https://void.cat/d/BiqTFZhrt4VhDhDjqzi5Kd.webp

Garment workers in Bangladesh have been on strike since Monday (October 30th) and are on the streets again today, despite heavy repression, to demand a monthly minimum wage of Tk 23,000 (209 USD). Their current salary is Tk 8,300 (75 USD).

One worker, Rasel Howlader, was shot and killed by police on Monday. Yesterday, 25 protesters were injured in Dhaka as police cleared barricades erected by protesters along crucial highways.

The main protests have been in the capital city, Dhaka, and the industrial center of Gazipur, where workers have been blocking highways, torching factories that do not accept the livable wage demands, and organizing daily street protests. As of Friday, November 3rd, 300 factories have been closed by workers.

The country’s garment industry capitalists generate around 55 Billion USD annually in exports, mainly to the US and Europe, providing cheap clothes for the Western market. Meanwhile, 4 million garment workers, the majority of whom are women, face poverty wages and unsafe working conditions.

This strike over wages has been triggered by rising inflation that has rendered essential goods unaffordable for many. The monthly inflation rate stands at almost 10% as the currency devaluation sets in, resulting from IMF loan conditions earlier this year that forced Bangladesh to scrap its fixed exchange rate system.

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