Bangladesh Garment Workers Rally For Fair Wages Amid Protests

Thousands of Bangladesh garment workers took to the streets of Dhaka, demanding fair wages for the clothing they produce for major Western brands. The protests have led to at least two fatalities during several days of unrest. One of the demonstrators, 22-year-old seamstress Sabina Begum, explained that she joined the protests because she and her family were "struggling to ensure bread and butter" with the monthly minimum wage of 8,300 taka ($75), which falls short of covering their basic needs. She raised concerns about the difficulty of managing expenses, particularly the high cost of renting a one-bedroom house. The garment worker protests coincide with separate anti-government demonstrations in Bangladesh, where opposition party supporters are calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation ahead of elections scheduled for the end of January. Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories contribute to approximately 85 percent of the country's $55 billion in exports. However, conditions for many of the four million apparel workers remain challenging. Notable Western companies, including Adidas, Gap, H&M, and Levi Strauss, source their products from Bangladeshi manufacturers. In response to the workers' demands, Bangladesh's influential manufacturers' association has offered a 25 percent pay increase. This proposal falls short of the protesters' call for an almost threefold raise in the basic salary to a monthly minimum wage of 23,000 taka ($208). On the streets of the capital, Dhaka, at least 5,000 garment workers established roadblocks to amplify their voices. However, an AFP correspondent at the scene suggested that the actual number of protesters could be considerably higher. Assistant Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Omar Faruq, reported no violence in the city on Wednesday. Nonetheless, in the industrial city of Gazipur, a group of approximately 1,500 protesters reportedly hurled rocks at multiple factories, prompting the industrial police to disperse the crowd with tear gas and sound grenades, as informed by regional head Sarwar Alam.