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Bangladesh garment protests spread after deaths
AFP - Tuesday, December 14
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DHAKA (AFP) - – Thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh who stitch clothes for leading Western brands downed tools, blocked roads and barricaded factories on Monday as demonstrations against low wages spread.
About 5,000 workers staged a sit-in at the northern manufacturing district of Gazipur, police said, while another 5,000 stopped work at a factory inside the Ashulia export zone, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Dhaka.
The workers, four of whom died on Sunday after police opened fire with live ammunition, are demanding the implementation of a hike in the minimum wage, approved by the government and industry in July.
Bangladesh's 4,500 garment factories, which produce clothes for retailers such as Wal-Mart, H&M and Levi Strauss, are now meant to pay workers at least 3,000 taka (43 dollars) a month -- up 80 percent on the 2006 minimum wage.
"They have blocked the main highway linking Dhaka to the north of the country," Khandaker Shafiqul Alam, police inspector at Gazipur, told AFP.
"The protests are led by senior workers who are frustrated that they have lost out under the new wage scheme," he said, referring to the minimum wage plan which was meant to come into force in December.
On Sunday, four people were killed in the southeastern port town of Chittagong, where police fired live bullets and used tear gas to control riots. Dozens of people were also injured at protests in the capital Dhaka.
Authorities at the Chittagong Export Processing Zone have ordered a probe into Sunday's violence and said the pay structure would be reviewed.
"We are patrolling the streets in and around the export zone to maintain calm," Kusun Dewan, deputy police commissioner in Chittagong, told AFP.
Some factories reopened in Chittagong Monday after police stepped up security. Korean manufacturer Youngone, which has been worst affected by the violence, kept all but one of its 17 factories shut.
The company, which has a turnover of 1.2 billion dollars and is Bangladesh's largest exporter, said total damage during the violence would be around 15 million dollars, adding that dozens of its managers were beaten up by workers.
"We urged the government to ensure proper security so that we can run factories smoothly. Lawlessness sends a negative signal to buyers and there will be no export orders," Youngone director Shikdar Meshbahuddin Ahmed said.
A total of 30 people have been arrested in Chittagong and criminal cases have been lodged against a further 3,000 over involvement in the violence.
The government has warned manufacturers of tough action if they fail to implement the increased wages.
Garments accounted for 80 percent of the country's 16.2 billion dollars of annual exports last year. Bangladesh's factories employ more than three million workers, about 85 percent of them women.
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