Case Study: Read and discuss these case studies

Case Study: Read and discuss these case studies

Case 1: Ashrafa is a 20-year-old permanent worker at Jalal Seafood Ltd shrimp-processing factory, where she has worked for five years and is paid 3,200 taka ($41) per month. Though she has been working for many years, she does not have a contract where her rights and obligations are mentioned. She works 12 hours a day, seven days a week and says that her supervisors become angry if employees request a day off. She rarely takes leave and does not get any paid leave. When her first daughter was born, her employers, who required that she show a doctor’s certificate, gave her one-week maternity leave. Working long hours with their hands submerged in water, Amina says that many processing workers get swollen fingers, infections and fever; however, if they are absent for two days or more due to illness, they are not paid for the entire week. Conditions began to improve following the establishment of a union at the factory, though the company quickly broke this up, with the organisers fired, beaten and threatened.

Case 2: Beguni, around 50 years old, has worked on a piecework basis in tanneries for some 30 years in Hazaribagh and broke her arm in an accident, as described above, with a drum machine when the automatic off switch malfunctioned. Beguni said: I haven’t worked since the accident and I won’t be able to work for another three to four months. Because I work piecework and our job is just to deliver the products, the tannery owner does not have to pay [sick leave]. My medical treatment cost 38,000 taka ($465) and the owner gave me 20,000 taka ($245) and I paid the rest with money from my brother and loans from other people. Now I have no income.”

Thematic areas

Group 1 & 2	Group 3 & 4
Status of employment:	Minimum Wage:
Working hours:	Overtime Pay:
Leave:	Festival Pay:
Sick leave:	Paid Sick leave:
Maternity Leave:	Maternity Benefits: