Bangladesh Unrest Disrupts 529 Factories, Forces 987,190 Workers to Leave Worksites
Key Facts
Labor unrest disrupted operations at 529 garment factories in Dhaka, Gazipur, Mymensingh and Savar-Ashulia on November 1, and 987,190 workers left their workplaces, according to a report shared by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and cited by The Daily Star. The figures show the disruption spreading across major production hubs, but describe operational disruptions and workers leaving; they do not establish that every factory was officially closed or fully shut down. On the same day, Bangladesh announced the formation of a six-member wage board to review pay for workers in the sector and urged them to return to work. Reuters reported that protests demanding higher wages continued in major industrial areas despite the announcement. The developments put a sector that accounts for a large share of the country’s exports at risk of production disruption if the unrest persists.
The dispute centers on the monthly minimum wage: workers are demanding it be raised to 30,000 taka, from the current minimum of 12,500 taka, according to a Reuters report republished by MarketScreener. Workers said rising food, housing, transport and healthcare costs had eroded their purchasing power. Their demand is more than double the current minimum, making the wage review a direct focus of negotiations between workers, authorities and factory owners. The wage board’s formation is a response to those demands, but the government’s call to return to work did not end protests in industrial areas. In 2023, authorities raised the monthly minimum by 56% to $113 from $75, but some worker groups rejected the increase at the time as insufficient, according to the Associated Press.
The reported unrest did not extend to all of the country’s garment manufacturing hubs. No similar disruption was reported at 197 factories in Narayanganj or 340 factories in Chittagong, according to the BGMEA report covering November 1. By contrast, Reuters said protests on Saturday, October 31, prompted about 30 factories in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, to declare a holiday. Clashes between workers and police left several people injured, including police officers. The agency also reported that police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators, as the number of factories closed because of the protests exceeded 500. The developments reflect a shift from local protests in Ashulia to unrest affecting a larger number of production sites, while a distinction remains between factories that declared a holiday and those whose operations were disrupted or whose workers left.
The crisis matters because of the garment sector’s economic weight in Bangladesh. It employs about 4 million workers and generates more than 80% of the country’s export earnings, according to Reuters. The sector also accounts for about 10% of gross domestic product and is the world’s largest after China, the same report said. The country has about 3,500 garment factories employing about 4 million people, according to BGMEA figures cited by the Associated Press in 2023. The scale of employment and exports ties continued production to the stability of a major source of income and jobs in the country. Worker groups protested a wage increase in 2023, while factory owners said at the time that higher energy and transport prices had raised production costs and that Western brands were offering less for manufacturing, according to the Associated Press.
Workers said they are demanding a "monthly minimum wage of 30,000 taka," against a current minimum of 12,500 taka, according to the Reuters report republished by MarketScreener. At the factories, what was recorded on November 1 was disruption to operations at 529 factories and workers leaving their worksites, not proof of a full official closure at every facility. Reuters said delayed shipments and payments from international buyers were a potential risk if factory and production disruptions continued. Available reports did not say that these delays had already occurred. The wage board, whose formation was announced on November 1, faces a test in addressing wage demands while calling on workers to return, as protests continued in major industrial areas.