A small point – but still worth making

The only self-styled “workers’ representatives” to support America’s suspension for Bangladesh of some little-used  import duty concessions are American. In supporting this withdrawal, they have taken positions completely contrary to every single Bangladeshi worker representation organisation.

 In Bangladesh, every garment worker organisation we can identify has opposed the suspension:

• -          Bangladesh Textile Garment Workers Federation President Mahbubur Rahman Ismail: “They [US] are saying this was done for the sake of the workers. But this will not help them. Rather they could have pressured the government to ensure compliance in garment factories, international standard salary and the right to form trade unions.”
• -          Garment Owners-Workers Unity Forum President Moshrefa Mishu:  the suspension is a ‘step against Bangladesh’s interest’ and “immoral”. “This is cannot be supported. This is illogical.”
• -          Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation President Babul Akhtar “The US decision to suspend the GSP facility without considering the government moves were wrong”
• -         Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs “It cannot be more shocking for the garment factory workers of Bangladesh that the decision to suspend GSP comes at a time when the Government of Bangladesh has taken concrete and visible measures to improve factory safety and protect workers’ rights.”

In the US, of course “worker representatives” know what’s good for Bangladeshis far better than mere Bangladeshis:

• -          International Labor Rights Forum: “A step forward for workers’ rights and public health”
• -          Nine, heavily union-funded, Democrat Senators: “"We urge that the administration suspend Bangladesh's eligibility for GSP”

Now there IS a good argument that suspending these benefits might be in the long-term interest of Bangladeshi workers. But there’s also an argument that the only people on earth qualified to decide what’s in the interest of Bangladeshi workers are Bangladeshi workers.

The people of what’s now Bangladesh have spent much of the past 75 years fighting for their liberty from government by British, Japanese, Indian and Pakistani people convinced they know best what’s right for the people of East Bengal. You might have thought Americans would have at least acknowledged no-one in Bangladesh agrees with them.

Especially if those Americans masquerade as worker representatives