000 Sewing Operators• Major production for Gap’s Old Navy (May, June

and July 2013)• 14-hour shifts• Seven-day workweeks• All overtime is mandatory

Workers are routinely at the factory 93 to 95 hours a week, while working 86 to 88 hours. (Eighty percent of the sewing operators work these hours.)

Saturday through Thursday (Six days a week)

8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Work; 5 hours1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch; 1 hour2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Work; 3 hours5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mandatory overtime; 5 hours

Friday (Mandatory overtime)

8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Work; 5 hours1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch; 1 hour2:00 p.m. to 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Overtime; 3-5 hours

A few sewing operators — less than 20 percent — work only 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., seven days a week, for a 77-hour workweek.

at Next collections The Minimum Shift Is 14 hours

A Life of Exhaustion and Dirt-Poor Poverty

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Grueling Hours – Even during Ramadan

Next Collections workers were forced to work until 3:00 a.m. during the holy month of Ramadan in July 2013. During Ramadan, management allows the workers an hour and a half off, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., so they can return home to eat, to break their all-day fast. Management demands that they return to work until 11:00 p.m., midnight, 1:00, or even 3:00 a.m.

From July 11 through August 7, 2013, Next Collections finishing section workers were forced to work 10 ½ to 16-hour shifts each day from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30, 6:00, 7:00, 10:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. This was during Ramadan, when most workers were fasting during the day.

7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Work; 6 hours1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Prayer; half hour1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Work; 2 hours3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Overtime; 2 hours or to 6:00 p.m. 2 ½ hours or to 7:00 p.m. 3 ½ hours or to 10:00 p.m. 6 ½ hours or to 1:00 a.m. 9 ½ hours

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I. Testimony of Zesmin Khatun

Women Denied Their Maternity BenefitsTrapped in extreme Poverty

Zesmin Khatun was six months pregnant when management illegally terminated her, denying her maternity benefits, earned vacation leave

and severance pay. Khatun routinely worked 100 hours a week.

The Truth about Sweatshop Conditions at Gap’s Next Collections Factory

Next Collections has an unwritten rule. When a woman worker is about six months or more pregnant, manage-ment coerces her to resign in order to evade paying her legal maternity benefits. This scheme is so appalling that three brave young women decided to speak up and go on public record. (And we know of several other pregnant women who are being denied their maternity leave as this report goes to print.)

• Zesmin Khatun was six months pregnant when man-agement illegally terminated her, denying her mater-nity benefits, earned vacation and severance pay.

• Twenty-year-old Morium Begum lost her baby in her seventh month of pregnancy because she was forced to work grueling hours while being sick.

• As they did with every pregnant worker, management attempted to force 24-year-old Taniya Begum to sign a resignation letter. After she refused to do so, her husband was jailed on false charges and beaten by management and the police.

For poor women garment workers in Bangladesh, being illegally cheated of their paid maternity leave can cause sickness and death of their infants. Next Collections man-agement must immediately cease to deny women workers their legal right to paid maternity leave. Gap must put pressure on its supplier, the Next Collections factory.

What follows are these women’s testimonies in their own words.

My name is Zesmin Khatun. I am 24 years old. I joined Next Collections, one of the factories of the Ha-Meem Group, on February 9, 2012 as a senior sewing operator. The company set my wage at 4,300 taka


“”

The buyers have known all about the excessive hours and

whole night shifts, but they remain silent and blind.

- Zesmin Khatun

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[$55.77] a month. My husband also came to work at the same the factory on February 16, 2012 as a sewing machine operator. I had to work excessive hours from the very beginning. I started working at 8:00 a.m. and regularly worked until 10:00 p.m. On Fridays [the weekly holiday] the factory was also open. We had to work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 or 7:00 p.m. on Fridays. My colleagues in the finishing section worked extreme and excessive hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., 1:00 a.m. and sometimes until 3:00 a.m. I worked on average 130 to 150 hours overtime a month, but the company routinely shortchanged our overtime pay. They tell the buyers that we do only two hours overtime a day, which is false.

We also worked on public holidays, and when we were sick.

In May 2013, when I was five months pregnant, I failed to keep up with the production goal be-cause of complications relating to my pregnancy. This made my line chief and production manager angry and they tried to force me to quit the fac-tory for health reasons, for being pregnant. The bosses had no sympathy for pregnant or sick workers. They wanted to see me working at a furious pace. The production manager, Mr. Rana, and the line chief, Mr. Mamun, demanded that I work on two machines simultaneously, doing two operations, which would have been extremely hard for any worker and impossible due to my pregnancy. I reported it to the director, Mr. Shahabuddin. The production manager and the line chief became angry with me because I had approached the director of the factory.

On June 10, 2013, Mr. Elias Khan, the Administrative Officer, tried to force me to sign a resignation letter, but I declined to sign the letter. Then Mr. Elias threatened me, “If you do not sign the resignation let-ter, your husband will also be fired.” Then I had no choice but to put my signature on the letter and I left the factory on June 10. They did not pay my earned leave [vacation] money, and they termi-nated me without paying my maternity leave and benefits.

There is no day care center at the Next Collections factory. For years management has always short-changed us on our overtime pay. The buyers’ auditors would visit the factory and would have to know about the enormous violations. But they did not take any steps to improve factory

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conditions. The buyers have known all about the excessive hours and whole night shifts, but they remain silent and blind. The Ministry of Labor and factory inspectors do nothing good for the workers. There is no labor union at the factory to voice our concerns — nobody helps us to resolve our prob-lems.

We do not see any ray of hope as factory conditions do not improve. The quality of our lives deteriorates as the cost of living keeps going up. It is impossible to live a decent life with the income that we are earning at the cost of our health and life.

The landlord raises house rent two or three times a year, but our wages do not increase compared to house rent. We have to borrow money to support our lives. We buy groceries on credit. We can live just two or three weeks with the money we make. We have devoted our lives for the company, but they cheat and exploit us for every single taka. We could have a better life if the management paid us the legal double premium overtime and maternity leave and benefits. I think we would be able to live a de-cent life if garment workers got at least 8, 000 taka [50 cents an hour] as a base wage.

Zesmin Khatun Card #8510, Senior Sewing Operator

Next Collections

July 20, 2013

Base Wages the Garment Workers Need

to Survive

All garment workers are demanding a minimum base wage of 8,000 taka ($104) per month for helpers, 10,000 taka ($130) for junior sewing operators and 12,000 taka ($156) for senior sewing operators. There is no garment company or factory in the world that could not afford to pay wages of 50 cents an hour!

Helpers8,000 taka per month*

50 cents an hour$3.99 a day (8-hour shift)$23.94 a week (48 hours)

$103.76 a month$1,245.14 a year

Junior Sewing Operators10,000 taka a month


$129.70 a month$1,556.42 a year

Senior Sewing Operators12,000 taka a month


$155.64 a month$1,867.70 a year

*Exchange rate: $1.00 = 77.10 taka

“”

It is impossible to live a decent life with the income that we are earning at the cost of our health and life.

- Zesmin Khatun

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My name is Morium Begum. I am 20 years old. I was born in a village of Sariakandi, sub-district of Bogra District — North Bengal of Bangladesh. I came to Ashulia, Dhaka with my husband at the beginning of Decem-ber 2011. I joined the Next Collections factory on December 8, 2011 as a helper. The company set my wage at 3,000 taka [$38.91] a month in 2011. Now my regular wage is 3, 200 taka [$41.50.] I have been working for the factory for about 19 months as a helper. The company would not promote me to a sewing operator posi-tion. There is always tremendous work pressure in the factory. Now it is Ramadan in Bangladesh, but still we have to work until 10:00 p.m. and sometimes until 11:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. Currently, we start operations at 7.00 a.m. During Ramadan, government offices limit working hours to six and a half hours, but in most cases the garment owners — especially at Next Collections and the Ha-Meem Group — extend working hours to 13 or 14 hours daily. The factory is open for seven days. It never stops.

In the beginning of my work in 2011, I made mistakes because I was a new worker. My supervisor cursed and yelled at me. Shouting at workers is quite common. I work on the second floor as a helper. My job is to fold the garments or to mark where the buttons must be placed. In June, 2013 I had to mark the button locations on 200 Old Navy jeans each hour. Since the factory first opened, the majority of its production has been for Gap.

II. Testimony of Morium Begum

Despite the fact that she was pregnant, exhausted and sick, management at the Next Collections factory forced Morium to continue working over 100 hours a week, which is why her baby died. Management wrote it off as

an unfortunate miscarriage. While her doctor ordered at least a full week’s bed rest, management was pressuring Morium to return to work just four days after her infant died.

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After reading Morium Begum’s testimony, many consumers in the United States and Canada may wonder if her infant’s death could have been

avoided. This is also a question for Old Navy and Gap. Did Gap know that their workers were being forced to toil over 100 hours a week?

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In April 2013, I worked 150 hours overtime. In May, I toiled 160 hours overtime. And in June 2013, I worked 210 hours overtime. You know that June 25 was a public religious holiday [Lailatul Barat] as Muslims believe that Allah decides the fate of every human being on the night of June 24. Muslims say prayers during the whole night of June 24 and then rest on June 25. You should know that I had to work from 8:00 a.m. on June 24 to 7:00 a.m. on June 25. That is a 23-hour work shift! We could not say our prayers. I worked a whole night shift on June 24. I was obligated to do that even being pregnant. If we ask our supervisor for leave, it seems that we are committing a crime, despite

the fact that we are routinely forced to work extraor-dinary hours. They have no sympathy toward pregnant women workers at the factory.

I became pregnant in January 2013 but I had to work on average 140 to 160 hours overtime each month between February and May 2012. In June I had to work 210 hours of overtime! This overtime is never reflected in the pay slip. The pay slip shows that

I worked only 50 hours of overtime in June. Please have a look at my pay slip. The accountants use another sheet that shows that I worked 210 hours overtime in June. But they shortchanged our overtime on the pay slip. I made 8,250 taka in June with overtime, food allowance, attendance bonus and other benefits. The company deducted overtime pay from our hours. In fact, I worked all Fridays in June.

In May 2013 I earned 7, 000 taka [$90.79] including everything as I worked 160 hours overtime. I had planned to go on maternity leave following the three-day Eid vacation in August. But all my hopes were de-stroyed. I lost my dream.

I live in a village named Gorat that is two kilometers away from the Next Collections factory. I always walk to the factory. It takes me 20 to 22 minutes to get there, as the road I walk is muddy and full of potholes.

On July 3, 2013 I had to work until 1:00 a.m. despite my pregnancy. In July and during the Ramadan, I worked in most cases until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. This was strictly obligatory. Dur-ing the last three weeks in July, I worked three or four days until 6:00 p.m. as I did not feel well. After work on Friday, July 19, I was really not feeling well. On July 20, my supervisor ordered us to work until 10:00 p.m. I urged him to let me go early at 6:00 p.m. He did not agree, but I did not return after the break at 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, July 21, I had to toil until 10:00 p.m. since the general manager, Mr. Liton, did not allow me to leave the factory early. On Monday I went to the factory at 7:00 a.m. but could not work. I was feeling extreme pain and

“ ”That is a 23-hour work shift! ...I was obligated to do that

even being pregnant.- Morium Begum

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went to the doctor’s room at 9:00 a.m. I cannot ex-press how painful it was. I gave birth at 9:30 a.m., but the baby was immature and died. The doctor at the factory referred me to the Centre for Woman and Child Health, a nearby hospital, and I was there for a full day on July 22. They released me in the evening of the 22nd and I went back home.

That was my first baby, which I lost. The gru-eling hours, constant strain and pressure to reach excessive production goals all led to the death of my baby. For me, it is a loss I will never get over.

After the delivery I have been shaken and physically sick. I lost my baby. The doctor at the Centre for Woman and Child Health advised me to take full bed rest for at least seven days. Attached is the doctor’s advice from the Centre for Woman and Child Health. Now I feel feeble and have developed the following complications: I can’t sleep at night; I feel weak; if I stand up I feel dizzy; sometimes I have a fever; I have low blood pressure; I feel constant nausea and can’t eat; I feel no hope.

The company demanded that I return to the factory on July 26 to resume work. But how can I work just four days after the death of my baby? I am sick physically and emotionally. Management thinks we are machines — that we have no feelings, no sorrows, no hardship. Even after I lost my baby, I can’t mourn her.

Management wants the workers to have no personal emotions, no feelings, no misery. Our bosses are happy if we behave like machines and accept this as our uni-versal fate.

Morium Begum Card #14410, Assistant Button Machine Operator

Next CollectionsGorat, Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh

July 25, 2013

“”

I gave birth at 9:30 a.m., but the baby was immature

and died...For me, it is a loss I will never get over.

- Morium Begum

Morium Begum and her husband live in the village of Gorat, two kilometers from the Next Collections factory. They pay 1,200 taka ($15.56) a month to rent a small 10-by-10-foot room with a tin roof, which heats up like an oven. They share an outhouse with their neighbors and use wood to cook their rice and lentils.

Morium went to work at the Next Collections factory on December 8, 2011. She is a helper, assisting a button machine operator. Her regular wage is $41.50 a month, $9.58 a week — 20 cents an hour — including all benefits.

18


At the Next Collections FactoryTotal Disregard for a Woman’s Health

Management tried everything possible to force Morium Begum to return to work just four days after her tragic miscarriage. Morium’s discharge certificate from the Centre for Woman and Child Health strongly advised:

• Avoid all heavy work for three months.• Take your medicine and eat nutritious food.• Consult your doctor immediately if you have any health related complications.• Take full bed rest for seven days.

19


Workers at the Next Collec-tions mostly make Old Navy jeans and denim shorts.

Workers Cursed and BeatenAt Next Collections Sweatshop

At 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 24, 2013, Saiful Islam, a supervisor on Line #4, violently slapped a young helper, supposedly for making a mistake. Later on that same day, Islam slapped another worker for not working fast enough.

A quality inspector, Munir, attacked a young woman on July 24, cursing and screaming at her for falling behind on her production goal.

According to the workers, supervisors like Islam and Munir are very aggressive and nasty, and do not hesitate to beat workers for the most trifling matters.

Saiful Islam and Munir should be immediately terminated. (We will not disclose the identities of the abused workers until these two supervisors are out of the factory.)

20


A Young Woman Fights Against Corruption, Graft and LiesThreatened with Prison and Death at the Next Collections Factory

My name is Taniya and I am 24 years old. I joined the Next Collec-tions factory on November 10, 2012 as a sewing line supervisor.

My ID card is number 205 and I work on line #183 where we sew children’s and adults’ denim jeans for Gap and Old

Navy. My husband [Mazhar Islam] is also a supervisor and works in the same factory on Line #182. We were married on August 25, 2011.

I was paid 11,000 taka [$146.67 USD] a month for working 13 to 15 hours a day. The company never gives us [supervisors] overtime pay, despite the fact that we work five to seven hours of overtime each day. Operators are entitled to over-time wages, but supervisors are not. As a result, many

operators make more money than we do.

Despite the fact that I am pregnant, I still have to regularly work until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. I was also

forced to work until 12:00 midnight on June 24, 2013, which is a special night for Muslims.

[Management] does not spare us, and all overtime is manda-tory, even for pregnant women. I was a supervisor in the sewing

section until I told the welfare officer that I was pregnant. They transferred me to the finishing sec-tion, hoping to put so much physical and mental pressure on me that I would resign, being unable to cope with the work pace. The finishing section workers work five to seven hours of overtime every day. Finishers also have to work to 3:00 a.m. and even 5:00 a.m., and on every Friday as well. There are 20 lines in the sewing section, working on the 4th and 5th floors, with some

III. Testimony of Taniya Begum

21


2,000 workers. In the finishing section, there are a total of 1,200 workers on 22 lines. There are other sec-tions like cutting and the warehouse. The total number of workers at Next Collections is about 3,750.

On June 27, I gave Ms. Shamima, the welfare officer, my ultra-sonogram regarding my pregnancy. I was 19 weeks and two days pregnant. I wanted to file my case in preparation for my maternity leave.

On July 18, 2013, after management became aware that I was pregnant, they unilaterally transferred me to the finishing section against my will. They wanted me to quit so that I wouldn’t be able to receive my maternity leave and benefits. Management thought that I would not be able to keep up with the pace in the finishing section and that I would willingly submit my resignation. I worked as hard as I could and never thought of resigning. I was planning to go on maternity leave on September 20, 2013. I was men-tally prepared to go forward.

After the Eid vacation, we resumed work on Saturday, August 17, 2013. At 10:30 a.m. on the 17th, the welfare officer, Ms. Shamima, came to my floor and told me I had to resign. I asked her, “Why should I resign?” Ms. Shamima responded that, “A higher authority instructed me to inform you that you must submit your letter of resignation.” I explained again that I was expecting a baby in mid-No-vember and I had every intention of taking my maternity leave on September 20, 2013. Why would you want me to resign just one month before my maternity leave? She said, “I have nothing to do with this. It’s up to management. The GM [general manager], PM [production manager], finishing manager and administrative officer all want you to leave the factory today.” I responded, “No. Never will I submit the resignation letter! I cannot give up my maternity leave. It is too important for my infant.” Ms. Shamima said that the factory owner is a very wealthy and powerful man and could cause a lot of trouble for me if I did not resign.

But I was adamant and replied, “I won’t resign even if the owner threatens me. Maternity leave and benefits are my legal right. The Ha-Meem Group cannot deprive me of maternity leave and benefits.”

The following day, on August 18, the welfare officer, Ms. Shamima, again came to my floor and asked me to resign. Ms. Shamima said, “Taniya, you must not appear at the factory starting tomorrow. The factory man-agement does not want to see you at the factory again.”

On August 19, I returned to work as usual at 8:00 a.m. The welfare officer again approached me. She said I had to leave the factory at once. Ms. Shamima said, “You do not have the power to fight against management. They can order the police to put you and your husband in jail on false charges.” I told Shamima I would not quit no matter what.

22


The big boss, Mr. Liton, the general manager, called me to his office and again ordered me to resign. If not, he said, “You and your husband will be arrested. False charges or not, you will be arrested by the police.” I responded, “Sir, I am planning to go on my maternity leave in September. How can you order me to resign and quit the factory without my legal right to maternity leave?” Mr. Liton said, “It is the decision of the company that you will have to resign and leave the fac-tory forever. The factory will not approve your mater-nity leave.”

On August 20, I took the risk and again went to the factory. The administrative officer, Mr. Elias Khan, immediately threatened that if I did not resign, someone would kill my husband and hide his body.

A union advisor I know encouraged me to go to the local police station to explain how they were threatening my family.

After lunch on August 20, I left the factory and went to the Ashulia police station and filed a statement against the general manager, the administrative officer, production manager, and the welfare officer of the Next Collections factory for making death threats and threats of forcible disappearance against my family. I

did not return to the factory that afternoon.

When I went to the factory on August 21, the GM [general manager], Mr. Liton, called me to his office again and screamed at me, “Why didn’t you return to the factory after lunch on August 20?” He called me names, “bitch, bastard,” and shouted, “Do you think your father owns the factory? We will not keep you. You must resign and leave the factory immediately. I do not want to see you again.” Then he told me to get out of his office.

The welfare officer took me to the medical center on the ground floor and left me near the doctor’s office. Sha-mima called the woman doctor and asked that I be declared “unfit for work.” The medical doctor was honest and responded over the phone, near where I was sitting, “I can’t give a false certificate.” The medical doctor is a good woman. She warned me that management could concoct a story that I had stolen gar-ments. She advised me to leave the factory in order to avoid the police bringing false charges against me. She said it could affect my baby.

On August 21, at 12:20 p.m., I left the Next Collec-tions factory.

The general manager told my husband that I should send in my letter of resignation immediately. I am now at home, but I will not submit any resignation letter. I want to enjoy my legal maternity leave and benefits. The Next Col-lections factory has no right to violate the rights of poor pregnant women workers, who are vulnerable and victims. Many poor pregnant women have been compelled to quit the factory. We would like to see an end to the continuous violation of labor and women’s rights. How many preg-nant women workers will have to suffer to establish the rule of law at factories like Next Col-lections? Is there no-one to monitor these fundamental violations of labor laws?

Taniya BegumCard #205, Supervisor

Next Collections

July 2013

“”

How many pregnant women workers will have to suffer to establish the

rule of law at factories like Next Collections?

- Taniya Begum

23


23

Maternity Benefits and Wages Owed

In Bangladesh, pregnant workers are entitled to 112 days of paid maternity leave. Their paid mater-nity leave is based on the average of their previous three months’ actual pay, including salary and bonuses. (See page 49 for Bangladeshi law on maternity leave and benefits.)

As a line supervisor, Taniya Begum, earned a monthly salary of 11,000 taka, or $142.67 USD. Taniya was also often forced to work overtime on Fridays — which is the Muslim holiday — toiling seven days a week.

Taniya Begum’s 112 days maternity leave starts on September 20, 2013 and continues through January 9, 2014. Her maternity leave totals $614.58. Based on her salary, Taniya’s regular maternity leave should be 40,370 taka, which is $523.61. Additionally, Taniya was also required to work overtime on several Fridays, which added an additional 7014 taka, or $90.97, to her maternity leave. Moreover, Taniya worked 20 days in August, for which she was not paid. She is owned 8,461 taka, or $109.74, which brings the total amount due Taniya to $724.32. This may not seem to be an enormous amount, but it will give Taniya and her infant a chance to have sufficient food and to grow healthy.

We know many other women workers who were also pregnant and denied their maternity leave. This must end.

24


Mazharul Islam, a supervisor at the Next Collections factory, was attacked, cheated of his wages, beaten with sticks, and imprisoned under false charges in an effort to deny his wife, Taniya Begum, her legal right to paid maternity leave. Shahabuddin, Executive Director of the

Next Collections factory, along with General Manager, Liakat Hossain Liton, and Administrative Officer, Elias Khan, are implicated in numerous cases of harassment and intimidation to deny pregnant women their legal right to paid maternity leave.

Statement by Mazharul Islam

September 5, 2013, Thursday

Next Collections Limited workers and staff were paid their August wages on September 5. The general man-ager [Liakat Hossain Liton] and administrative officer [Elias Khan] refused to pay my month’s wages until I brought Taniya to the factory to meet with management.

I reported this to the executive director. The executive director wanted to know who was holding my salary. The general manager went to the executive director’s office, explaining they wanted me to bring Taniya to the factory. The executive director said that if I brought Taniya to the factory, I would be paid. I left the factory at 10:00 p.m.

September 6, Friday

The factory was shut down on Friday.

September 7, Saturday

I did not bring Taniya to the factory. Management did not ask me about Taniya. But I still was not paid my sal-ary for August. I left the factory at 8:00 p.m.

Mazharul was beaten with sticks and threatened with death all because his wife, Taniya, was asking for her paid maternity leave.

Almost everyone in Bangladesh is aware that — too often — police officers can be bought off with chump-change. However, it is a whole other level when the powerful Ha-Meem Group, and the Next Collections factory, is involved. Management has the power to use the police as a private army to attack the workers. For example, when Mazharul Islam supported his wife Taniya’s right to paid maternity leave, he was badly beaten with sticks by management and then turned over to the police.

The administrative officer at Next Collections, Elias Khan, then fabricated a story that Mazharul “attempted” to steal 12 pairs of pants from the factory, and “admit-ted” to his crime. The fact that there was no proof

whatsoever did not stop the police, who immediately rec-ommended that the court deny Mazhural’s bail. A police van was called and Mazhural was put in the back seat surrounded by three police officers. In the front seat of the van was the administrative officer, Elias Khan, who orchestrated the whole plot.

It took three days and a lot of work by Bangladeshi work-er rights organizations to temporarily free Mazhural, who will still have to report to the court every month for years. And there is the possibility that Mazhural could be imprisoned again, given the clout that Ha-Meen and Next Collections have.

Police force in Bangladesh Wracked with corruption and Graft

25


September 8, Sunday

I started working at 8:00 a.m. I went home to take lunch from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. After the lunch break, at around 3:30 p.m., the administrative officer, Elias Khan, came to my assembly line on the third floor. He ordered me to immediately meet with Belal Hossian, the managing director, on the 4th floor. When I en-tered the MD’s office, I saw that the welfare officer, Ms. Shamima, the two executive directors, the general manager, Liton, the managing director and others were meeting in Belal Hossian’s office. Elias Khan, the administrative officer, followed me into the managing director’s office. Other than me, there were seven top-level managers in the room.

3:40 p.m.

It was around 3:40 p.m. when the general manager started interrogating me and asking why I used a cell phone to tape record management’s threats against me. When Taniya was asking for her maternity leave, they threatened that I would be in trouble, that I could be tortured by the police or even forcibly disap-peared. I recorded the conversation using a cell phone that I borrowed from my colleague, Junaid, who was a quality inspector on the same floor and line as I was.

4:00 p.m.

Junaid betrayed me. Only he knew that I taped management’s threats against my life using his cell phone. He gave the memory card to management. Then Elias told me to sign my letter of resignation. I replied, “What did I do wrong and why should I resign?”

26


Elias said that during the workers strike in May de-manding a food subsidy for lunch, I had supported the strike and knocked down a sewing machine. He said, “We will file a lawsuit against you. We will not allow you to stay in the factory.” The general manager, administrative manager, the welfare of-ficer and executive director told me to sign a resig-nation letter. I refused to sign the letter. Then the managing director called a security guard and told him to bring a cane stick to beat me. The managing director, general manager and administrative of-ficer all threatened that if I failed to sign this letter, they would put me in jail for the rest of my life, that they would beat me to the point that I would never be able to walk again, and that if I did not sign my resignation letter, I could be killed.

6:00 p.m.

I had no way out and I was forced to resign. Then I asked to get my salary for August. Then the managing director, general manager and administrative officer told me to come to the factory the following morning and I will get paid.

6:15 p.m.

Two security guards accompanied me while I walked down from the 4th floor. I had just left the main gate at Next Collections and was starting to walk on the public road. All of the sudden the MD’s assistant and the chief security guard, Md. Ayub, called me back. They said management had decided to pay me now and I should go to the MD’s office. So I went up to the 4th floor where the managing director’s office is and saw that the welfare officer, Ms. Shamima, and the administrative officer, Mr. Elias, were there in the of-fice. In a few minutes the general manager appeared.

6:30 p.m.

The administrative officer gave me a blank sheet of white paper and ordered me to put my signature on it. I responded that I had already submitted my resignation, so why do you want me to sign a blank sheet of paper. The welfare officer told me that workers who resign must sign a blank sheet, and she left the office saying she would bring a file to show me an example.

I told them again that I still have not gotten my salary for the month of August and neither did I get my overtime, so why should I sign my name on a blank piece of paper. A security guard was pressuring me to sign. I stood there quietly and said nothing.

6:45 p.m.

Suddenly, the managing director stood up from his chair and started violently punching my ears. I felt stunned and extreme pain. Then the managing director kicked me hard on my back two or three times. He ordered a security guard to beat me with a cane stick. He immediately came at me, hitting me as hard as he could with the cane five or six times on my back, face and buttocks. The managing director’s assistant beat the soles of my feet with another cane stick. I felt like I would faint. In a few minutes a chief mechanic showed up, and he started slapping me across my face. This all happened on the 4th floor, in the man-aging director’s office.

7:15 p.m.

I thought they would kill me. I was all alone. Six or seven people were violently beating me with sticks. I was forced to sign the blank sheet. I put down my signature, despite the fact that they did not pay my salary for August and other dues.

“”

Then the managing director kicked me

hard on my back two or three times. He ordered a security

guard to beat me with a cane stick...I felt like

I would faint. - Mazharul Islam

27


8:00 p.m.

A sub-inspector of police, Mr. Arafat, entered into the managing director’s office. I was moved to another nearby office. This went on for 20 to 25 minutes.

8:20 p.m.

A security guard brought me down to the ground floor, where he locked me in a medical room so that I could not escape.

8:30 p.m.

The police officer, Mr. Arafat, came down to the ground floor. The security guard unlocked the medical room and told me to get into a police van. The administrative officer, Elias, also got into the police van, sitting in the front. I was in the back of the van with three other policemen. Elias came with the police to file a lawsuit against me.

9:30 p.m.

The police van stopped at Ashulia Police Station where I was put in jail. They did not give me any food. There was no place to sleep. I sat on the concrete floor. I felt severe pain in all my body. Due to the beat-ing, I had bruises on my body. My wife, Taniya, came to see me at 10:00 p.m. and she cried when she saw how I was beaten. The administrative officer Elias told Taniya this would not have happened if we had signed the resignation letters and stopped demanding maternity leave and benefits. Union leaders also came to the prison to help me. I saw them, but we were not allowed to speak.

Late that night, I spent the night sitting on the concrete floor. I had pains all over my body from the beat-ings.

September 9, Monday

The Ashulia police put me in a prison van to take me to the Judicial Court in Dhaka City. The van started at 10:30 a.m. and reached the Dhaka Judicial Court at 2:30 p.m. They kept me in a temporary jail nearby the court. The judge held my hearing at 3:30 p.m. for half an hour and wanted to continue the hearing on the following morning. I was shifted to Dhaka Central Jail at 6:30 p.m. At 10:00 p.m. I was put in a big room with 70 other people. At 10:30 p.m. they gave me a plate of rice and lentils to share with four people.

September 10, Tuesday

I tried to sleep on top of a blanket on the concrete floor. There was no pillow, so I rested my head on my shoes.

4:00 a.m.

The jail authorities woke us at 4:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

For breakfast we ate roti and dal. We were waiting for the court hearing.

4:00 p.m.

The Dhaka Central Jail authority informed me that I was being granted my bail.

7:00 p.m.

Finally I got out of the Dhaka Central Jail. I saw my wife waiting to see me along with some leaders and rights activists who fought for my freedom.

28


a Brave Young Worker Blows the Whistle on Gross Overtime Violations

Week #1: At the factory 95 hours.

Saturday, June 1 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtime

Sunday, June 2 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 15-hour shift 8 regular hours, 6 hours overtime

Monday, June 3 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 15-hour shift 8 regular hours, 6 hours overtime

Tuesday, June 4 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 15-hour shift 8 regular hours, 6 hours overtime

Wednesday, June 5 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 15-hour shift 8 regular hours, 6 hours overtime

Thursday, June 6 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. 21-hour shift 8 regular hours, 11 hours overtime

Friday, June 7 --- Friday Off ---

─ Working 48 regular hours and 40 hours of overtime.─ Working a total of 88 hours a week.

Saydur Rahman is an experienced “ironing man” in the finishing section of Next Collections. Rahman was fired on September 1, 2013, when the head of the finishing section started questioning him: “You seem to be a labor leader. There is no space for a labor leader here, and we never keep workers who organize trade unions.” Suddenly the manager started shouting, “Get out of the factory at once, otherwise you will be in serious trouble. I will call the police and they will arrest you on the spot.”

Saydur Rahman was fired without receiving the wages and benefits due him for the month of August.

It is certain that Rahman was seen by company supervisors when he went to assist a young pregnant woman who had been forced out of Next Collections without her maternity leave and other benefits. The young woman was too terrified to confront management.

He confirmed the following:

• Workers are kept at the factory a staggering 449 hours in the month of June.

• Mandatory 14- to 20-hour shifts are the norm.• In June, Rahman was forced to work 200 regular and 213

overtime hours.• Next Collections/Ha-Meem Group hand out phony

pay stubs to mask the wildly excessive and mandatory overtime.

• Workers are paid in cash, off the books, while being routinely cheated of approximately 15 percent of their overtime pay.

Twenty-four-year-old Rahman worked at That’s It Sportswear and Next Collections for over six years, starting in February 2006. In June, he worked the following hours at Next Collections:

29



Saturday, June 8 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. 20-hour shift 8 regular hours, 10 hours overtime





Thursday, June 13 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 15-hour shift 8 regular hours, 6 hours overtime

Friday, June 14 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. 22-hour shift 20 hours overtime















Tuesday, June 25 --- Muslim religious holiday ---





At the factory 34 hours in two days.



─ Working 16 regular hours and 15 hours of overtime.─ Working a total of 31 hours during the last two days of June.

* Workers have a one-hour unpaid lunch break. * When workers are forced to work a 17-hour shift from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., they receive an hours off for dinner.* Friday is supposedly the weekly holiday.

See page 56 for more data on illegal work hours.

30


Grueling, mind-numbing overtime shifts in July

In the month of July 2013, we tracked the work hours of three young women in the finishing section of Next Collections. We were shocked by the amount of overtime these workers were forced to work — toiling an aver-age of 261 hours in just 15 days.

Ms. L: Forced to work 15 all-night shifts in July• Twelve all-night, 17-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.• Three all-night, 21-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Ms. A: Forced to work 14 all-night shifts in July• One all-night, 16-hour shift from 8:00 a.m. to midnight;• Nine all-night, 17-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.• One all-night, 19-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.• Three all-night, 21-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Ms. M: Forced to work 15 all-night shifts in July• Two all-night, 16-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to midnight• Eight all-night, 17-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.• Two all-night, 19-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.• Three all-night, 21-hour shifts from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

When these workers were not forced to remain for the grueling and excessive overtime hours, they still had to work a routine shift of 14 hours from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., receiving only one or two days off in the month of July.

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Everyone knows that the phony pay slips which are handed out to workers every month are a scam, meant to provide cover for Gap and Old Navy, Next Collec-tions, and the Ha-Meem Group. Using phony pay stubs, the executive director of the Next Collections factory, Shahabuddin, along with other managers, is running an illegal scam to cover up — among other violations — the forced and grueling 14 to 20-hour shifts worked seven days a week by thousands of Next Collec-tions workers.

According to Gap, it would never condone more than a regular 48-hour workweek and certainly no more than 12 hours of overtime, for a six-day, 60-hour maximum workweek. Workers must receive one day off each week,

just as — Gap feels strongly — all workers producing their products have the right to freedom of association, the right to organize a union and to bargain collectively.

Phony Pay Stubs as cover-Ups It is standard for Next Collections workers to be forced to toil from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m., for a 14- to 17-hour shift, seven days a week. Putting in a 100-plus hour workweek is the norm. We learned this from the dozens of workers we interviewed and the many more who wrote down their hours. While the workers are actually toiling 100-plus hours a week, often with no day off, the pay slips they receive each month adhere to the fiction: an eight-hour regular shift with two hours overtime, and every Friday off. Almost all workers throw away their phony pay stubs as soon as they receive them. And it appears that this same scam is being perpetu-ated throughout the Ha-Meem Group, affecting all of its 30,000 workers.

The pay stub below provides an example. This phony pay stub notes that Next Collections workers toiled just 22 days in May, but most of them actually worked 27

Next collections Scam Goes right to the Top Implicating Gap and the Ha-Meem Group

Excessive hours authorized by top management. Workers paid off the books in cash, cheated of

approximately 15 percent of their overtime wages.

Serial: XXX

Next Floor-1 Pay Slip, May 2013 Finishing #XX

Name: XXXXXX

Date of Joining: DD MM YYYY

Designation: Finishing iron man

Worker Serial #: NCL-XXXXXXXX

Grade: 4

Total Days: 22 days

Basic Salary: Tk. 3,143.00 [$40.77]

House Rent: Tk. 1,257.00 [$16.30]

Medical Allownace: Tk. 200.00 [$2.59]

Total: Tk. 4,600.00 [$59.66]

Approved Leave: 00

Attendance: 22 days

Attendance Bonus: Tk. 500 [$6.49]

Other Allowance: 00

Absent Days: 00

Deduction for Absent: 00

Advance: 00

Actual Wage: Tk. 5,100.00 [$66.15]

Overtime Rate: Tk. 30.22/hr

Overtime Hours: 32 hours Tk. 967.00

[$12.54]

Food Bill: Tk. 225.00 [$2.92]

Deduction for Stamp: Tk. 10 [$0.13]

Net Pay: Tk. 6,282.00 [$81.48]

[Translation]

32


days, including over 150 hours of mandatory over-time (every day except for the May 1 public holiday and a work stoppage of three days, to be discussed.) Each week, this worker toiled 48 regular hours and an additional 46.2 hours of overtime, for an average workweek of over 94 hours, working an average of 6.6 hours of mandatory overtime each day, seven days a week. In May, this worker was cheated of $11.76 of his hard-earned overtime wages.

Management Signs off on extreme and Illegal Overtime Hours every NightIn fact, it is the executive director of Next Collec-tions, Shahabuddin, and the administrative officer, Elias Khan, who personally sign off on workers toiling extreme overtime hours every night! Moreover, Sha-habuddin and Khan also sign off every night for food stipends to be supplied to workers who toil at least 14 to 17 overtime hour shifts or longer. Meticulous overtime hours and late night food subsidies are written down every night, as you can see in the handwritten lists on the next page.

Workers required to toil until 10 p.m. receive a 20 taka (26 cent) food stipend. The groups of workers who must stay working until 1:00 a.m. or later receive a sec-ond food stipend of 30 taka (39 cents.) Workers who complete a mandatory shift of 17 hours or longer take home an extra 65 cents. Management asks workers to sign their names on a sheet of paper in order to keep a list of workers who toil overtime and receive this sec-ond food stipend for late hours. Then Next Collections’ executive director and administrative officer sign off on dozens of lists regarding these late night stipends. We know this because some brave workers smug-gled many of the sign-off sheets for the late night stipend (“Night Bill”) out of the factory. This proves that thousands of Next Collections workers are routinely forced to work grueling 14- to 20-hour shifts at the orders of the fac-tory’s top management.

Workers Shortchanged of 15 Percent of Overtime Wages This is how the scam operates.

Every month the workers are paid in cash and off the books. Supervisors keep track of the actual monthly overtime worked by each person. These records are then turned over to the accounting department, which calculates each worker’s wages and overtime pay.

On payday, usually on the seventh day of the follow-ing month, at about 10:30 a.m., the accountants set up several pay stations on each floor. Workers are called one by one to receive their pay in cash along with the fictitious pay slips. They receive no record of the actual amount of money they receive, but they are asked to sign a salary sheet, which is retained by the accountants and which, presumably, Gap and the other buyers never see.

While management lies to the buyers about the long hours, they are also cheating the workers of their overtime wages. Based on extensive interviews and surveys of the wages as well as hours of Next Collec-tions workers, we estimate that 90 percent of Next Collections workers are being shortchanged of up to 15 percent of their overtime wages, or approximately $10.97 a month, $131.50 a year. Given that some 3,375 workers in the Next Collections factory are being cheated this way, the workers are losing some $443,812 a year.

If these same practices are applied to some 30,000 workers across all 26 factories of the Ha-Meem Group, the workers could be losing (and the company gaining) possibly millions of dollars a year in wages. This is a great deal of money that is being stolen from some of the poorest workers in the world.

It is highly unlikely that Next Collections’ executive director and other factory management would have developed and implemented this system of phony pay stubs and off-the-official-books payments on their own, without the support and authorization of the Ha-Meem Group’s owner, A. K. Azad.

33


These scanned images of “Night Bill” records below show signatures of Next Collections’ executive director, Sha-habuddin, and administrative officer, Elias Khan, on lists of workers to receive a food stipend for excessive, late night overtime work.

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Wage Scam Goes on in Broad Daylight

Morium Begum, Assistant Button Machine OperatorForced to work over 100 hours a week, she lost her baby in the seventh month of her pregnancy.

Translation: June 2013 phony pay receipt

The truth is that in June 2013, Morium Begum was forced to work an illegal 210 hours of overtime, which was al-most certainly a factor leading to the loss of her baby.

Far from working the 50 hours of overtime listed on her phony pay receipt, Morium was forced to work four times Bangladesh’s legal limit on overtime hours, which is no more than 52 hours a month. Every

month, Morium was routinely forced to work grueling and illegal overtime shifts. She was also cheated every single month of 15 percent of the overtime wages legally due her. In June, Morium was forced to work a grueling 96 ½ hours each week, for which she earned less than $25. Her base wage was just 13 cents an hour.

Serial: #23

TSL Unit: IV 9BS 2BS

Pay Slip: June 2013

Name: Ms. Morium

Date of Joining: December 8, 2011

Designation: Assistant Button Machine Operator, Grade 7

Worker Serial #: TSL-BSA04014410

Grade: 7

Total Days: 25 days

Basic Salary: Tk. 2,143.00 [$27.80]

House Rent: Tk. 857.00 [$11.12]

Medical Allowance: Tk. 200.00 [$2.59]

Total: Tk. 3,200.00 [$41.50]

Approved Leave: 00

Attendance Bonus: Tk. 300 [$3.89]

Other Allowance: 00

Absent Days: 00


Advance: 00

Actual Wage: Tk. 3,500.00 [$45.40]


Overtime Hours: 50 hours; Tk. 1030.00 [$13.36]

Food Bill: Tk. 625.00 [$8.11]


Net Pay: Tk. 5,145.00 [$66.73]


Gap and Old Navy fall for it hook, line and sinker. Phony pay receipts used to mask illegal overtime and 100-plus hour workweeks.

30,000 workers cheated for years at Next Collections Limited and the Ha-Meem Group.

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Zesmin Khatun, Sewing Operator Ilegally denied her maternity leave and fired.

Serial: #31

Sewing Section Pay Slip: April 2013Line: 175

Name: Ms. Zesmin

Designation: Sewing Machine Operator

Worker Serial #: NCL-SO0198510

Grade: 4

Total Days: 23 days

Basic Salary: Tk. 3,196.43 [$41.46]

House Rent: Tk. 1,278.57 [$16.58]

Medical Allowance: Tk. 200.00 [$2.59]

Total: Tk. 4,675.00 [$60.64]

Approved Leave: 00

Attendance: 23 days

Attendance Bonus: Tk. 500.00 [$6.49]

Other Allowance: 00

Absent Days: 00


Advance: 00

Actual Wage: Tk. 5,175.00 [$61.12]


Overtime Hours: 32 hours; Tk. 983 [$12.75]


Net Pay: Tk. 6,148.00 [$79.74]

Translation: April 2013 phony pay receipt


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In May 2013, workers at both Next Collections and its sister factory, That’s It Sportswear, conducted a three-day work stoppage. Their demand was that management provide a lunch subsidy of 25 taka (32 cents USD) so that the workers could afford a more substantive meal. (As it is, Next Collections workers live from hand to mouth, and by the third week of the month many workers have no money left to purchase food.)

On May 22, 2013, the workers won! Next Col-lections would pay 25 taka (32 cents) for the workers’ lunch. This shows up on the workers’ phony pay stubs starting in May.

Shadin was one of the strike leaders. He had started working at the That’s It Sportswear Limited factory, part of the Ha-Meem Group, on June 9, 2008. Following the December 2010 fire at That’s It Sportswear, which killed 29 people and seriously

injured over 100, Shadin was transferred to work at Ha-Meem’s Next Collections factory, where he began work on January 1, 2011 as an “ironing man” in the finishing section.

On June 7, 2013, Shadin was fired for helping to lead the May strike. His supervisor, Masud, and the finish-ing department manager, Mamun, informed Shadin that he was terminated and would never again be hired to work in any of the Ha-Meem Group factories. Shadin was told by the manager, Mamun: “If you dare to try to enter the factory, I will call the police and will have you arrested for insti-gating a workers’ strike.”

He received his pay for May — which, like every other month, was short by 15 percent on the overtime pay he was due. In addition, when he was fired, Shadin was denied the paid vacation days and four months’ severance pay he had earned.

Driven by Hunger and Long Hours, Workers Strike for food and Win.

Worker Leader Threatened and fired

You can see Shadin’s phony pay stub for the month of May 2013. He receives a lunch subsidy of 225 taka ($2.92) for the nine days after the workers won their demand on May 22. The phony pay stub indicates that Shadin worked only 22 days in the month, including just 32 hours of “voluntary overtime.” In reality, Shadin worked 27 days in May.

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Ha-Meem Group’s That’s It Sportswear

29 Workers Killed, 100 Injured

On December 14, 2010, a fire broke out at the Ha-Meem Group’s That’s It Sportswear factory, killing 29 workers and injuring 100, 36 of them critically. Several workers jumped to their deaths so that their fami-lies could have their bodies to mourn. The majority of production in the factory was children’s clothing be-ing made for Gap. Workers told us that when the fire broke out, security guards deliberately locked several exit gates to prevent the garments from being stolen, trapping many of those who died.

Senior sewers at That’s It Sports-wear earned just 28 cents an hour. In 1911 — over 100 years ago — work-ers at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City were paid 14 cents an hour. Adjusted for inflation, that 14-cent wage would come to $3.18 an hour in today’s dollars. One hundred years later, workers at That’s It Sportswear in Bangladesh are paid just 28 cents an hour, earning just one-tenth of the real wages earned by New York City garment workers in 1911.

The garment industry is racing backward.

In September 2008 — two years before the fire — Mr. A.K. Azad, the Ha-Meem Group’s powerful owner, ordered that a union organizing drive at That’s It Sportswear be crushed, firing 19 of the leading union activists and imprisoning the union president on false charges.

Had the union survived and the workers had a voice with regard to health and safety matters in the plant, it is very possible that the 29 workers would not have died in the 2010 fire.

A. K. Azad

Owner of the Ha-Meem GroupIncluding Next Collections and That’s It Sportswear

In addition to the Ha-Meem Group’s 26 woven apparel factories, Mr. Azad owns a sweater factory, a denim mill and a number of other companies, including a Bangladeshi television station, Channel 24, and a daily newspaper called Samakal, which gives him a powerful voice.

Until recently, Azad held the post of President of Bangladesh’s top business organization, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He is reputed to be very close to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.


GAP, Inc.Two Folsom StreetSan Francisco, CA 94105Phone: (415) 427-0100Glenn K. Murphy, Chairman and CEOStefan Larsson, Global President, Old Navy

In 2012, Gap Inc.’s net sales (including its fast-growing Old Navy division) grew to $15.7 billion, increas-ing $1.1 billion from the previous year, with over one billion in net income. As of February 2013, there are 1,010 Old Navy stores in North America.

corporate responsibility in Gap/Old Navy’s Supply chain

An Old Navy store in Pennsylvania.

“Gap Inc. seeks to ensure that the people working at various points along the supply chain are treated with fairness, dignity and respect – an aspiration that is born out of the belief that each life is of equal value, whether the person is sitting behind a sewing machine at a fac-tory that produces clothes for Gap Inc…

“…people who work on behalf of our company help us to run a more successful business. People who work a rea-sonable number of hours in a safe and healthy environ-ment not only have a better quality of life, but they also tend to be more productive and deliver higher quality product than those who work in poor conditions.

“To achieve this aspiration, our Social and Environ-mental Responsibility department has a full-time staff of approximately 70 people dedicated to these issues, partnering with hundreds of factory owners and man-agers, NGOs, and industry associations worldwide that are experts in social and environmental issues.”

─ Gap Inc., Supply Chain

“”

We are pleased with our June sales results. Old

Navy’s performance was particularly strong.

- Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Gap Inc.

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http://www.gapinc.com/content/gapinc/html/csr/supply_chain.html

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Gap Inc. Code of Vendor Conduct

http://www.gapinc.com/content/dam/csr/documents/COVC_070909.pdf

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“Made in Bangladesh” Old Navy toddler girls skinny jeans sewn by young workers at the Next Collections factory.

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Phony pay stubs; make-believe 10-hour shifts; women cheated of maternity benefits; rou-tine beatings; grueling forced 90 to 100-hour workweeks; workers cheated of 15 percent of their overtime wages....while Gap and Old Navy stand by doing nothing.

A remediation plan is necessary to bring the Next Collections Limited factory into compliance with Bangladeshi labor laws and the International Labor Organization’s internationally recognized worker rights standards, which include:• Decent working conditions;• Freedom of association;• The right to organize an independent union;• The right to bargain collectively;• No child labor, and,• No forced labor.

Critical improvements that could help move the Next Collections factory toward legal compliance:

• A respected independent human rights ombud-sperson who the workers trust should be named to oversee labor, women’s and human rights compli-ance issues at the Next Collections factory for at least the next six months, or longer if necessary.

• Executives from Gap and Old Navy along with senior management of the Next Collections factory, the U.S.-based director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, and representatives of the progressive labor movement in Bangladesh should meet in Bangladesh to imme-diately launch a remediation and factory improve-ment plan.

• It is critical that Gap and Old Navy not pull their work from the Next Collections fac-tory, which would only further harm the workers, who have already suffered enough. The Bangladeshi workers need these jobs, but they also need their legal rights ─ particularly the rights of the women who make up 70 percent of the work-ers at the Next Collections factory.

• There must be an immediate end to the short-changing of Next Collections workers of their legal pay for overtime hours.

For at least two-and-a-half years, Next Collections and Ha-Meem management have routinely cheated at least 90 percent of the workers of approximately 15 percent of the legal overtime pay due them. As a conservative estimate, we believe that 3,375 of the 3,750 workers at the Next Collections factory have been shortchanged of some $444,000 a year in overtime wages, which would come to $1.2 million in the two and a half years the plant has been in operation. Each worker is due an average of $131.50 per year in back overtime pay.

We have reason to believe that it is routine practice to shortchange workers on their overtime pay throughout the giant Ha-Meem Group, where Next Collections is just one of 26 garment factories with a total of some 30,000 workers.

• Maternity Benefits:

• A. K. Azad, managing director of the Ha-Meem Group, and Shahabuddin, executive director of the Next Collections factory, must immedi-ately cease to deny women workers their legal rights to paid maternity leave.

• All the women workers of the Next Collections factory who have been denied the paid mater-nity leave due them under Bangladeshi law, including Zesmin Khatun and Taniya Begum, must be paid their maternity benefits, paid vacation days and severance pay. Given the hardship these women have suffered due to the denial of their legal maternity ben-efits, Next Collections factory manage-ment should make these women whole again by paying them triple the value of the benefits that were denied them.

What Must Be Done To end Gross Sweatshop Violations

at Next collections of the Ha-Meem Group

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In late July, the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers’ Federation led a march to the collapsed Rana Plaza building — where 1,130 workers died and scores of others were maimed — demanding justice, union rights and a new minimum wage starting at 8,000 Taka, which amounts to 50 cents an hour and $24 a week.

• Morium Begum, who was illegally forced to work 210 hours of mandatory overtime in June 2013, believes that her tragic seventh month miscarriage was directly related to the grueling hours she worked. She, and any other wom-en workers who have suffered similar loss, should receive significant compen-sation.

• Forced overtime must end. All overtime must be voluntary and paid at the proper 100 percent premium.

• It is urgent that Gap and Old Navy compli-ance officers charged with monitoring facto-

ry and working conditions at the Next Collec-tions factory undergo substantial remedial training, given that their monitoring efforts to date have been ineffective at best.

• Perhaps most important, management of the Next Collections factory must allot paid time for their workers on each floor to meet and enter into a dialogue with representatives of the Gap, Old Navy, the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, union leaders from the United States and Canada, and respected Bangladeshi union and women’s rights representatives. Such meetings will go a long way to build the workers’ trust and break their isola-tion.

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addenda

A. Company Profiles

Gap

Gap, Inc.Two Folsom StreetSan Francisco, CA 94105Tel: [email protected]

Glenn K. Murphy, Chairman and CEOStefan Larsson, Global President, Old NavyBobbi Silten, Senior Vice President, Global Responsi-bility & President, Gap Foundation, Gap Inc.

Children’s Place

The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc.500 Plaza DriveSecaucus, NJ 07094

Tel: 201-558-2400Fax: [email protected]

Jane T. Elfers, President & CEOGregory Poole, Senior Vice President Global Sourcing

Louis Raphael

Bill S. Kim, PresidentKizan International, Inc.100 West Hill DriveBrisbane, CA 94005Tel: [email protected]

http://www.gapinc.com

http://www.childrensplace.com

http://www.louisraphael.com

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Next Collections and Ha-Meem Group

Next Collections Ltd.1323-1325, Beron, AshuliaDhaka-1341 BangladeshTel: 02-8811149, 02-8813011Fax: 02-8826090E-mail: [email protected]

Ha-Meem Group241, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208, BangladeshTel: 880-2-8878630-31, 8878639, 8878647; 880-2-8878654, 8878655Fax: [email protected]

A. K. Azad, Managing [email protected]

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46


B. Baby’s Jeans from Next collections to Gap/Old Navy Distribution center in Ohio

Clothing labels smuggled out from the Next Collections factory in Bangladesh belong to Old Navy jeans and denim shorts for children and toddlers.

This pair of Old Navy toddler girls “Super Skinny Pull-On Jeggings for Baby” is made in the Next Collections factory in Bangladesh and sold in the United States for $14.94.

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U.S. Customs Bill of Lading for Old Navy’s style number 492171 “Pull-On Jeggings for Baby.” This shipment of 11 carton boxes with a declared customs value of $2,276.35 went to the Gap/Old Navy distribution center in Groveport, Ohio. Old Navy baby garments of this style were produced in the Next Collections factory in July 2013. According to workers, Next Collections orders are shipped out under “Refat Garments Limited,” which is also owned by the Ha-Meem Group. The Institute purchased a pair at an Old Navy store in Pittsburgh for $14.94. (See the next page.)

Import Bill of Lading DetailsShipper: Refat Garments Limited

144, 147-148 East NarashingpurAshulia, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh

Notify Party: Expeditors International245 Roger AvenueInwood, NY 11096, USA

Country of Origin: Bangladesh Arrival Date: 05/30/2013Port of Departure: Salalah Estimated Value: $2,276.35Port of Arrival: New York Quantity: 11 CTNMarks & Numbers: - OFC-0010 6001 GREEN POINT DRIVE SOUTH GROVEPORT, OH 43125 USA

WEARING APPARELS: INFANT’S/T ODDLER’S GIRLS 100% COTTON WOVEN PANTS, OF BLUE DENIM, REACHES BELOW THE KNEE , WAS H AS PER APPROVED D PO.NO. PB0UP-AA STYLE NO. 492171-0 0-2 CAT NO. N/A . INVOICENO. RGLGAP03059313 . DT.10. 03.2013. EXP NO.2486- 03612 -2013 . DT.10.03.2013. MOU . NO. 20120046 DT.18.05.2012 . H.S.CODE . 6209.20.3000 & 6204.62.4041. FCR NO CHT 817101 RELAY VESSEL MAER SK CHICAGO 1310 CONTAINER SUMMARY MSKU8180 753 ML-BD0090889 40X9’6 11CTN 0.600CBM 176.510KGS B/ L TOTAL SUMMARY 11CT N 0.600CBM 176.510KGS FREIG HT AS ARRANGED

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=84000&vid=1&pid=492171002#close

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Import Bill of Lading DetailsShipper: Refat Garments Limited

144, 147-148 East NarashingpurAshulia, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh

Notify Party: Expeditors International245 Roger AvenueInwood, NY 11096, USA

Country of Origin: Bangladesh Arrival Date: 07/05/2013Port of Departure: Salalah Estimated Value: $196,475.32Port of Arrival: New York Quantity: 624 CTNMarks & Numbers: - OFC-0010 6001 GREEN POINT DRIVE SOUTH GROVEPORT, OH 43125 USA

WEARING APPREL . BOY’S 100% COTTON WOVEN BLUE DENIM PANT S, REACHES BELOW THE KNEE,WA SH AS PER APPROVED . D PO.NO . PN0TN-AA STYLE NO. 52569 1-00-2 CAT NO. N/A . INVO ICE NO. RGL-GAP03120013 DT.20.05.2013. EXP NO.2486- 07427 -2013. DT.20.05.2013. MOU . NO. 20130002 DT.08.02.2013 . H.S.CODE . 6203.42.4036. FCR#CHT-826692 RELAY VESSEL MAERSK PITTSBURGH 13 02 CONTAINER SUMMARY MSKU8972030 ML-BD0073106 40X9’6 624CTN 35.220CBM 74 88.000KGS B/L TOTAL SUMMARY 624CTN 35.220CBM 748 8.000KGS FREIGHT AS ARRANGE D

U.S. Customs Bill of Lading for Old Navy’s style number 52569 “Boys Straight-Leg Jeans.” This shipment of 624 carton boxes with a declared customs value of $196,475.32 went to the Gap/Old Navy distribution center in Groveport, Ohio. The Institute purchased a pair at an Old Navy store in Pittsburgh for $12.

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=84000&vid=1&pid=492171002#close

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The U.S. customs records showed Old Navy garments from Next Collections be-ing shipped to “6001 Green Pointe Drive, Groveport, Ohio,” which is the location of a distribution center of Gap and Old Navy.

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Next Collections management has a vague and ready-made standard form letter used to illegally deny workers their legal rights under Bangladeshi law. When management wishes to evade paying a pregnant worker her maternity leave or wants to force out any worker seeking his or her rights, management pressures the worker to “resign” — thus forfeiting maternity leave, severance pay, earned vacation leave and any other benefits they are legally owed.

c. form of resignation Letter

[Translation]

ToThe Executive DirectorNext Collections Limited1323-1325 Beron, AshuliaSavar, Dhaka-1341

Subject: Resignation Letter

Dear Sir,I am __________, ID Card __________, Designation __________, Line/Section __________. I have been working for your company for many months. Due to health reasons/family problems, it is impossible for me to continue to work at the factory. Therefore, I am making the application to ask you to relieve me from my position from __________.

I would urge you to accept my resignation and oblige me thereby,

Date: Sincerely Yours, Signature

Bangladesh Labor Law 2006

Chapter IX: Working Hours and Leave

Section 100 Daily Hours

No adult worker shall ordinarily be required, or allowed, to work in an establishment for more than eight hours on any day. Provided that, subject to the provisions of Section 108, any such worker may work in an establishment not exceeding ten hours in any day.

D. Work Hour regulation in Bangladesh

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Maternity Leave Law

Section 46

Right to, and liability for, payment of maternity benefits: Every woman employed in an establishment shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit in respective of the period of eight weeks preceding the expected day of her delivery and eight weeks immediately following the day of her delivery.

Provided that a woman shall not be entitled to such maternity benefit unless she has worked under the em-ployer for a period of not less than six months immediately preceding the day of her delivery.

Section 48 Amount of maternity benefit: (1) The maternity benefit which is payable under this Act shall be payable at the rate of daily, weekly, or monthly average wages, as the case may be, calculated in the manner laid down in sub-section (2) and such payment shall be made wholly in cash.

(2) For the purpose of sub section (1), the daily, weekly, or monthly average wages, as the case may be, shall be calculated by dividing the total wage earned by the woman during the three months immediately preceding the date on which she gives notice under this Act by the number of days she actually worked during the period.

Source: “Labour and Industrial Laws of Bangladesh—The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 & Other Cognate Labour Laws,” June 2007, Nirmalendu Dhar, ReMiSi Publishers

e. Maternity Leave Law in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi labor regulations stipulate seven legal pay grades, Grade 1 being the highest skilled, best paid job categories to Grade 7, the least skilled and lowest paid garment factory workers.

Grade Job Titles Monthly Base WageGrade One Pattern Master, Chief Quality Controller, Chief Cutting

MasterTk. 9,300 $120.62

Grade Two Mechanic, Electrician, Cutting Master Tk. 7,200 $93.39Grade Three Senior Operator Tk. 4,218 $54.71Grade Four Operator, Quality Control Inspector Tk. 3,861 $50.08Grade Five Junior Operator Tk. 3,553 $46.08Grade Six Ordinary Operator Tk. 3,322 $43.09Grade Seven Helper Tk. 3,000 $38.91

* Exchange rate: $1.00 U.S. = 77.10 Bangladeshi Taka

f. Pay Grades in Bangladesh’s Garment Industry

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G. Zesmin Kahtun’s Pregnancy Documentation

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57


H. Mazharul’s Medical Documents

After being beaten by Next Collections management and jailed for two days, Mazharul Islam was examined and treated by Icon Diagnostic Centre on September 10, 2013. The doctor’s notes list swelling on right arm, right ear, back and spinal area, and pain throughout his body. The doctor prescribed medication for pain.

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J. Managers at the Next collections LimitedManaging Director/owner: Mr. A.K. Azad

The powerful owner of Next Collections and the Ha-Meem Group of 26 factories in Bangladesh, with some 60,000 workers.

Next Collections management

Executive Director Unit 01: Major Khan Modasser HossainExecutive Director: Mr. ShahabuddinGeneral Manager: Mr. Liakat Hossain LitonAdministrative Officer: Mr. Elias Khan Production Manager: Mr. Firoz, Mr. Rana Supervisors: Mr. Shaqar, Mr. Abdul Hanif, Mr. Saiful Islam, and othersWelfare Officer: Ms. Shamima

Translation of excerpt (August 20, 2013):

My husband Mazhar and I work at one of the Ha-Meem Group factories named Next Collections Limited located in Beron, Jamgora. I have been working at Next Collections Ltd. (Line #183) as a supervisor for the last ten months. My ID # is 205. My husband is also a supervisor on Line #182. Currently I am seven months pregnant. I am supposed to go on maternity leave for four months starting next month [September.] [Manage-ment] took maternity related documents from me for the ma-ternity leave file. But the company put me under tremendous pressure to leave the factory without maternity leave and ben-efits, and to give my resignation. I declined to resign from my position. They threatened that they would slander my character, harass me and file false charges against me. They also threat-ened to fire my husband if I refused to resign. They continued to treat me harshly, especially 1. Administrative Officer, Mr. Elias, 2. General Manager, Mr. Liton, 3. Production Manager, Mr. Firoz, and 4. Welfare Officer, Ms. Shamima.

Today at 1:00 p.m. they again threatened me and forced me out of the factory. They forbade me to enter the factory starting tomorrow. They are also pressuring my husband...

I. complaint filed by Taniya at ashulia Police Station

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K. Illegal and excessive Overtime

At the factory 399 Hours in the Month of June 2013173 Hours Mandatory Overtime

Shortchanged of Overtime Wages

Worker a “Ironing Man” in finishing Section













Monday, June 10 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime













Friday, June 21 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 13 hours overtime


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Sunday, June 23 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime



Wednesday, June 26 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime








• Finishing Section workers were at the factory 399 hours in the month of June, 2013.• Workers toiled 200 regular hours and 167 hours of mandatory overtime.• These workers had just three days off in June.• They were shortchanged on their legal overtime wages.

Note: When workers are kept for 17-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., they receive two hours off, an hour for lunch and an hour for supper.

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Worker B folding Woman in finishing Section





Tuesday, June 4 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime








Monday, June 10 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime

Tuesday, June 11 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime














A “folding woman” in the finishing department at the Next Collections factory was routinely forced to stand for 15-, 17- and even 26-hour shifts! She was at the factory 443 hours in June, while working 200 regular hours and 202 overtime hours. She was allowed just two days off a month.

Forced to Work a 26-Hour ShiftAt the factory 443 Hours in the Month of June 2013

Standing on her feet 15-17-26 hours a day

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Sunday, June 23 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. 17-hour shift 8 regular hours, 7 hours overtime










─ Working 16 regular hours and 12 hours of overtime.─ Working a total of 28 hours during the last two days.

• Scores of workers at the Finishing Section were at the factory 443 hours in the month of June.• They worked 200 regular hours and 202 hours of mandatory overtime.• These workers had just two days off in June.• Workers were shortchanged on their legal overtime wages.

Note: When workers are kept working from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. or later, they receive two hours off, an hour for lunch and an hour for a late-night meal.

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Forced Overtime; Shortchanged on WagesAt the factory 392 Hours in June 2013

Worker c Sewing Infant, Toddler and children’s clothing for

Gap and Old Navy




















Saturday, June 15 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtimeSunday, June 16 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtime

Monday, June 17 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtimeTuesday, June 18 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtime

Wednesday, June 19 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtimeThursday, June 20 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 14-hour shift 8 regular hours, 5 hours overtime



In June 2013, a male senior sewing operator at the Next Collections factory producing Gap’s Old Navy label was routinely forced to work 14 to 15 hours a day, working shifts of as long as 21 hours, with just a single day off in the month. Along with 200 regular hours, he was required to toil 162 hours of mandatory overtime.

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Sunday, June 30 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 9-hour shift 8 regular hours


• These sewing operators were at the factory 392 hours in the month of June 2013.• They worked 200 regular hours and 162 hours of mandatory overtime.• These workers had just one day off in June.• They were routinely shortchanged on their legal overtime wages.