Fresh clashes erupted in Bangladesh on Tuesday between police and thousands of workers demanding wage increases in the textile industry that supplies major Western brands, a day after demonstrations that left at least two people dead.
“Workers have taken to the streets because their salaries can no longer cover rising food costs,” Al Kamran, a senior textile union official in the central industrial city of Ashulia, told AFP.
According to police, tens of thousands of workers at dozens of factories launched wildcat strikes in Ashulia and Gazipur, the country’s largest industrial city.
“Around 15,000 workers took part in demonstrations demanding a wage increase in various locations in Ashulia,” Ashulia industrial zone deputy police chief Mahmoud Naser told AFP.
Union leader Al Kamran disputed the police figures, saying around 50,000 workers had walked off the job in the Ashulia area alone.
According to the police official, protesters on Tuesday burned tires, vandalized factories by breaking windows and blocked a key highway connecting the industrial area with the capital Dhaka, prompting police to “use tear gas and fire rubber bullets.” No injuries were reported, he said.
According to police, thousands of workers also left their jobs and destroyed several factories in Mouchak and Bhograr More in Gazipur, where there are more than a thousand factories making clothes for brands such as Adidas, H&M and Gap.
Bangladesh is one of the largest clothing exporters in the world. The industry accounts for 85% of the South Asian country’s $55 billion in annual exports.
According to the unions, the wages and working conditions for a large proportion of the four million workers in the industry are catastrophic.
Rising food prices are one of the main reasons for this movement, with prices of some staples doubling compared to last year.
“Today a kilo of potatoes costs 70 taka (0.59 euros, editor’s note) and a kilo of onions is worth 130 taka,” compared to 30 and 50 to 60 taka last year, said Al Kamran.
“Rents have also increased. The only thing that hasn’t increased is the salary,” he added.
The protests began early last week, but on Monday the protests turned violent as tens of thousands of workers walked out in Gazipur, where a six-story factory was set on fire, resulting in the death of a worker.
At least a second worker was killed, fatally injured in clashes between police and protesters and died on the way to hospital.