Bangladesh: police forcibly breaks up strike

Around 1,600 Bangladeshi garment workers who were on a 10-day hunger strike demanding back pay and a holiday bonus were

in for a rude shock when police armed with batons and firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed their peaceful protest in a garment factory, forcing them to flee. They are now calling for a nationwide strike from tomorrow, 9th August.

"Police fired tear gas and baton charged us, they forced us out of the factory, where we were staging the hunger strike," said Moshrefa Mishu, head of the Tuba Group Sramik Sangram Committee, which represents 15 garment unions. Mishu was later arrested, together with two other leaders.

The workers from five factories of the Tuba Group in Dhaka's Badda district have been on hunger strike since July 28, demanding the payment of salary for three months, overtime and a holiday bonus for Eid al-Fitr, one of the most important holidays in the Muslim-majority country. The Tuba Group made headlines as the owners of Tazreen Fashion, the factory where 112 garment workers perished on 24th November 2012 in Bangladesh’s worst factory fire.

Though Bangladesh's low wages are one reason for the country's quick ascent as the world’s second largest producer of ready-made garments after China, the price paid for it is high: accidents, fires, frequent strikes and unrest and weak, undernourished workers who can't feed themselves and their families with wages below the poverty line are just some of the byproducts of exploitation.

Despite the government raising the minimum wage for garment workers last year by 77 percent to 5,300 taka (68 US dollars), this is still half of what garment workers get paid in other apparel producing countries like Vietnam, China and others. Should there actually be a nationwide strike in Bangladesh's garment industry, the losses for factories and buyers would be must higher than the sum in question (ca. 390,000 euro).