08 January 2019•Update: 08 January 2019
By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Several thousand of apparel industry workers in Bangladesh’s capital staged demonstration and blocked a road leading to airport for third consecutive day on Tuesday, demanding implementation of minimum wage.
Hundreds of passengers suffered from massive gridlock as the busiest road in Dhaka intermittently got blocked by the angry protesters.
According to local media reports, at least three public buses were torched since Sunday and protests also broke out in Savar, Ashulia and Gazipur, on the outskirts of the capital.
In Savar, at least 20 protesters were injured in a clash with police.
The workers said they took to the streets after they found alleged disparity in the raise of wages among the different grades in the latest wage gazette for the garment workers.
Earlier, government formed a wage board for 4.4 million readymade garment workers in January last year which came into effect from Dec. 1.
In the latest wage board, the minimum wage for the garment workers were revised to $95 from $63.
Nazma Akter -- president of the Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, a workers' rights body -- told local The Daily Star that “some of the factories paid the wages for the month of December but there was a huge disparity in the pay.”
“This is the main reason for the current unrest,” Akter said, adding that they got paid in Decembers with old pay structure.
Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Anadolu Agency: “We are trying to resolve the ongoing crisis peacefully in coordination with the government.”
Bangladesh is the 2nd largest exporter of readymade garment goods that insiders fear of losing if such unrest continues.
