By Mohammad Amin

Dhaka Roots

Growing up in the overcrowded capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, I learned how to live and work for others. Dhaka is rife with inequality and disorder. A few possess wealth and power; while many bear all the burdens of rapid urbanization, political instability, poverty, and socio-economic inequality. One insight into this rampant inequality is apparent on the roads. Only five percent of people own a private car, yet these cars obstruct the city streets, which are already narrow for the overpopulated city, leaving the other ninety-five percent of the population to wait in overloaded public transit centers. Even as a young high school student, I saw firsthand the devastating inequality and injustice in that city.

After high school graduation, I was fortunate to be accepted into the University of Dhaka, where the admissions ratio is almost 1 is to 80. Providing almost free tuition for higher education, the university hosts some of the most talented students and scholars who come from every social status and geographic areas of the country. As the oldest university in the country, it also sits in the heart of Bangladeshi culture, politics, and socioeconomic mobility. Its atmosphere allowed me to experience different people, ideas, ideologies and rituals very closely. I majored in anthropology, which also allowed me to observe and assess people and society around me by letting me conduct fieldwork in remote areas of the country.

As a university freshman, I joined various student organizations that engaged closely with workers. I had an opportunity to go to the suburbs, meet with the workers, and organize events on different occasions. In doing so, I realized that the lack of regulatory policies were at the core of the labor problems in Bangladesh. Even the existing policies lopsidedly favor the factory owners and leave no room for the workers to effectively lobby and campaign to improve their conditions. For example, Bangladeshi garment workers used to earn less than $20 a month on an average. The long work hours would not leave workers any other way of earning extra money to support their families. To illustrate the depth of the problem: my monthly allowance as a university freshman was about $50. So when workers demanded a minimum wage, the wage was set below the poverty level income, which did nothing to improve the condition for the workers. Then, when it was suggested that global retailers raise the wage of Bangladeshi workers, they refused to do so, pointing out that the country already had a minimum wage law. In the absence of constructive dialogue and discussion, the socioeconomic state of the country does not have an established approach to proliferate solutions to these problems.

A US Perspective

At the end of my freshman year, I immigrated with my family to the United States. With a very different set of challenges, I had to adapt very quickly in a new environment. This disruption allowed me some time to redefine my objectives of life. I found I excelled in mathematics, and I had already had a fascination for economics. Therefore, I changed my major from Anthropology to Math/Econ and transferred from community college to University of California, Los Angeles.

Besides going to school, I was also working, sometime more than full-time hours. I observed the state of my workplaces, and I was surprised to see that although the per capita income in America surpasses that of Bangladesh, American workers often experience similar problems in their workplaces as Bangladeshi workers. I learned that many of the opportunities that American workers enjoy were won in their historic struggles to unionize, and that many of these rights are currently being eroded in many parts of the country. I also noticed that, even though American people are generally more interested in talking about presidential politics, states are the real powerhouses that impact people’s lives most. It made me more interested in learning about state policies.

My public finance course gave me a better picture of how state governments operate. There, my professor started with the premise that, in order to provide $1 worth of service to its citizens, the government has to spend $4 — and that, therefore, a smaller government is the best way to resolve economic problems of the society. Even though I learned the material inside and out, I could not agree with its conclusions: I was dealing with my brother’s terminal illness, and at that time he was a recipient of Medi-Cal, the California state government’s medical benefit program. I knew how big of a relief it was for us to have the government bearing the medical expenses for a disease like cancer. On our own, we could not even afford medical insurance for my brother. I knew that even though the graphs in the book were making sense in terms of efficiency, it was unable to account for the human benefits and social equities of the state government programs. These experiences got me interested in state government operations in the United States.

Finding a Path

In April 2013, a garment building collapsed in Dhaka that killed over 1,100 people. Extremely shocked, I joined a relief organization to fundraise for the victims. On the very first anniversary of this accident, as I was trying to start a campaign in the UCLA campus to raise awareness about the plight of Bangladeshi garment workers, I chanced upon the Labor and Workplace Studies minor program at UCLA. It was exactly what I had been looking for. Labor studies, I thought, would allow me to work towards changing the unacceptable working conditions in Bangladesh; as well as using my knowledge and skills in economics, it would let me create policies that would directly help workers to improve their lives.

I set my career goal to work on labor with a special focus on government. At UCLA, I garnered the necessary tools to approach my goal by working on UCLA Labor Center’s research project regarding young low-wage workers in Los Angeles. Under the supervision of Professor Janna Shadduk Hernandez, I conducted surveys, compiled quantitative and qualitative data, and developed codes to analyze said data. I developed an interview instrument, interviewed workers and worked on analyzing policies that affect young workers in Los Angeles County. And, I worked on different policy recommendations that we tried to present before state officials in Sacramento.

Under the supervision of Professor Joshua Bloom, I conducted a research proposal on the causes of low unionization rate in Bangladeshi garment industry. I took a close look at government hearings and policies regarding the issue and identified some of the major local causes that were hindering the unionization process in Bangladesh. For example, in order to unionize, workers have to get one third of the working population to sign the union cards when there is no law protecting workers from being terminated for their attempt to unionize. Thus far, very few unionization attempts at the garment factories have succeeded in Bangladesh. Moreover, there is no legislation in the country that defines unions’ rights as well as determines the limits of the unions’ activities. Therefore, the employers are not obliged to recognize unions as legitimate representatives of the workers.

Through my internship with the Food Chain Workers Alliance under the supervision of Joann Lo, I worked with labor right campaigns in Los Angeles such as Our Wal-Mart, the Los Angeles Minimum Wage campaign, and different unions. There, I also received the hands-on experience of conducting industry research by preparing industry profiles for the major dairy and egg distributors of Wal-Mart. I found their market shares, financial status, marketing policies, and employment relations. I scoured deep into the corporate listings in EDGAR, OSHA and other federal and state government databases to list the corporate violations for these companies.

I also worked with the International Labor Rights Forum as a consultant to support a research project on Bangladeshi garment workers. There, I analyzed how workers were impacted by the policies of two worker safety initiatives — “Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety” and “The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh” — that were formed by the north American and European retailers, respectively, after the factory building collapse in Dhaka. We interviewed 50 workers and 10 local union leaders in Bangladesh. From their testimonies, we found that the proposed policies of these initiatives would cause more trouble for workers instead of solving the old problems.

Now, at my current internship with the New York State Assembly, I have the opportunity to look at the policy making process and its inherent complexities firsthand. As I meet different interest groups and listen to their issues, I am becoming more knowledgeable about what can make a real difference in people’s lives — as well as the challenges of making the right policy for everyone.

Looking Forward

Through my internship and research experiences, I’ve become aware of my deep interest and natural talent for conducting policy research, especially on labor issues. I want to use my knowledge of economics to analyze policies that will be helpful for workers and for society in general. 

Through my experience, I’ve learned that the workers’ struggles in first world America and in third world Bangladesh are fundamentally the same struggle, varying only in intensity. I want to apply myself towards elevating this struggle and establishing a more equitable social structure wherein workers receive their fair share. I’m now developing the skills and networks I need to manifest my vision and powerfully serve the people of New York and beyond.

Mohammad Amin is currently pursuing his MA in Labor Studies at the Murphy Institute.