Bangladesh garment workers protest for salaries
Thousands of garment workers who produce items for top Western fast fashion brands protested against unpaid wages in Bangladesh’s streets, saying they were more afraid of starving than contracting the coronavirus.
Bangladesh’s apparel factories account for some 84% of the country’s US$40bil (RM173bil) export sector, which is facing its worst crisis in decades after retailers, including H&M, Walmart and Tesco, cancelled orders due to the pandemic.
Protesting workers say many factories have not paid them after the orders were cut.
On Monday, workers shouted slogans such as “We want our wages” and “Break the black hands of the owners” as they blocked roads despite a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the virus.
“We are afraid of the coronavirus. We heard a lot of people are dying of this disease,” protesting worker Sajedul Islam, 21, said.
“But we don’t have any choice. We are starving. If we stay at home, we may save ourselves from the virus. But who will save us from starvation?”
The lockdown, which started on March 26, also forced the closure of the vast majority of the country’s garment factories.
“We have not been paid for two months. We are starving,” said another protester, who gave her name as Brishti, from the Tex Apparel factory in Dhaka.
“If we don’t have food in our stomach, what’s the use of observing this lockdown?”
Some 5,500 workers protested on Monday while 20,000 turned out on Sunday, police inspector Islam Hossain said. “Some workers broke doors and glasses of a factory. But they were largely peaceful,” Hossain said. No one was arrested. Bangladesh has announced US$590mil (RM2.5bil) in loans for export-oriented factories to pay workers.
The South Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest garment maker after China.