Thousands of Bangladeshi textile workers strike for triple pay
- Workers claim a wage increase: from EUR 70 to EUR 195. Following the protests, over 300 workshops have been closed and 50 others have been looted or burned.
Thousands of textile workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets this Wednesday, 1 November, to ask for triple wages and to protest the police repression suffered in recent days. The EFE has published that the Asian country is in full conflict with the “political pulse” between the government and the opposition. Workers have asked for their wages to go from EUR 70 to EUR 190 in the protest on Wednesday and have closed more than 300 workshops and have looted or burned another 50.
According to police, some 5,000 workers joined Wednesday's stoppages and companies that had to temporarily suspend their daily routine. President of the Epyllion Group, Reazuddin Al Mamoon, leader of one of Bangladesh’s largest tissue groups, with over 24,000 workers, said that all factories would remain closed in the area in order to “avoid” the consequences that the situation might have. However, there was no conflict whatsoever.
Concrete demand for protests
Workers began protests last week. Two employees die this Monday from clashes with the police. The Executive Director of the Bangladesh Workers Solidarity Centre, Kalpona Akter, has stressed that workers require a minimum wage of 23,000 tacos (about $210) to compensate for Asian inflation, but owners only accept 10,400 tacos (about $94).
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