Bangladesh’s garment wage board agreed on Wednesday to raise minimum pay in the key export sector, but details remained scarce and it was unclear whether the deal would end five days of protests and clashes.
Tens of thousands of workers marched through industrial areas on Wednesday morning demanding higher wages, with some throwing bricks, torching police vehicles and erecting barricades, as police fired tear gas to disperse crowds.
Protests eased after an agreement was announced, but there was no immediate indication that workers would return to factories and restart production. Many workers were still unsure what the announcement meant, union leader Kamrul Hasan of the Ekota Garments Sramik Federation said, adding that most “did not know” how the wage board worked and were asking on social media whether their pay had increased.
Mahmudul Hasan, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president, said workers should go back to work. “The unrest should subside, as progress is evident now,” Hasan told AFP. “We do not want our factories to remain closed, but we had no choice because of the unrest.”
The dispute reflects longstanding tensions in an industry that employs more than four million people but has been dogged by complaints over pay, working conditions and labour rights. The board, comprising representatives of employers and workers, was set up by the government on recently to negotiate a pay rise. It did not specify the size of the increase.
“The workers have been demanding a wage increase by December so that they can receive their revised salaries in January,” said Babul Akter, the workers’ representative on the board. The representative of the factory owners on the wage board agreed, too.
The announcement came after unrest in major industrial centres including Gazipur, Mirpur, Narayanganj and Savar. Workers say the rising cost of food, housing, transport and healthcare has eroded their purchasing power in a country with eight percent inflation. They are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($240), a 140 percent increase on the current 12,500 taka.
“We will complete our work by December so that workers can receive their increased salaries by January,” said ABM Shamsuddin, the BGMEA representative on the wage board.
