DOL may request the labor court’s permission to dissolve the union if membership falls below 20 percent. Generally, the law only allows “wall-to-wall” (entire factory) bargaining units. Labor rights organizations reported the DOL’s Registrar of Trade Unions regularly abused its discretion and denied applications for reasons not recognized in the labor law or regulation, or by fabricating shortcomings in applications. According to the Solidarity Center, a labor rights organization, trade union registration applications and approvals have declined significantly since 2013, despite the adoption of standard operating procedures in 2017 to simplify union registrations. One union representative explained she had completed all paperwork to form a union and had support from 30 percent of workers, but the DOL rejected the application because the factory claimed it had hundreds of additional employees. The union also reported that the DOL shared the names of the union’s organizers with the factory owner, and all the organizers were fired. Workers and union leaders were subjected to police violence, blacklisting, mass dismissal, and arrest for exercising their right to organize. Police intimidated unions in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector by frequently visiting their meetings and offices, photographing or recording meetings, and monitoring NGOs supporting trade unions. The International Trade Union Confederation noted major discrepancies in the labor law that do not align with international labor standards and raised concern regarding police crackdowns on workers protesting for higher wages. The confederation also called for more measures to restrain interference in union elections. On June 27, police filed a case against the organizing secretary of the Garment Workers Trade Union Center and five other union leaders. Police detained the union leaders peacefully protesting police harassment of rickshaw pullers. Police accused them of instigating workers to vandalize public property and conducting unlawful activities. On August 18, a district court ordered all six accused to jail. During the year the Labour Ministry reported the garment sector alone had 1,156 active trade unions and around 650 active participation committees. Labor leaders, however, claimed much lower numbers of trade unions, asserting that due to intimidation, corruption, and violence that suppressed union organizing, only 30- Page 53