Garment workers continue protest for fourth consecutive day

Ready Made Garments (RMG) workers continue their protest in the capital's Mirpur, Ibrahimpur, and Uttara today in demand of a pay rise amid the sudden price hike of daily essentials.

According to sources, a number of factories have been closed in Mirpur.

Hundreds of workers took to the streets of Mirpur 13 around 8:30am Monday. Police baton charged on the crowd to disperse them and threw tear shells around 9am.

The protestors also fought back but had to retreat to the alleys while the police have taken position on the main roads.

Also, workers have blocked the main road in Dhakshin Khan and Uttarkhan areas in Azampur.

They have blocked the roads for a fourth day in a row, causing huge traffic congestion in the city.

Workers say they are having a hard time coping with rising commodity prices. Therefore, they are urging a review of the existing wage board.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), inflation has risen by almost 20% in the three-and-a-half years from January 2020 to April last year, following a rise in wages for workers in the sector. Although labour organisations claim, this rate is much higher.

RMG entrepreneurs are feeling the pressure already when it comes to increasing the wages of the workers anew.

At present the minimum wage of garment workers is Tk8,000 per month.

Shovon Islam, managing director of Sparrow Group, which exports garments worth about $200 million a year and employs about 14,000 workers, told The Business Standard, "Inflation has increased, true, so has worker wages."

Workers of several garments also demanded their dues and protested against the abrupt sacking of their colleagues.