Garment workers take to streets for third day in Dhaka, demand minimum wage hike

Garment workers have begun a third consecutive day of protests in Dhaka to call for an increase in the minimum wage and a set of other demands.

Garment workers began to gather at the Uttarkhan and Dakhinkhan areas after 9:00 am on Tuesday and headed toward the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, said Airport Zone Assistant Police Commissioner Md Mizanur Rahman.

“They are trying to get the other garment workers to take to the streets. If they refused they would vandalise the factories. We have received reports of attacks on the Nipa and APS Garments factories in Dakhinkhan.”

Police are on the alert and are attempting to keep peace, said Mizanur Rahman.

Police used teargas shells to disperse the garment workers when they attempted to occupy the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in Uttara’s Abdullahpur at around 11:45 am.

Garment workers in Mirpur’s Kalshi area have occupied the road and are engaging in confrontations with police.

Police Kafrul Zone Assistant Commissioner Syed Mamun Mostafa said the demonstration in front of a 22-storey garment factory had blocked one side of the road in Kalshi.

Garments workers are also protesting on the streets in Rokeya Sharani and the Pallabi area, causing traffic congestion.

Garment workers have been protesting since Sunday to demand the government implement the new wage structure it has declared for the sector, including the minimum wage, bdnews24.com reported.

They claim that garment owners are not paying them according to the new wage structure and that they have instead become the victims of various forms of injustice.

The protest caused a five-hour traffic stoppage from Airport Road to Uttara’s Azampur on Sunday. The garment workers also protested on the thoroughfare for another five hours on Monday. They also set fire to an Ena Paribahan bus near the airport.