Brands must take action after the murder of Bangladeshi trade unionist 

Shahidul Islam was a union leader and organizer with the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), a long-time WSR Network ally. For 25 years, he fought for workers’ rights and was beaten to death on 25 June 2023 as he left a meeting at the Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd. factory where he was meeting with factory management over their refusal to pay workers what they were owed.

Shahidul Islam died fighting for workers’ fundamental rights. Now, one year later, his family continues to wait for justice. This delay is unconscionable.

Shahidul Islam’s Family Is Still Waiting For Justice

The murder investigation must continue and the perpetrators, including any higher-level factory management officials involved, must be brought to justice.

The brands whose products were made at this factory must take responsibility to ensure that Shahidul’s wife and children, who have lost their husband, father, and breadwinner, receive compensation. International standards prescribe that they should receive at least 24,934,830 Bangladeshi Taka (approximately $212,000 USD).

We have contacted all of the brands that sourced from this factory from a year before to a year after the murder to urge them to step up – but the result is depressing.

It is time for these brands to ensure Shahidul’s family does not have to struggle to make ends meet. 

Brands Have a Responsibility to Remedy

A handful of brands stand out from the list of those who sourced and continue to source from the Prince Jacquard Sweater Factory. 

• RD Styles (a U.S company which in turn supplies Saks Off Fifth and Anthropologie)

• New Yorker

• Lager 157

• Ackermans-Pepkor

• Piazza Italia

• DK Company

These brands keep the Prince Jacquard Sweater factory going. They are responsible for the largest volumes sourced from the factory, and represent the brands most able to pay the family meaningful remedy for their loss. Yet, despite our continued correspondence, and that of other members of the Clean Clothes Campaign, these brands continue to fail to engage meaningfully with this tragic case. Indeed, it is important to note that the murder of Shahidul Islam was an escalation of a series of violations of workers’ fundamental rights.

Beyond these brands, all buyers at the factory have been contacted and need to take responsibility. These include: AM London Fashion, Ardene, Astermod (Verywear SAS Groupe), Australian Design Studio S.L., Brand Studio Lifestyle Private Ltd (Get Ketch), Calao, Essenza, Gocco, Holland House Fashion BV, Infiknit, Katag, Malwee Malhas Ltd., Mantra, Martes Moda, Mayoral International, Moodo Urban Fashion Mode-Szyszko, Pick n Pay, Pink Rose Clothing (Paper Cut Clothing LLC), Polinesia Sport, Redefined Fashion (Minus, Beyond Now, Desires, White and More, Peppercorn), Refrigiwear, Ruckfield S.A.S., Salling Group, SANJEEV 1979 LTD., Sports Group Denmark, Stormy Life, Suzy’s Inc., TAKE OFF S.P.A., Tessival, TFG, Villanova, VR46 RACING APPAREL, Woman Within (Full Beauty), X-ray Jeans (N.E. Brands).

All these brands have failed to take meaningful action to prevent or remediate the wage theft that Shahidul Islam intervened to address, nor did they ensure that this factory respected freedom of association. None of them have provided any financial support for Shahidul’s family following his brutal murder, and they have also failed to demonstrate any concrete actions taken to protect workers’ freedom of association rights across their Bangladeshi suppliers to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

Freedom of Association & the Right to Organize is Fundamental

The murder of trade unionist Shahidul Islam is a stark reminder of the incredibly repressive environment in which clothes are being produced in Bangladesh. Only five months after his murder, workers kicked off a wave of protests that were meant with intense repression when a new minimum wage law was announced which was barely half of what workers need to live on.  

Brands were criticised for their failure to take a strong stand for rights-respecting practices in that case as well – and for how their purchasing practices drive a race to the bottom, squeezing suppliers for every penny at the expense of workers. 

For actual change to happen in the industry, workers need to be able to organize to drive this change. Yet, a new report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre,  “Just for Show”: Worker Representation in Asia’s Garment Sector and the Role of Fashion Brands and Employers, examines how brands fail to support this fundamental right. A full 50% of worker representatives interviewed said “International brands say that they respect freedom of association but it’s just for show – they rarely intervene when there is an issue.” One of the key findings of the report is that too often, brands consider freedom of association merely a tick-box exercise. Instead of engaging with worker organizations, brands rely on an auditing firm’s report to signify that there is no active obstruction. Human Rights Watch has written of how these audits fail workers, both in this case and more broadly. Yet, several of the brands that sourced from the Prince Jacquard Sweater factory are still claiming that their audits assured them all was fine. It wasn’t.

Shahidul Islam was killed in front of the factory gates, over wages that workers were owed. Brands need to accept that their current approach isn’t working out and start taking freedom of association and workers’ rights to a decent wage seriously.