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Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 takas
($245), up from 12,500 takas. They say rising living costs and
inflation have eroded their purchasing power.
The industry employs about 4 million workers, mostly women from
rural Bangladesh.
After days of demonstrations in the capital, Dhaka, violence was
reported in several industrial areas on its outskirts.
In Fatullah, in Narayanganj district outside Dhaka, dozens of
people were injured in clashes between protesters and police,
according to media reports. Police fired tear gas and used stun
grenades.
Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest Bengali-language daily,
reported that police arrested several protesters in Fatullah.
About 100 factories remain shut in Ashulia, in Savar near Dhaka,
said Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial
Police.
Workers also blocked a major highway in Gazipur district,
another major industrial hub.
More than 10,000 police officers had been deployed in Dhaka’s
Mirpur area, an epicenter of recent protests, to maintain order,
said Mahidul Islam, a joint police commissioner.
The government has responded to the wage demands by forming a
new wage board.
The board’s chairman, Syed Azad Subhani, said workers would
receive their first salaries under the new pay scale in January.
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