Clashes broke out in Bangladesh on Thursday between police and around 25,000 garment workers demonstrating for an increase in the monthly minimum wage, leading to the closure of around a hundred factories outside Dhaka, according to authorities.
• Also read: Bangladesh: Garment workers reject 56% increase in minimum wage
On Tuesday, the minimum wage committee in the textile sector increased the basic monthly salary of the sector’s four million workers by 56.25% to 12,500 taka (104 euros), an amount that was considered “ridiculous” and was immediately rejected by the unions.
AFP
The textile workers, who have been demonstrating for two weeks, are demanding an almost tripling of monthly wages, which currently stand at 8,300 taka (70 euros).
According to police, violence erupted in the industrial towns of Gazipur and Ashulia, north of Dhaka, with more than 10,000 workers demonstrating in factories and along highways, demanding a basic wage of 23,000 taka (190 euros).
AFP
“There were 10,000 workers (demonstrating) in different places. They threw bricks and stones at our officers and at the open factories,” Ashulia Industrial Police deputy chief Mahmoud Naser told AFP.
“One of our officers was injured. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the workers,” Mr. Naser added, pointing out that more than 100 factories had been closed in Ashulia and surrounding areas.
Thousands of workers also faced the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police in Konabari and Naujore in Gazipur province, using batons and tear gas, AFP correspondents on the ground reported.
AFP
“Around 15,000 workers blocked the road in Konabari and destroyed vehicles and other property. We had to disperse them to maintain public order,” Gazipur municipal manager Sayed Murad Ali told AFP.
According to police, at least two injured demonstrators were taken to hospital.
“poverty allowance”
The unions also accuse the government of arresting and intimidating union leaders.
“The police have arrested Mohammad Jewel Miya, one of the organizers of our unions,” Rashedul Alam Raju, general secretary of the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Federation, told AFP, adding that a “local leader” was also arrested.
“Trade union leaders and rank-and-file activists are being threatened by the police” to put an end to the mobilization, said a senior union leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that “at least six rank-and-file unionists” were also arrested. .
The police did not comment on the allegations.
Thea Lee, deputy assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, called for the release of Mohammad Jewel Miya in a statement on Wednesday.
The United States condemned “the criminalization of the legitimate activities of workers and unions” and Washington on Wednesday called on Bangladeshi authorities to “review the minimum wage decision” to “respond to the growing economic pressures faced by workers.” “.
According to police, at least three workers have died and at least six police officers have been injured since the protests began.
For its part, the Netherlands-based organization defending the rights of garment workers, The Clean Clothes Campaign, described the new basic salary announced on Tuesday as a “poverty wage”.
Textiles are a key industry in Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest clothing exporter after China.
Its approximately 3,500 textile factories, employing mostly women, produce 85% of Bangladesh’s €51 billion in annual exports and supply many major global brands such as Levi’s, Zara (Inditex Group) and H&M.