Hundreds of factories in industrial districts forced to close as police fire rubber bullets and teargas on fifth day of protests
Police in Bangladesh used batons, rubber bullets and teargas on Wednesday to quell continuing protests by garment workers demanding higher wages for making cheap clothes for export to Europe and the United States.
The booming garment industry in the poor and unstable south Asian state made headlines earlier this year when a factory producing clothes for the west collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.
Companies such as Walmart, Primark, Gap and other household names have since spent months discussing new schemes designed to improve conditions in workshops where their products are made.
But manufacturers have resisted calls by workers for the monthly minimum wage, currently the lowest in the world, to be raised from 3,000 takas (£24) to 8,114 takas. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment manufacturing country after China.
"The owners' offer is tantamount to ignoring the workers," said Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, an expert at the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies. "This way the situation will only worsen."
The fifth day of protests in two industrial districts near Dhaka, the capital, forced authorities to close hundreds of factories for the day, police and news reports said.
Factory owners say it is difficult for them to significantly raise the minimum wage because the global brands are unwilling to pay higher prices amid stiff competition and a protracted economic crisis in the west.
The government has set up a panel to review the minimum wage but workers are unwilling to wait until November, when it is supposed to make its recommendations.
SM Mannan, a vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the protests made it difficult for the factories to fulfil shipments as scheduled.
"We have not set up factories to keep them closed," Mannan told the Guardian. He blamed outsiders for the worst of the violence over recent days.
Labour activists said they feared the protests would be hijacked by political parties. A general election is likely to be held in Bangladesh later this year and analysts have predicted a brutal battle for power on the streets when campaigning begins.
"The workers have been demanding the revision of wages since May. Political outfits take advantage of the worker issues every time. Our plea is to the government and to the owners that they do not give opportunities to third forces to make the situation worse," said Nazma Akhter, president of Sammilita Garment Sramik Federation, a labour body.
AKM Mosharaf Hossain, an assistant director of the industrial police in Gazipur, a suburb on the outskirts of Dhaka where many factories are concentrated, said the workers dispersed there after the police moved in but did not say whether there were any injuries.
The Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper, citing a police official, reported that clashes in Narayanganj injured at least 10 people, with security officials firing rubber bullets. TV footage showed female workers fleeing streets in the district as police moved in.
Bangladesh earns $20bn (£12.5bn) a year from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe. The sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women.
River Island and Matalan this week joined more than 80 brands from around the world which have now signed up to a legally binding building safety agreement, pledging to contribute up to $500,000 (£325,000) a year towards independent factory inspections and fire safety measures in Bangladesh.
Engineers have estimated that almost two-thirds of factories are unsafe. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 minutes ago.
Police in Bangladesh used batons, rubber bullets and teargas on Wednesday to quell continuing protests by garment workers demanding higher wages for making cheap clothes for export to Europe and the United States.
The booming garment industry in the poor and unstable south Asian state made headlines earlier this year when a factory producing clothes for the west collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.
Companies such as Walmart, Primark, Gap and other household names have since spent months discussing new schemes designed to improve conditions in workshops where their products are made.
But manufacturers have resisted calls by workers for the monthly minimum wage, currently the lowest in the world, to be raised from 3,000 takas (£24) to 8,114 takas. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment manufacturing country after China.
"The owners' offer is tantamount to ignoring the workers," said Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, an expert at the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies. "This way the situation will only worsen."
The fifth day of protests in two industrial districts near Dhaka, the capital, forced authorities to close hundreds of factories for the day, police and news reports said.
Factory owners say it is difficult for them to significantly raise the minimum wage because the global brands are unwilling to pay higher prices amid stiff competition and a protracted economic crisis in the west.
The government has set up a panel to review the minimum wage but workers are unwilling to wait until November, when it is supposed to make its recommendations.
SM Mannan, a vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the protests made it difficult for the factories to fulfil shipments as scheduled.
"We have not set up factories to keep them closed," Mannan told the Guardian. He blamed outsiders for the worst of the violence over recent days.
Labour activists said they feared the protests would be hijacked by political parties. A general election is likely to be held in Bangladesh later this year and analysts have predicted a brutal battle for power on the streets when campaigning begins.
"The workers have been demanding the revision of wages since May. Political outfits take advantage of the worker issues every time. Our plea is to the government and to the owners that they do not give opportunities to third forces to make the situation worse," said Nazma Akhter, president of Sammilita Garment Sramik Federation, a labour body.
AKM Mosharaf Hossain, an assistant director of the industrial police in Gazipur, a suburb on the outskirts of Dhaka where many factories are concentrated, said the workers dispersed there after the police moved in but did not say whether there were any injuries.
The Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper, citing a police official, reported that clashes in Narayanganj injured at least 10 people, with security officials firing rubber bullets. TV footage showed female workers fleeing streets in the district as police moved in.
Bangladesh earns $20bn (£12.5bn) a year from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe. The sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women.
River Island and Matalan this week joined more than 80 brands from around the world which have now signed up to a legally binding building safety agreement, pledging to contribute up to $500,000 (£325,000) a year towards independent factory inspections and fire safety measures in Bangladesh.
Engineers have estimated that almost two-thirds of factories are unsafe. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 minutes ago.