Bangladesh protests stop after promises of higher wages

Higher wages by the end of November

The wage increase should be there by
the end of November, even though the size of the increase is not certain.
Labour unions demanded more than a doubling of the wages, from the current
minimum wage of 28 euro per month (the
lowest number in the whole world) to at least 75 euro.

A government panel still has to set the exact amount, but the factory owners have agreed to accept
whatever decision is made. “We have promised the labour unions that we would
increase wages, as soon as the
government panel announces the new minimum wage.”

“We will even accept a rise that exceeds 20 %, even though we hope that
the increased wages are a win-win
situation for both the industry and the employees”, Atiqul Islam, head of
the Bengal textile producer association, told AFP.

Fear of decreased competitiveness

The association fears that an increase higher than 20 % would decrease the industry’s competitiveness with other countries
out of the region, like China and Vietnam. However, China has had to increase
wages dramatically over the past few years, without a negative impact to its
competitiveness. It is expected that Bangladesh, worldwide number two for textile,
will be able to handle the changed worker conditions.

The protests have forced the factories to shut down for an entire week and
it is estimated the problems cost the Bengal textile industry some 30 million euro.