Bangladesh textile workers run riots over wage payment delay
Thousands of textile workers in Bangladesh have clashed with police for a third consecutive day in a protest over pay and conditions.The workers were also protesting two colleagues' deaths blamed on police firing over the weekend at a similar demonstration on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka.
Egytex News Desk
Source: News Agencies
The textile industry in Bangladesh employs more than two million people. Bangladesh has more than 4,000 factories and ready-made garments account for most of the country's export earnings. The minimum wage in Bangladesh is less than $25 (£15) per month. Bangladesh earned $11 billion from textile exports last year, more than 75 percent of the impoverished country's total export income and equivalent to 17 percent of the country's GDP of around $65 billion.
"The situation is now under control," a police official said after police fired ruber bullets and teargas to disperse the workers. At least 30 people were injured in the clashes.
Police said that hundreds of workers attacked factories and blocked roads in a garment zone on the outskirts of Dhaka over the weekend. A government survey released on Sunday reported 122 out of 825 factories had not paid workers on time between January and May. Exporters have ruled out any wage rise because of declining overseas sales.
Source: News Agencies
From the Egytex news archive, first published on 30 June 2009. Figures and names are as reported at the time.
