[4] The rate of trade union membership among Bangladeshi garment workers is very low, only around 1.12 percent of the total labour force.
In 2020, Bangladesh was rated one of the world's ten worst countries for workers in the ITUC's annual Global Rights Index.
In August, trade union leaders including Montu Ghosh, then an advisor to the GWTUC, were arrested, leading to international reports and condemnation.
[10] In 2014, GWTUC took part in the coordination of a hunger strike at an occupied Tuba Group factory in Dhaka, demanding the payment of three months overdue salaries for the nearly 1.600 workers.
BGMEA later filed a complaint against 12 GWTUC leaders and 150 workers, alleging they were involved in violence, vandalism and attempted murder of its officials.
Communist Party of Bangladesh leader Sazedur Rahman Shameem was allegedly arrested when he attended court to request an extension of their bail.
[15] The arrests provoked outrage in Bangladesh and abroad, with the Clean Clothes Campaign and German union ver.di calling for the prisoners' release.
[18] In September 2018, GWTUC organised demonstrations rejecting an increase of the minimum wage for garment workers as "inhumane" and demanding the double of the planned amount.