Bangladesh Wage Protests Turn Violent as Workers Reject New Wage Board; 45 Gazipur Factories Shut

Bangladesh's garment industry faced a second straight day of violent unrest on Sunday, as workers demanding a sharply higher minimum wage kept up their protests despite the government forming a new wage board that morning. A police vehicle was set on fire in Dhaka's Mirpur area, several sites were torched in the industrial district of Gazipur, and at least 45 factories there declared a holiday.

The protesters want the monthly minimum wage raised to Tk 30,000 from the current Tk 12,500. The government's move to set up a wage board, which workers say was promised by the end of October, did little to calm the streets.

Clashes in Dhaka

In Mirpur, home to a dense cluster of garment factories in the capital, several hundred workers took to the roads around 9am and brought traffic to a standstill at Mirpur-10, Mirpur-11 and Mirpur-12. Police used tear gas, sound grenades and batons to clear the area, and bricks were thrown from both sides. A police vehicle was set alight near Mirpur-11; fire crews later put out the blaze.

Services were suspended at three metro rail stations in the area after the clashes began around midday. Workers left the main junctions in the early afternoon after a roughly five-hour blockade. A senior Dhaka police official said the wage board had already been formed and there was no longer any reason to block roads, and suggested that outside groups may be trying to exploit the movement. Reports differed on injuries, with police saying no one was hurt in Mirpur and at least one outlet reporting around 15 injured.

Fires and highway blockades in Gazipur

The situation was worse in Gazipur, north of Dhaka. Workers set fire to at least three locations, including a factory warehouse, along the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Kaliakair around noon, and fire engines could not reach the sites because roads were blocked. A police box was also burned in Konabari. Traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail highway remained suspended for much of the day, and workers also blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Gazipur-Chattogram highways near the Bhogra bypass.

Local officials said five platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh paramilitary force had been deployed. In nearby Ashulia, another major garment hub, more than 50 factories were also reported closed.

Why the wage demand is so steep

Workers say rising prices have wiped out the value of their pay. Several protesters told local media that even with overtime, monthly earnings of around Tk 18,000 to Tk 20,000 barely cover rent and food. Unions also want worker representation on the new wage board, and many protesters said they would not return to work on verbal assurances alone.

A Tk 30,000 floor would be well over double the current minimum. Factory owners, who are negotiating with international buyers, are likely to push back hard, arguing that margins are already thin.

What it means beyond Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the world's largest exporters of ready-made garments, and the sector accounts for the bulk of the country's export earnings. Prolonged shutdowns in Gazipur, Ashulia and Mirpur, the industry's main hubs, could delay shipments to European and American retailers during their peak ordering season.

For India, the unrest matters on two fronts. Indian textile and apparel makers compete directly with Bangladesh for the same global buyers, and supply disruptions there have in the past pushed some orders towards Indian suppliers. At the same time, Indian cotton and yarn exporters count Bangladesh as a major customer, so extended factory closures could hurt their order books.

The next test is how quickly the wage board can produce a proposal that workers accept. Until then, the industry faces the risk of more days like this one.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.