Roundup: Scores of factories at Bangladesh's garment hub reopens after labor unrest for pay hike

Hundreds of thousands of workers returned to work Monday morning as scores of factories in a key Bangladesh apparel hub on the outskirts of capital Dhaka reopened after remaining closed for more than a week following labor unrest for pay hike.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Sunday announced to reopen the factories after the organizations of agitating workers requested to reopen the factories.

Amid tight security measures at the mega industrial belt Ashulia on the outskirts of capital Dhaka, which is home to hundreds of factories making clothes for major Western brands, hundreds of thousands workers of the closed factories were seen to join work since Sunday morning.

BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman said, "We've decided to reopen the factories Monday because of the requests from workers' organizations and also because of the prime minister's directive in this connection."

The apex body of Bangladesh's woven garment manufacturers on Dec. 20 decided to keep 55 factories at the mega industrial belt closed for an indefinite period after demonstration by tens of thousands of garment workers.

Demanding higher minimum wage, garment workers staged demonstration and abstained from work for days. Agitating workers were demanding minimum basic wage of 10,000 taka (around 120.5 U.S. dollars) per month.

As the workers returned to work additional security measures have been put in place to thwart any untoward situation.

An Ashulia Police official told Xinhua that workers returned to work peacefully on Monday morning.

"Though there is no security threat but we're on alert to thwart any untoward situation," said the official who did not like to be named.

The last minimum wage was set 5,300 taka (63.8 dollars), raising 77 percent, in 2013 after a Bangladeshi government board recommended the same for the country's some 4 million garment workers, 80 percent of whom are women.

Bangladeshi garment workers' organizations had earlier handed over a memorandum to the government's Minimum Wages Board, demanding 16,000 taka (193 dollars) minimum monthly wage.

Terming the existing 5,300 taka minimum wage inadequate compared with the living cost, Moshrefa Mishu, a leader of workers, said living expenses shot-up multi-fold during the last three years, but wages of the garment workers have not increased.

Sources said the Bangladeshi government is in talks with all the relevant stakeholders including factory owners on a new minimum wage to keep the largest earning sector free from unrest.

Bangladesh set its export target for the whole 2016-17 fiscal year at 37 billion U.S. dollars, including about 30.38 billion U.S. dollars from ready-made garment products. Enditem

(1 U.S. dollars equals about 83 taka)