Bangladesh garment factories shut in wage strike

Scores of Bangladeshi garment factories were shut on November 12 as workers demanding higher pay refused to work, renewing unrest in a sector that earns about $38 billion a year.

Workers in the industrial zones of Gazipur, Ashulia and Savar went to factories but refused to work and tried to take to the streets, where police blocked them. Factory sources said more than 100 garment factories were shut when protests resumed on Wednesday.

The garment wage board agreed on November 4 to raise the sector's minimum wage after days of protests, and factories then restarted. But the new rate will not be announced until December and is due to take effect in January.

Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka, or about $240, a 140 percent increase from the current 12,500 taka. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has called for calm while negotiations continue.

BGMEA officials said factory owners were considering a no-work, no-pay policy. BGMEA president Mahmudul Hasan said, according to Prothom Alo newspaper, that wage negotiations and factory unrest could not continue at the same time.