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Garment workers demand pay rise in Bangladesh protest
Agence France Presse - September 22, 2013
The demonstrators blocked roads and highways for hours outside Dhaka, after walking off the job in dozens of garment factories which make products for some of the world's biggest retailers.
The workers, many carrying sticks, attacked factories in the major industrial areas of Gazipur, Mouchak and Ashulia.
Deputy police chief of the industrial district of Gazipur, Mustafizur Rahman, says at least 20,000 workers joined the protest. "They blocked roads, demanding a big salary hike," he said.
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter, with apparel shipments from the country's 4,500 garment factories making up 80 per cent of its $27-billion in annual exports.
The vast majority of the impoverished country's three million workers receive a basic monthly wage of 3,000 taka – just $38. The figure is among the lowest in the world, negotiated in an August 2010 deal between between unions, the government and manufacturers.
The government set up a panel in June this year to review salaries in the industry, and unions have demanded an 8,114 taka ($100) minumum monthly wage. Factory owners have rejected the demand, saying current global economic conditions allow for a raise of only 20 per cent, to about $47.
The protest on Saturday was the first of its scale since unions put forward their demand for the $100 minimum wage, and forced dozens of factories as workers left their machines.
Mr Rahman says demonstrators threw bricks at around 20 factories after they refused to let some employees join the protests.
"The situation is now calm as the workers have since marched to Dhaka to join a rally," he said. "Road transport on the highways has also resumed," he said, saying the march in the capital was peaceful.
Since the collapse of a factory complex killed more then 1,100 people in April, protests over poor wages, benefits and working conditions have shaken Bangladesh's garment industry.
The disaster highlighted the shocking working conditions in Bangladesh's garment factories, where 10-12 hour days and low wages are the norm. Dozens of workers died and hundreds of factories were vandalised during widespread protests for wage hikes in 2006 and 2010.
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