50,000 Bangladesh garment workers in wage protest (AFP)
"Two people have died and scores have been injured in violent clashes as protests entered a second day and spread to scores of factories at the Ashulia industrial zone 30 kilometres (19 miles) outside Dhaka, police officials said.
"'More than 50,000 workers have joined the protests. They have become violent and hurled stones and rocks at our officers. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters,' Dhaka district police chief Iqbal Bahar said.
"The new clashes came a day after one garment labourer was shot and killed and several injured when around 7,000 workers clashed with police over wage cuts and unpaid salaries. Police officer Rehana Begum said the body of another labourer was recovered from the area Sunday, taking the death toll to two.
"Scores of officers and workers were also injured in the clashes, she added.
"Factories in the South Asian nation have been hit hard by the global economic crisis with several reportedly cutting wages to compete for orders with other producing countries, such as Vietnam, China and India."
Bangladesh textiles unravelled by price war, protests (AFP, July 1, 2009)
"Kamaluddin, 18, has seen his factory salary slashed from 7,000 taka (100 dollars) a month, to around 3,000 taka, although he is still expected to put in the same gruelling hours.
"His shift involves standing all day at his sweater knitting machine—exhausting work that he blames for his deteriorating health, including two recent bouts of hepatitis. 'Before, it was bearable because I was sending 3,000 taka home to my mother each month, now there's barely enough to live on for me, let alone for her,' he said.
"In leaving his home in northern Bangladesh, Kamaluddin had been following in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of rural labourers, lured to Dhaka's clothing factories by the promise of doubling or tripling their wages.
"Bangladesh has a legal minimum wage of around 25 dollars per month. With overtime, a skilled garment worker can earn up to 150 dollars—or rather he could.
"Since early 2008, salaries have been cut by an average of up to 30 percent, according to union leader Tauhidul Islam who said this week's violence had been fuelled by desperation.
"'The workers hit the streets because their backs are up against the wall,' Islam said."
See also anti-caste: IN MASS WILDCAT SRIKES, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS SHUT DOWN GARMENT INDUSTRY (May 23, 2006)
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