Nazma Akter

Nazma Akter is one of Bangladesh’s foremost labour leaders. She began working in a clothing factory at the age of 11, alongside her mother, often for as long as 70 hours a week. Nazma joined a trade union because the women working in the factory were abused and poorly treated.

While Nazma believes garment factories have the potential to empower women by giving them greater choice and opportunity, she is against exploitative and dangerous working practices and unfair treatment of women. Today, she is the founder and president of Sommilito Garment Sramik Federation (SGSF), an affiliated union with over 100,000 garment workers as members, and an alternate for IndustriALL, a global union. 

Alongside her extensive and highly regarded union work, Akter founded the Awaj Foundation in 2003, an organisation which promotes workers’ welfare. She has been profiled and recognised as a leading campaigner against poverty by multiple sources including the World Poverty Institute, Channel 4 News, and The Guardian.

APWLD interviewed Nazma in January 2021 and below is her story.

Becoming a feminist and trade labour leader

I came from a very poor family and started working as a garment worker in Bangladesh at 11 years old. After all the hardships, I realised that collective action is the only way to develop and achieve fairness for the least powerful. I became a trade union leader and demanded better wages, conditions, and safety for women like me.

I am the founder and executive director of the Awaj Foundation, a women’s grassroots workers organisation, especially working for garment workers in Bangladesh. (The word ‘awaj’ means ‘sound’ or ‘voice’ in Bengali.) Our goal is to provide women workers with legal support and empower them with their rights, responsibilities, and leadership.

It is inevitable for people to face many challenges in the workplace, community, and society. When we go to get support, there will always be men who do not think like women, so we try to establish women’s leadership, and do something especially for women.

I founded the foundation along with other ex-garments workers. We have strengthened the voices of workers, created positions for women, and provided them with legal assistance. In this male-dominated industry, we help women workers to speak out independently concerning decent working conditions, maternity protection, job security, gender-based violence, and all kinds of other issues.

Growing together with APWLD

I didn’t know APWLD until the General Assembly invited us in 2013. After getting our contact from other affiliate members in Bangladesh, APWLD invited us to join the meeting.

I remember I said: “Thank you for the invitation. I am unable to attend, but we can send someone from our organisation.” I sent them a man’s name, to which they replied: “Oh, if there could be a woman here, we would really appreciate it.”

We sent another co-founder, Khadiza Akter, who is also familiar with gender issues. That was Awaj’s first contact with APWLD and Akter told me many people knew of us and even knew of me. She said the event was interesting, and that APWLD is a big women’s network. I then felt the need to introduce myself and to know who the people are, deciding that I will be the one joining the next meeting. So, in 2014, I went to Chiang Mai to join the Labour Organising Training Programme, having been selected for that programme. During this training, delegates were talking about all the labour rights issues. It was perfect. After a few hours in the morning and during lunchtime, everyone became good friends. 

I realised there was a membership system and applied. As an APWLD member, in 2015 and 2016, I represented civil society to speak at UN meetings through the Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism. Eventually, APWLD developed the independent labour organising committee (OC); I also applied and was selected. 

My team has been getting a lot of training opportunities and awareness from the APWLD. We also have a small Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) project about the informal sector in Bangladesh. Additionally, when people submit proposals, I am chosen as a member of the selection committee and participate in various meetings to discuss workers’ rights and our campaign. Our working relationship with APWLD is like a sisterhood. I still have a lot of fun and am interested in working with APWLD because we share the same behaviours and attitudes.

I am very interested in, curious about, and excited about the Women’s Global Strike. I recognise the need for this, so when speaking at various international conferences and meetings, I always call for global strikes and participants recognise its correctness. I strive to pass the information on globally, encouraging different unions and movements in Bangladesh to join the Global Strike.

APWLD’s Anger, Hope, Action framework gives me a way to mobilise women workers. With the ideas and thoughts we get from APWLD, we fight capitalism, militarisation, and neo-liberalisation by mobilising and informing people to address these issues. 

I love APWLD’s analysis on climate justice, and how Bangladesh will be affected. There will be 15 million climate refugees from Bangladesh after 2050. Climate rights, like workers’ rights and women’s rights, are our rights. So, we participate in different meetings and seminars in Bangladesh to advance Development Justice.

Ways moving forward

For APWLD’s membership, I think we need to consider how to get more grassroots members involved, particularly women in factory-level unions. Language is a barrier that APWLD can address. We have to invite more young field-level people to share stories of their struggles and success, which can inspire other people. 

APWLD should also be more focused on grassroots women’s leadership. In Asia, men always treat women as inferior, saying they need education and awareness. It’s not true. Despite many challenges, we motivate women. We need to change our attitudes for systemic change to occur. The way we do that in our factory-level unions is successful, so we have seen women in leadership roles. If I can do a man’s job, so can all women.

Asia is very important for the global economy because most of the production is done in Asia. Capitalists use cheap labour as an excuse to exploit women, girls, and children. We must change this and protect the most vulnerable, so APWLD must work on more labour rights issues. Economic empowerment can make an enormous difference in women’s lives, and will, for example, reduce caste and minimise fundamentalism. 

APWLD can do more to promote women’s rights and workers’ rights. Women’s jobs are being reduced by the fourth industrial revolution and automated machines, so we need to collaborate and focus on these new issues and explore new tactics.