Scores Of Bangladesh Garment Factories Shut Amid Wage Strike

The unrest, which began in October, threatens to disrupt an industry that earns around $38 billion annually, accounting for four-fifths of the country's export earnings and employing more than four million workers.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has called for calm as wage negotiations continue.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people is the world's second-biggest garment exporter behind China, supplying major international fashion brands.

Workers in key industrial zones of Gazipur, Ashulia and Savar went to their factories but refused to work and attempted to take to the streets, where police blocked them.

"These disruptions hurt everyone. Businesses lose money, workers lose working days, the economy takes a hit, and buyers start to question Bangladesh as a sourcing destination," said Mohiuddin Rubel, additional managing director of Denim Expert Ltd and a former BGMEA director.

"That damage is hard to undo."

Bangladesh's garment wage board agreed on November 4 to raise the minimum wage in the key sector after days of protests, with factories then restarting operations.

But the new wage rate will not be announced until December and is due to take effect in January, leaving workers uncertain about how much their pay will increase.

Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($240), a 140 percent increase from the current 12,500 taka.

Protests resumed on Wednesday, when BGMEA sources said more than 100 garment factories were shut. The BGMEA said it has more than 4,500 member factories in Bangladesh.

"We went to the factory in the morning, punched in and came back home," said garment worker Khanam, who gave only one name.

"I don't think the demonstrations will calm down soon. They will continue until the wage board comes up with a revised and acceptable wage."

BGMEA officials, who held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, said factory owners were considering a "no work, no pay" policy.

"The negotiations at the wage board and unrest in factories cannot go on simultaneously," BGMEA president Mahmudul Hasan said, according to the Prothom Alo newspaper.