Emeute ouvrière à Gazipur গাজীপুর জেলা (Dhaka) – juillet 2010

Labour unrest in Gazipur RMG: 10 hurt

thefinancialexpress-bd.com

20 07 2010

Workers of a sweater factory went on rampage to press their demands, leaving about 10 people injured at Lobipura in Gazipur Tuesday. Workers of Advance Sweater Factory in the morning observed work stoppage to press their several demands, including payment of arrears and wage increasing. When resisted by the pro-management staff, the workers ransacked valuables of the factory and beat up some staff. The workers then tried to take position on Dhaka-Gazipur road, but they retreated in the face of obstruction by police. Mamunur Rashid, AGM of the factory, said the workers ransacked valuables and beat up 8/10 people. Mahbubul Kabir, owner of the factory, said the factory was declared closed for the day at 10:30am. — UNB

Low-paying B’desh moves in on China

New York Times

Jul 18, 2010

GAZIPUR (Bangladesh) The eight-lane highway leading from the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, narrows repeatedly as it approaches this town about 30 miles north, eventually depositing cars onto a muddy, potholed lane bordered by mangroves and small shops.

But this is no mere rural backwater. It is the sort of place to which foreign manufacturers may increasingly turn, if the rising wage demands of factory workers in China prompt companies to seek new pools of cheap labor elsewhere.

Already, in factories behind steel gates and tall concrete walls, tens of thousands of workers, most of them women, spend their days stitching T-shirts, pants and sweaters for Wal-Mart, H&M, Zara and other Western retailers and brands.

One of the Bangladeshi companies here, the DBL Group, employs 9,000 people making T-shirts and other knitwear. Business has been so good that the company is finishing a new 10-story building with open floors the size of soccer fields, planted with row after row of sewing machines.

“Our family needed the money, so we came here,” said Maasuda Akthar, a 21-year-old sewing machine operator for DBL. As costs have risen in China, long the world’s shop floor, it is slowly losing work to countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia — at least for cheaper, labour-intensive goods. While workers in Bangladesh and other developing countries are demanding higher pay, too — leading to a clash between police and protesters earlier this week in a garment hub outside Dhaka — they still earn much less than Chinese factory workers.

Bangladesh, for instance, has the lowest garment wages in the world, according to labor rights advocates. Akthar, who is relatively well paid by local standards, earns about $64 a month. That compares to minimum wages in China’s coastal industrial provinces ranging from $117 to $147 a month.

Informations

Gazipur District (Bengali: গাজীপুর জেলা) is a district of Dhaka Division, it has an area of 1741.53 km² and is bounded by Mymensingh and Kishoreganj districts on the north, Dhaka, Narayanganj and Narsingdi districts on the south, Narsingdi on the east, Dhaka and Tangail districts on the west.