Bangladesh raises month-to-month minimal wages for garment staff after protests

The final minimal wage enhance was introduced in 2018.

Staff say they at present have to work additional time to make ends meet.

Kalpona Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Staff’ Federation, stated they had been “extraordinarily pissed off” by what she described as a small enhance.

Akter stated that staff are struggling as a result of excessive costs of day by day items.

“That is very disappointing. We can’t settle for this,” she stated.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel-producing nation after China, with practically 3,500 factories using about 4 million staff, most of them girls, in accordance with the Producers’ Affiliation.

She says that manufacturing unit homeowners are below strain as a result of worldwide manufacturers in Western international locations supply fewer merchandise than earlier than.

The homeowners argue that manufacturing prices have additionally elevated because of increased vitality costs and transportation prices.

Bangladesh earns about $55 billion yearly from exports of clothes merchandise, particularly to the US and Europe. The nation is exploring new markets comparable to Japan, China and India.