For 4 days, workers in the clothing sector took to the streets in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh but also in other cities. A major protest but passed almost unnoticed
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousFor 4 days, workers in the clothing sector took to the streets in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh but also in other cities. A major protest but passed almost unnoticed.
Only the local media are talking about it but thousands of people have mobilized, giving life to the fourth consecutive day of protests to obtain inalienable rights, starting with the guaranteed minimum wage.
Bangladesh's garment industry generates around $ 30 billion in exports annually, equivalent to 80% of the country's export earnings of goods and serving some of the world's biggest brands. It is the second largest clothing exporter in the world behind China.
Unfortunately, workers have been denouncing for some time inhumane conditions in the factory, grueling shifts e starvation wages.
The government's reassurances, according to which in September the minimum wage for workers in the clothing sector will increase by 8.000 taka (approximately € 82) per month, the first increase since 2013, did little.
But according to workers, only a small percentage of the more than 3,5 million workers in the sector will benefit.
For this reason the demonstrators returned to the square for the fourth day, despite the clashes between police and demonstrators killed a worker and injured dozens of people.
Garment workers began gathering in Uttarkhan and Dakhinkhan areas after 9 am on Tuesday and headed for the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. Blocked roads and motorways but also burnt tires in the industrial district of Savar, north of the capital.
Ruhul Amin, executive chairman of the Garments Trade Union Center, he told Reuters that the police used batons, tear gas and even water cannons to disperse the crowd.
"The police first tried to persuade them by talking and asked them to leave the streets so that transport could easily resume, but they threw stones and bricks," said Tahmidul Islam, a police officer in the area.
The government has formed a group of factory owners, union leaders and officials to figure out if and how to accommodate workers' demands, Trade Minister Tipu Munshi said, promising to reach a resolution within a month.
But the workers do not seem convinced and are ready to carry on the protest until their requests are accepted.
READ also:
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- The 15 fashion companies that have not signed up to improve occupational safety in Bangladesh
Francesca Mancuso
