The ITUC has strongly denounced the killing of three workers on 21 October in Tongi near Dhaka airport. According to the information received by the ITUC, workers of the Nippon garments factory have been dismissed without receiving their salary and other benefits for the last month of work.

The police opened fire against the workers, while they were protesting against the dismissal at the gate of the factory. The last information received by the ITUC numbered three workers killed, Tajul Islam, Babul Sheikh and Shafiqul Islam, and 50 others wounded.

“The fact that police opened fire against striking workers is totally unacceptable,” said Guy Ryder, ITUC general secretary. “As Bangladesh has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the right freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it should ensure that workers can go on strike without fearing for their lives!”

In a letter sent to the Bangladeshi authorities, the ITUC is urging Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed to take all necessary measures to ensure that an independent investigation into the killing is conducted and to end the climate of fear in the country.