The ready-made garments industry in Bangladesh has never fallen short of expectations when it came to

producing headlines. The industry has demanded attention from newspapers for a long time now,
something that tags along with the fame of being the leading foreign currency earner in exports. The
investments in the sector have increased over the years. The import regulations of raw materials have
been modified so as to provide the business owners with as much advantages as possible. Thus it
doesn’t come as much of a surprise that more and more garments factories have sprung up to
contribute to that foreign revenue pie. Every now and then, publicized round table meetings are held
where business gurus have regurgitated over how the industry can reach new heights and give
competitors like China a run for their money. All in all, it would be safe to say that the garments industry
–along with textile and knitwear industry—has been lauded and indulged for all the good reasons. That
is to say until recently. In recent past, newspaper headlines have frequently sported news of violent riots
by garments’ workers that have resulted in loss of lives and huge damage to private and public property.
This article is aiming to outline some of these explosive riots that have occurred in the year 2009 and
2010 by referencing online news editions.

Mayhem in Ashulia

In late June, a workers’ demonstration over pay and firing of some workers in the suburb of Ashulia led
to police shooting and two garments workers were killed in the process. What followed was a three day
long rampage in Ashulia and Savar. Reportedly, the unrest all started from a factory called S. Suhi
Industrial Park in Ashulia. Most of the workers in the factory were laid off early in February and the
company was sold to a new owner who kept only one manufacturing unit running while five others were
closed down. The fired workers have long since been agitated to return to their workplace at a higher
wage. Allegedly, the workers of the closed units along with other ill-paid workers of some nearby
factories started a movement to reopen the units and raise salary of workers. The demonstration
gathered force and soon law enforcers were involved who tried to quell the aggression by a harsh hand
followed by a shooting spree and eventually, the death of two workers.

Thousands of workers gathered on the morning of 29 th June at 10am and a group of volatile protesters
set off towards the nearby Dhaka Export Processing Zone where many garment factories are located.
Police blocked their way amid tear gases and rubber bullets which left around 100 workers injured. But
soon the situation went out of control as more and more workers gathered till there were as many as
fifty thousand protesters on the streets, including non garment workers and local slum dwellers. The law
enforcers watched helplessly as the rioters sprinkled buildings with petrol and set fire to factories,
machineries, garments, buses and pickup vans. A factory named Hamim Group factory complex was
attacked with much venom as the workers there refused to take part in the protest and had continued
with their operations. 400 policemen were stationed in front of major factories but in vain, they were
overwhelmed.

The demonstrators ran riot for three hours at a stretch, leaving the area strewn with glasses and
furniture shattered to pieces. The stone-throwing rioters damaged factories and shops on either side of
the Ashulia-Bypile road and smashed vehicles on the roads. As many as 50 factories and over 20 vehicles
were vandalized. Vehicular movement on Ashulia-Bypile and Nabinagar-Tangail roads halted with the
demonstrators putting up barricades. The fire services were unable to reach the blaze for several hours
until 3.30pm. Traffic remained suspended and educational institutions, offices and businesses were
closed down for over eight hours. Firefighters reached the scene after around two and a half hours. By
that time, all that was left was ashes. Columns of thick black smoke were seen from a distance. 16 units
of Fire service from Savar, EPZ, Tongi and headquarters worked for hours to douse the flames of the
massacre.

Source: http://libcom.org/library/tailoring-needs-garment-worker-struggles-bangladesh

http://www.textiletoday.com.bd/magazine/july2009/local_news.htm#top

Tangi erupts in November

The massive riot in Ashulia was followed by a similar rampage in Tangi within a few months time. Not
unlike the riot in Ashulia, this too was a case of an undesired event blowing out of proportions. On 31 st
October, when several hundred workers turned up at the gates of the Nippon Garment Factory at
Ershad Nagar to work and receive wage arrears owed them, they found police blocking the entrance.
They learned that the factory was shut down and would remain so till 29 th November. ‘Global recession’
and ‘some unwanted incidents’ were cited as reasons. The notice also asked workers to collect their
overdue wages from the factory office on 10 th November, though the arrears were 3 months late and
workers had been promised payment that very day.

Enraged beyond belief, the workers tried to force their way into the factory leading to scuffles and
eventually, baton charges by police who had been called in earlier on the spot by the factory managers.
Gradually more workers and locals joined the protest and the crowd grew to a several thousand people.
The main Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway was blocked amid tremendous sufferings of passengers en route.
The road remained blocked for the next 5 hours. A bus was set ablaze along with several other vehicles.
Fighting intensified as hundreds of police and para-military law enforcement personnel poured into the
area. Police began firing gunshots and teargas shells while workers responded with bricks and
barricades. Three people were killed in the shooting spree while hundred others were injured. There
were policemen among the wounded as well. Sporadic clashes continued till the afternoon as the news
of death got spread. The aftermath of the riot was the usual blame game.T he police claimed that
‘outsiders’ were involved in the riot while the workers accused the police of indiscriminate firing and
causing damage to neighboring households and shops. Police filed a case against 2,000 to 3,000
unidentified people along with eight others who were detained on the day of the clash.

Later, a leaked intelligence report revealed that this anarchy could have been avoided if the intelligence
report –submitted one week before the chaos—was heeded. The report had warned that an eruption
from workers was imminent as a number of factories laid off workers without paying their due wages.
The recommendations were facilitating reopening of the factories, reinstating the workers who were
fired and ensuring payment of wages from BGMEA funds.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=112302

http://libcom.org/news/3-dead-garment-workers-clashes-unions-promised-new-role-04112009

The rage over the wage

It all started on 29th July 2010 when the garments’ industry’s minimum wage was set by the government
at Tk3000, the minimum entry level salary. However, signs of discontent raised their ugly heads well
before the wage announcement. There were sporadic protests in different areas within a short space of
time that preceded the announcement. On June 21 and 22, tens of thousands of garment workers
battled with the police for several hours after barricading the Dhaka-Tangail highway with trees and
burning tyres. Angry workers ransacked factories and damaged vehicles to mark their protest against
low wages and poor working conditions.

In the first week of July, protests swelled in Ashulia when workers were locked out at three garments’
factories after agitating for a wage increase. Violence ensued, even more so when they were confronted
by the police. The protesters threw stones at the police as the law enforcers charged forward with
batons, tear gas and rubber bullets. As many as twenty thousand protesters gathered force and blocked
the Rokeya highway --a key road junction-- for over four hours, amid continued protests against low
wages and appalling conditions. Scores were injured in the chaos.

The minimum wage of Tk 3000 fell grossly short of the workers’ expectations who had demanded a
minimum wage of Tk 5000. Out of the proposed Tk 3000, Tk 2,000 was basic pay, Tk 800 was house rent
and Tk 200 was medical allowance. The apprentice level wage was fixed at Tk 2,500, up from the present
Tk 1,200. The wages were fixed by tripartite negotiations between government, the employers’
federation BGMEA and a minority of claimed labor representatives. These labor representatives must
have known very little, if any, about the expectations and demands of the workers as a whole. The
violence that followed was sharp proof.

The day after the minimum wage was announced, thousands of workers streamed onto the streets of
Gulshan, Banani, Kakali, Mahakhali and Tejgaon. They began blockading the main highways with burning
tyres. Police responded with teargas, truncheon charges and water cannons. But they were heavily
outnumbered and gradually the protests spread outwards. The workers not only attacked garment
factories but other businesses as well. The wealthy Gulshan Avenue neighbourhood - close to the
diplomatic zone and embassy area of Baridhara - was invaded by around 5,000 workers who smashed up
offices, banks and high-end shops. Media and TV offices were also attacked.

The chaotic scenes repeated themselves at various other garment factory zones throughout the week.
At Tejgaon Industrial Area, protesters broke into a dyeing factory. Massive piles of fabrics were dragged
into the road and burnt to ashes. At least 20 people, including five cops, were injured in the clashes.
Massive numbers of armed police and the para-military Rapid Action Battalion occupied the garment
areas; but even when prevented from taking to the streets, workers stopped working in the factories.

[Source: http://libcom.org/library/tailoring-needs-garment-worker-struggles-bangladesh
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/bngl-j05.shtml

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/31/bangladeshi-garment-workers-riot/]

The rampage resumes

The rage over the wage resurfaced in the last month of the year with renewed force. There were claims
that many manufacturers have not yet raised salaries set by the government despite government
warnings, and that some experienced workers had been demoted to deny them higher wages.

The south eastern part of port city Chittagong blazed with fury as 20,000 workers attacked factories and
a police station at the Chittagong Export Processing Zone. One target of discontent was the South
Korean-owned Youngone factories in Chittagong. Earlier in the week, workers had walked out,
demanding the reinstatement of a lunch allowance that had been withdrawn when the new wage
scheme was implemented. When employees reported for work on Sunday, they found the 11 Youngone
factories shut down. Furious workers gathered support from nearby factories and vented their anger
through havoc. The protesters damaged scores of vehicles and attacked the police with bricks and
stones. The police responded by opening fire with live bullets as situation went out of control. Three
people were killed and at least 150 others were injured.

Dhaka had its fair share of pandemonium as well. About 100 workers were injured in clashes with police
at Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in Dhaka and Narayanganj. At least 65 workers were arrested. Around
4,000 workers –most of who were female-- torched two vehicles and blocked a main road in protest
against factory owners. About 5,000 garment workers staged a sit-in at the northern manufacturing
district of Gazipur, while another 5,000 stopped work at a factory inside the Ashulia export zone, some
40 kilometres northwest of Dhaka. At Rupganj, 30 kilometers northeast of the capital, 5,000 workers
attacked a German joint-venture garment factory.

While these sporadic clashes continued to spark violence in industrial areas of the country, a tragic
factory fire at the Ha-Meem Group factory in the Ashulia industrial area, reinforced the claims of
garments’ workers regarding appalling working conditions. The fire started in the ninth-floor at around
lunchtime and spread quickly to the top floor dining hall. Workers were forced to jump from ninth-floor
of the 10-storey factory because the management had locked the exits. At least twenty five workers
were killed with more than a hundred injured.

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?
edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=122445#axzz1CpxRU2lC

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/906654--25-killed-in-bangladeshi-garment-factory-fire

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/lead-d15.shtml
Garments account for almost 80 percent of country’s exports. Between July and November 2010,
Garments export earnings increased by 36 percent to reach $6.4 billion. Experts cite cheap labor as the
major strength of Bangladesh garments industry, allowing it to compete with the likes of China for US
and European markets. However, in the last few years, the garments industry has paid the price for its
exploitations of cheap labor over the years. Recurring clashes and protests have reduced credibility of
Bangladeshi factories and the goodwill of the industry has been tainted abroad. If solutions are not
found soon enough, Bangladesh runs the grave risk of losing its export market to its competitors.
Whether the concerned bodies are able to tackle the problem is yet to be seen.