On Bangladesh’s first Labour Day since the July uprising that toppled the Hasina regime, the Clean Clothes Campaign has urged the interim government to swiftly withdraw charges against more than 30,000 garment workers prosecuted during the 2023 wage protests.

This year’s Labour Day holds special significance for the country’s worker movement, as the government-appointed commissions — including the Labour Reform Commission — have recently released recommendations offering new hope for garment workers, the Clean Clothes Campaign, the garment industry’s largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organisations, said in a statement on May 1.

It said that many of these recommendations were shaped by demands put forward jointly by workers and student groups.

One of the most urgent proposals is the immediate dropping of legal cases against workers who protested last year for an end to poverty wages — cases that labour advocates widely described as baseless.

‘In an industry where union repression is rife, getting the cases dropped is just a first but very necessary step toward building an industry where workers can live a decent life off their wages and where barriers to freedom of association are taken down,’ Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation president Kalpona Akter said.

The Clean Clothes Campaign echoed this view, calling on the government to ensure that the commissions’ recommendations are implemented promptly.