Bangladeshi garment workers protest for fifth day demanding wage increase

As garment workers in Bangladesh, the world's second-largest garment exporter, continued to protest for a fifth day demanding a wage increase, the Wage Adjustment Committee, comprised of representatives of labor, management and government, announced that it had agreed on an increase.

However, specific details such as the amount of the increase were not known.

According to the AFP news agency on the 5th, garment workers who began their protest on the 31st of last month continued their protest in the capital Dhaka and surrounding areas on the fifth day the previous day.

Among the tens of thousands of protesting workers, some showed violent behavior, such as throwing bricks at police and setting police cars on fire.

As a result, police attempted to disperse the crowd by using tear gas, which led to clashes.

It is reported that dozens of workers were injured in the process and some were arrested by the police.

Workers are demanding that the current monthly minimum wage of 12,500 taka (about 130,000 won) be raised to 30,000 taka (about 320,000 won), saying that rising prices have eroded their purchasing power.

Currently, the inflation rate in Bangladesh is around 8%.

On the second day of the protest, the Wage Adjustment Committee, which consists of six people, including two representatives from labor and management, one government representative, and one neutral person, only announced the afternoon before that they would receive increased salaries from January of next year.

A representative of the employers' side of the Wage Adjustment Committee said, "We (the committee) will complete our work by next month so that workers can receive increased salaries from January of next year."

Although the protests seemed to slow down after the announcement of the Wage Adjustment Commission, it is currently unclear whether they will stop completely.

Syed Ahmed, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS), advised that the government should take immediate steps to inform workers about the progress of the Wage Adjustment Committee negotiations.

“The government could form a tripartite body comprised of the government, garment factory owners and worker representatives as a measure to inform workers of the Wage Adjustment Commission’s future consultation process,” Ahmed said. “Only in this way will the protests be managed.”

In Bangladesh, the second largest clothing exporter after China, about 4 million workers work in 4,000 factories, most of whom are women.

Bangladesh earns approximately $39 billion (approximately 52.2 trillion won) annually by exporting clothing products mainly to European and American markets.