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Agence France-Presse

Bangladeshi police clashed on Tuesday with thousands of garment workers demanding fair wages for the clothing they make for major Western brands, a day after similar protests left at least two people dead.
Police said tens of thousands of workers at dozens of factories had launched strikes in Ashulia and Gazipur, the country’s largest industrial city, with authorities firing tear gas and rubber bullets as crowds smashed up factories and blocked roads.
Gazipur alone is home to more than a thousand plants that make clothing for brands such as H&M and Gap.
“Workers hit the streets as their salaries can no longer cover rising food expenses,” said Al Kamran, a senior garment union leader in Ashulia.
Rohingya problems deepen as violence surges in Bangladesh refugee camps
Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest garment exporters, with the industry accounting for 85 per cent of the South Asian country’s US$55 billion in annual exports.
But conditions are dire for many of its four million apparel workers.
“Some 15,000 of the workers joined protests for a wage hike at separate places in Ashulia,” said Mahmud Naser, deputy police chief of the Ashulia industrial area.
Union leader Kamran disputed those figures, reporting some 50,000 workers had downed tools in Ashulia alone, with soaring prices a key driver.

The cost of some basic foodstuffs, like potatoes and onions, had more than doubled since last year, Kamran said.
“House rents have also spiked. The only thing that has not increased is salaries.”
Taslima Akter, the head of the Garment Sramik Samhati union, has said the compensation manufacturers are offering is “less than what a worker got in 2017” once inflation and currency depreciation were taken into account.
Police said protesters had set fire to tyres, broken windows at factories and blocked a key highway connecting the industrial area with the capital Dhaka.
Officers responded by firing “rubber bullets and tear gas”, said Naser, the deputy chief in Ashulia, adding there were no reports of injuries.
Sri Lanka garment workers brace for lay-offs as demand slumps amid downturn
The protests erupted early last week, but violence escalated on Monday when tens of thousands left their shifts and staged protests in Gazipur, where a six-storey factory was torched by workers, leading to the death of one labourer.
Another worker was killed during clashes between police and protesters.
Bangladesh is home to around 3,500 garment factories making clothing for some of the world’s largest retailers and brands, but the basic monthly wage for workers is just 8,300 taka (US$75).
Unions said the workers vented their anger on the streets after the powerful manufacturers’ association offered a 25 per cent raise, ignoring demands for a new monthly minimum basic wage of 23,000 taka – nearly a threefold increase.


The South Asian country of nearly 170 million has overtaken its neighbour India in per capita income, with the garment industry at the centre of its impressive growth over the past two decades.
But wage protests pose a major challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2009. A resurgent opposition has challenged her rule as she readies for elections due before January.
Her government set up a panel this year to set a new minimum wage.
Unions say that garment factory owners – who include ministers and influential lawmakers – have played a role in fixing the minimum wage during past negotiations.


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Bangladesh

Bangladesh garment workers’ protests against low pay leave 2 dead amid spiralling inflation

Bangladeshi garment workers block a road during a protest at the Mirpur area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

 A showroom destroyed in a fire amid clashes between the police and garment workers in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Rohingya problems deepen as violence surges in Bangladesh refugee camps

Rohingya refugees gather for a rally marking the sixth anniversary of “genocide day”, in Ukhia, Bangladesh, on August 25, 2023. Photo: AFP

A Rohingya refugee camp in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh in March. Photo: AP

A Rohingya refugee child walks back to his makeshift shelter after collecting water at a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Ukhia district. File photo: AFP

In Bangladesh, climate dangers menace ‘extremely vulnerable’ Rohingya refugee camps

Rohingya refugees try to salvage their belongings after a major fire in a camp in Cox’s Bazar in March. Photo: AP

Rohingya children are seen in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. All infrastructure in the camps is temporary by design. Photo: Reuters

Plots for gardening allow refugees to plant vegetation, which can serve as protection from the hot sun if planted on the roofs of shelters. Photo: Handout

Sri Lanka garment workers face job losses as factories lose to Bangladesh amid slowdown

Sri Lanka’s garment sector made up almost half its export revenue last year. Photo: AFP

Apparel is one of the biggest export earners in Sri Lanka, producing goods for the likes of Marks and Spencer, Victoria’s Secret and Nike. Photo: Reuters

The apparel industry directly employed some 350,000 workers by 2022, who are now facing uncertainty amid the turmoil in the garment industry. Photo: Reuters

Year-on-year export volumes shrank about 11 per cent by March this year. Photo: AP

Bangladesh opposition leader and party members charged with murder

A member of Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inspects a protest site after Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) activists held a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday. Photo: AFP

BNP supporters take part in a protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

BNP’s Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir during a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Fires near the stage set for a protest by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the capital Dhaka. Photo: AP

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Paris, France in 2021. Photo: AFP via Getty Images / TNS

News

Asia

South Asia

Garment factory employers have offered a 25 per cent pay rise but unions are demanding nearly a threefold increase
Some 50,000 workers who make clothing for major Western brands are protesting in one city alone, according to a union leader


Protests by Bangladeshi garment workers against low wages have led to two deaths amid a spike in the costs of basic foodstuffs and other items.


Bangladesh garment industry

Jobs

Poverty

Human rights

Bangladesh garment workers’ protests against low pay leave 2 dead amid spiralling inflation

Garment factory employers have offered a 25 per cent pay rise but unions are demanding nearly a threefold increase Some 50,000 workers who make clothing for major Western brands are protesting in one city alone, according to a union leader

Garment factory employers have offered a 25 per cent pay rise but unions are demanding nearly a threefold increase

Some 50,000 workers who make clothing for major Western brands are protesting in one city alone, according to a union leader