27th August, 2013
A global coalition of churches is launching a campaign pressing for better rights for Bangladeshi garment workers in the lead-up to Christmas.
The campaign will be launched at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, next month with Bishop Paul Sarker, moderator of the Church of Bangladesh, joining the launch via Skype.
A pack produced by Anglican Alliance will draw attention to the low wages of Bangledeshi garment workers who are paid just 15 US cents an hour compared to $US16 for their US counterparts and are paid only 14 per cent of Bangladesh’s "living wage".
It will also focus on the fact that more than 1,800 Bangladeshi garment workers are estimated to have died in factory collapses and fires since 2005.
Among those involved in the campaign are the Anglican Alliance, the Church of Bangladesh, the Council for World Mission, the Church of Scotland, Methodist Church in Britain and the Presbyterian Church of the Netherlands.
The campaign comes in the wake of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka in April in which more than 1,000 people were killed and thousands more injured.
– DAVID ADAMS
