Bangladesh: Thousands of apparel workers protest wage cuts
Thousands of workers were out on the streets of Ashulia, 30 kms from the capital Dhaka, and also torched an apparel manufacturing factory. They were protesting against the wage cuts and inordinate delay in release of their wages.
According to a survey carried out by the Factory Department officials, nearly 122 of the 825 factories surveyed, almost 15 percent did not pay their wages on time in the first five months of the current year.
The global recessionary trends leading to a slowdown in export orders has hit the apparel sector very hard and it also accounts for over 80 percent of the exports from the country, with the difficulties increasing with each passing day.
The sector apart from being a high revenue generator also accounts for almost 40 percent of its industrial workforce and to make matters worse many of the factories have resorted to wage cuts in a bid to survive through the crisis.
Thousands of workers were out on the streets of Ashulia, 30 kms from the capital Dhaka, and also torched an apparel manufacturing factory. They were protesting against the wage cuts and inordinate delay in release of their wages.