Garment workers in Bangladesh, galvanized by a series of deadly accidents and police brutality, are demanding a three-fold increase in their wages:

Workers are demanding an almost threefold increase to their monthly salaries – from the current 3,000 takas ($38) to 8,114 takas ($100). Factory owners recently offered a 20 percent pay rise to employees.

Workers rejected the offer, calling it “inhuman and humiliating.” Employees then resorted to vandalism, blocking major roads, damaging vehicles, hurling stones at factories, and burning furniture taken from nearby buildings.

One worker, Laizu Akhter, also called for the body of a co-worker purported to be missing to be returned to his family, AP reported. “Our major demand from them is to return the dead body. We demand their punishment. Additionally, we demand an increase of our monthly wages,” she said. [AFP]

 Strikers closed over 100 factories. Dozens of strikers were injured in clashes with police. 

[Photo credit: Rajiv Ashrafi, Creative Commons. Shows a Shabag protest in Bangladesh, not a labor protest.]