WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $3 million to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity for a project to improve working conditions and labor rights standards in Bangladesh’s ready-made garments, tea, shrimp farming and construction industries.

The funding will support workers’ rights to collectively seek remediation for issues related to workplace safety and gender-based harassment in Sylhet, Khulna and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, this award will advance labor standards in Bangladesh by building on the progress the center has made, with the support of USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, since 2015 and their in-country presence promoting labor rights since the 1970s.

In addition to worker rights’ abuses in the ready-made garments, tea and construction industries, worker advocates have raised concerns about the use of child labor in Bangladesh’s shrimp farming industry, which is cited in the department’s 2020 report, “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”

Based in Washington, the Solidarity Center is the largest U.S.-based international worker rights organization helping workers attain safe and healthy workplaces, family supporting wages, dignity on the job, widespread democracy and greater equity at work and in their community. The center is allied with the AFL-CIO.

Learn more about the department’s international work.

Agency: Bureau of International Labor Affairs

Date: September 19, 2022

Release Number: 22-1830-NAT

Click here to read the full press release on the Department of Labor website.