Daily Times

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has rejected any further pay hikes for protesting garment workers demanding a nearly tripled wage increase, after violent clashes with police and factories were ransacked.

Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports, supplying many of the world’s top brands including Levi’s, Zara and H&M.

But conditions are dire for many of the sector’s four million workers, the vast majority of whom are women whose monthly pay starts at 8,300 taka.

A government-appointed panel raised wages on Tuesday by 56.25 percent to 12,500 taka ($113) for the South Asian nation’s garment factory workers, who were demanding a 23,000 taka minimum wage in all plants.

“I would say to the garment workers: they have to work with whatever their salary is increased, they should continue their work,” Hasina told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party late Thursday.

The protests have left at least three workers dead and more than 70 factories ransacked since last week, according to police.