DHAKA, Nov 4 — Striking Bangladesh garment workers clashed with police right now close to the capital as factories reopened in defiance of a protest marketing campaign demanding a near-tripling of wages.
Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for round 85 per cent of the South Asian nation’s US$55 billion (RM260 billion) annual exports, supplying most of the world’s high names in trend together with Levi’s, Zara and H&M.
But situations are dire for most of the sector’s 4 million workers, the overwhelming majority of whom are ladies whose month-to-month wages begin at 8,300 taka (RM354).
Police mentioned some 600 companies shuttered over the week had reopened in areas worst-hit by the strike, which noticed some factories ransacked and set alight.
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But clashes broke out within the industrial city of Ashulia, west of the capital Dhaka, after round 10,000 workers tried to stop their colleagues from returning to their shifts.
“They hurled stones and bricks at officers and factories and tried to dam roads,” Ashulia police chief Mohammad Sarowar Alam advised eNM.
“We dispersed them by firing tear gasoline,” he mentioned, including that 1,500 safety forces personnel had been deployed there and in close by Savar to maintain order.
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Workers additionally returned to their shifts after every week of violent protests in Gazipur, an industrial neighbourhood on Dhaka’s northern outskirts, native police chief Sarwar Alam advised eNM.
“Things are peaceable,” he added.
Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation president Kalpona Akter advised eNM Friday that the weeklong protests had disrupted manufacturing for among the world’s high trend manufacturers.
“They embrace Gap, Walmart, H&M, Zara, Inditex, Bestseller, Levi’s, Marks and Spencer, Primark and Aldi,” she mentioned.
A Primark spokesperson mentioned the Dublin-headquartered fast-fashion retailer had not “skilled any disruptions to our provide chain”.
“We stay involved with our suppliers a few of whom in flip have closed their factories briefly,” the spokesperson added.
Police personnel fireplace rubber bullets to disperse garment workers staging a rally to demand a near-tripling of their wages in Ashulia on November 4, 2023. — eNM pic
‘Many workers are half-starving’
Garment workers say {that a} sharp improve in residing prices has left them struggling to offer for his or her households.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents manufacturing unit homeowners, has provided workers a 25 per cent pay increase.
That is considerably wanting the 23,000 taka (US$209) month-to-month wage that the protest marketing campaign has referred to as for.
“The manufacturers and retailers solely care about easy shipments and revenue. But they don’t care in regards to the wellbeing of the workers on the backside of the availability chain or the truth that many workers are half-starving,” Akter advised eNM.
“We hope the manufacturers will put stress on Bangladesh producers to verify they pay the wage the workers are demanding.”
The protests have coincided with separate violent demonstrations by opposition events demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina forward of elections due in January. — eNM
