Bangladesh Agrees to Raise Minimum Wage for Garment Workers After Protests

Bangladesh’s newly formed wage board said on Wednesday that it would raise the minimum wage for garment workers by the end of the year. The decision followed protests this week that shut down hundreds of factories, led to sporadic violence and threatened to disrupt production for some of the world’s top fashion brands.

The board, which was created this week in response to protests by garment workers demanding higher pay, did not say how large the increase would be. The announcement brought an end to several days of unrest in several cities in Bangladesh, whose economy is heavily dependent on its status as the world’s department store.

As in much of the rest of the world, workers in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of clothing behind China, are struggling as the rising cost of everyday goods and services eats up more of their income.

The minimum salary in Bangladesh’s garment industry is equivalent to roughly $100 a month. The protesting workers have asked for a raise to more than $242 a month, a 140 percent increase, which factory owners have said is unfeasible.

“The current minimum salary is inadequate. It cannot cover one person’s monthly living cost,” Mohammad Helal, a garment worker who protested in the city of Ashulia, north of the capital, Dhaka, said in an interview. Sarcastically, Mr. Helal, 26, offered the government an alternative to a wage increase: It could start paying for electricity, gas and rent costs. Then, he said, “We will not demand the salary increase.”

Mr. Helal said he had been working at a garment factory in Ashulia for nine years and earned under $140 per month. He said he needed the money not only for himself but also to send to his parents, who live 165 miles away in the northwestern region of Rajshahi.

The garment industry in Bangladesh supplies brands like H & M, Zara and Uniqlo and accounts for 80 percent of the country’s total export earnings. It employs over four million people, more than half of them women.

During a protest in Dhaka on Monday, agitating workers blocked highways. The police responded to those protesters forcefully, using batons and water cannons. According to Bangladesh’s home affairs minister, Salahuddin Ahmed, some protesters set fire to police vehicles. The authorities also deployed the Border Guard to quell the protests.

In sporadic clashes, at least one protester died and dozens were wounded, according to the Industrial Police. It was not clear how many people were protesting, but demonstrations were staged in cities including Gazipur and Narayanganj, in addition to Dhaka.

On Thursday, order was starting to return as hundreds of garment factories that had been shut down temporarily were back up and running.

Some workers appeared unwilling to accept the government’s offer without the promise of a specific amount. In Ashulia, a few hundred workers punched their timecards and then returned to the streets, where the police quickly dispersed them, according to Mr. Helal and the officer in charge of the area’s police station, Tariqul Islam.

The raise is to be set by the new six-person wage oversight board, which will take input from representatives of the workers and the garment industry. The board will announce its decision next month, possibly even next week, with the increase going into effect in January, according to the board.