Training women to take leadership roles in Bangladesh unions

In December 2014, TUC Aid began a programme with the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) in Bangladesh to develop women trade union leaders by running a series of training sessions for new female members and organisers.

Women make up the majority (85%) of workers in the garment industry in Bangladesh.  They frequently face harassment by male supervisors, particularly those who are in a trade union. There is a lack of women in leadership positions in Bangladesh trade unions which makes it more difficult for women to bargain for their rights at work.

The programme aims to encourage women to take leadership roles in their unions through  two stages of training: 

• Stage 1 training which provides new trade union members with information on the role of the unions in defending their employment rights and how they can play an active role in the union
• Stage 2 training for union organisers on collective bargaining.

Both stages of training have been designed to increase confidence of female trade union members to bargain with managers for decent rights at work. 

So far eight Stage 1 training sessions have been run for new female members of NGWF trade unions. Each session was run with workers from a different garment factory union in Dhaka with approximately 30 participants at each. The training sessions were run by female leaders within NGWF and focussed on the Bangladesh Labour law and trade union rights.  A total of 247 women have so far been trained at these sessions.

Two Stage 2 training sessions for female union organisers from NGWF unions in Dhaka have been run so far.  Each session was attended by 28 workers. These were more in-depth 3 day sessions also delivered by NGWF women leaders on collective bargaining and taking on leadership roles in their union.  

Between March – May, a further four training Stage 1 sessions will be run and another four Stage 2 training sessions will be run for this programme.