Tannery Workers Union

  • Jl. Raya Ubud No.88, Bali 80571
  • (+62) 81 2345 1234
  • Opening : Mon-Fri 08:00 - 17:00

TWU Profile

A Brief Introduction of Tannery Workers Union

There is a glorious history of 58 years of TWU. TWU has been working for the interest of the tannery workers since its inception. In specifically, it was registered on October 11, 1965, but the activities of the union had been running since earlier. The union has gathered all the workers under one ideology regardless of party affiliation and emerged as an independent labor organization free from gender identity, the influence of political parties and avoiding all regionalism in a non-communal spirit.
  • At present there are about two hundred (200) running tanneries in Bangladesh including small, medium and large level in which about 160 are established in Hemayetpur in Savar and the rest are in Chittagong, Jessore and Gazipur. There a total of about 20,000 workers engages with the tannery sector directly and indirectly.
  • Total factory in Hemayetpur: 160; Under Union: 60, Total Worker: 10,000; Female worker: 800; Under union: 5,000.
  • From the very beginning of the Tannery Workers Union, TWU began its journey by protesting against torture and discrimination to the tannery workers.
  • The Tannery Workers Union has been working as the Collective Bargaining Agent of the Tannery Industry since 1982 and has been making bilateral agreements by presenting Charter of Demand (COD) with the owners. Tannery Workers Union has signed a total of 20 agreements till 2022.
  • In 2017, the tanneries were shifted from Hazaribagh to Hemayetpur in Savar to develop an environment-friendly and modern-standard tannery industry. The union is continuously struggling for workers' health care, hospitals, housing, ensuring safe working environment, avoiding health hazards, building schools, colleges, mosques, implementing minimum wage structure, ensuring social compliance and other issues from the beginning till now.
  • These issues were also mentioned in the bilateral agreement which was also welcomed by the owners. But unfortunately, even after the transfer of tanneries, the crisis in the quality of life of the workers has intensified. Workers are being fired on various pretexts.
  • There was tremendous change in gender discrimination. Before, female workers received less wages than male. They were being harassed. There was a practice of gender-based violence. But now TWU is succeeded to eradicate this violence. TWU emphasizes on women empowerment. Now they are come forward to leading the workers.
  • Tannery industry of Bangladesh is 70 years old traditional heavy industry. But for the workers of this sector what they are entitled to provide in the conventional labor laws such as getting employment letter and identity card, minimum wage, 8 hours duty, holidays are being violated in many cases.
  • The industrial relationship between the union and the factory owners is in normal. But in the question of giving of the rights of the workers the owners remain strict. So the union also have to become strict to fight for achieving the rights.
  • On the other hand, due to non-implementation of social compliance and effective and modern CETP system, tannery is not getting the certificate of Leather Working Group (LWG). The foreign buyers cannot be retained. So, the formal tannery sector is continuously turning into the informal sector.
However, the hope is that various NGOs, international organizations, development partners (i.e., GIZ, Solidarity Center, The Asia Foundation, etc.) are working together with the tannery workers union to deal with this crisis of the industry and workers. Everyone is hopeful that with the joint efforts of all of them, the good day will return soon to the tannery sector.