DHAKA: Hundreds of Bangladeshi garment workers rallied on Sunday, demanding fair wages after dismissing a pay offer as too small, as the death toll from the violent protests rose to four.

Jalaluddin, 42, a garment worker who was injured in clashes with officers earlier this month in Gazipur, north of the capital Dhaka, died from his injuries. His death takes the number killed in the protests to four, according to police officials.

“He died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He was injured during a protest several days ago,” said police inspector Bacchu Mia. Jalal’s brother-in-law Rezaul Karim told reporters he had been shot in the stomach by a shotgun, and had been brought to Dhaka for treatment.

Police said over 10,000 workers left their shifts when at least nine factories were shut down for the day in Dhaka’s northern Mirpur neighbourhood on Sunday morning. “Some 500 of these workers tried to block a road as part of the minimum wage protests. There was no violence,” police inspector Masud Sarker insisted.

Many go into hiding amid police crackdown on protesters

Unions have accused the government of launching a crackdown against protesters and of targeting grass-roots organisers.

Amirul Haque Amin, the leader of the National Garment Workers Federation, said many protesters have gone into hiding.

At least 122 people, including several organisers, have been arrested in Gazipur since the protests began, the town’s police spokesman Ibrahim Khan said.

Police have filed cases against 11,000 unidentified people over the attacks on factories including Tusuka, one of the largest plants based in Gazipur.

Bangladesh has been rocked by the worst labour unrest in a decade with tens of thousands of workers clashing with police, demanding a near-tripling of the minimum wage to 23,000 taka ($208). Scores of factories have been damaged.

Around 3,500 garment factories in the country 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, until recently, started at 8,300 taka ($75).

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2023