#wages

Garment workers in Bangladesh have protested since Saturday, Oct. 31, demanding the monthly minimum wage rise from 12,500 taka to 30,000 taka (about $245), saying food, housing and transport costs have eroded their pay. Hundreds of factories have shut. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, police fired tear gas and used stun grenades in several industrial areas outside Dhaka; dozens were reported injured in Fatullah, and workers blocked a highway in Gazipur, NBC reports.

On Sunday, Nov. 1, the government formed a six-member wage board of government, worker and factory-owner representatives, Al Jazeera reports. Its chairman, Syed Azad Subhani, said workers would get their first pay under a new scale in January; Arab News reports the board agreed on Nov. 4 to start the revised structure from December but has not yet set the size of the increase. More than 100 factories in Ashulia suspended work again on Thursday, police said.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter after China. The sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women, earns more than 80% of export income and supplies brands including H&M, Inditex (Zara's owner) and Walmart.