Three dead as Bangladeshi garment workers protest pay

Sun, 12 Dec 2010

Dhaka - At least three persons died and 100 others were injured on Sunday when police opened fire on a demonstration by Bangladeshi garment factory workers, police and witnesses said.

The deaths, in the south-east harbor city of Chittagong, came after protests by the workers, who say that their employers have failed to implement a recent increase in the minimum wage.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Abul Kashem, at a press briefing in the late afternoon, said police found bodies of three persons killed in the clashes.

"It could be known how they were killed only after the post mortem is done," said the city police chief, adding that the law enforcers detained 31 people allegedly involved in the clashes.

Further demonstrations were reported in the capital, Dhaka, where 125 injuries were reported.

Workers put up barricades and vandalized and set fire to cars, halting morning traffic for at least three hours on the road linking the capital to the airport, according to witnesses.

A group of garment workers took to the streets around 8 am (0200 GMT), claiming that salaries for November, which they received at the beginning of December, were not in line with the new minimum wage of 3,000 taka (42 dollars) per month, up from 1,662 taka.

The increased rate was due to take effect from November 1.

The government attempted to reassure workers, saying it would review the minimum wage and urged them to refrain from violence.

The clashes followed demonstrations over the past week in the cities of Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur and Chittagong, as well as the capital.

In Chittagong on Saturday, at least 15 people were injured amid protests by workers at a factory operated by the Korean YoungOne group.

Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators because they were vandalizing machinery and equipment in the factory, police office Tanvir Arafat said.

The company closed the factory on Sunday in response, as fresh demonstrations began by the workers, demanding the reopening of the factory and the raising of their wages.

The textile industry employs more than 3 million in Bangladesh, making it one of the country's most important economic engines.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357795,garment-workers-protest-pay.html.