Bangladesh garment factories fire workers after protests, unions say
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters Bangladesh garment factories have fired hundreds of workers since protests in October demanding higher wages, three labour unions representing half a million workers told Reuters this week, while many others are on the run fearing arrest. Clashes during the protests, which ran alongside wider anti-government demonstrations by the opposition ahead of the Jan. […]
One killed in Bangladesh as garment workers clash with police over pay – police
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters One woman was killed as police in Bangladesh used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing protesters as a demonstration by garment workers for more pay turned violent on Wednesday. The latest death was the third since protests erupted in the past week. On Tuesday, the government said that the minimum wage would […]
Global fashion factories in Bangladesh resigned to slimmer margins ahead of wage hike
Dhaka, Bangladesh/New Delhi, IndiaReuters Several clothing factory owners in global fashion manufacturing hub Bangladesh are asking clients that include H&M to help them pay for an almost 60 per cent government-mandated hike in wages, well aware that weaker sales might stymie their efforts. Following a week of deadly clashes between garment industry workers and police […]
Haitian garment workers protest to demand higher wages
Port-au-Prince, HaitiReuters Thousands of Haitian garment workers protested in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand higher wages following weeks of similar demonstrations over pay and working conditions at firms that export to US clothing retailers. For decades, Haiti has promoted itself as a center for clothing manufacturing thanks to low wages and proximity to US markets, […]
Bangladesh factories open as economic worries trump virus
Dhaka, BangladeshAP Bangladesh is suffering through its deadliest surge of the pandemic, but you wouldn’t know it looking at its factories, markets and malls. The South Asian nation home to 165 million people has done away with most virus restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen to enthusiastic crowds following weeks of strict measures put in place […]
Explainer: Can vaccines save Bangladesh’s garment sector?
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Save lives or save livelihoods? Bangladesh, the world’s second largest apparel producer, is hoping it can do both as it begins vaccinating its garment workers who make clothes for major brands like H&M, Inditex and Marks and Spencer. A surge in cases of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant has seen […]
“How is there no money?”: Tunisian garment workers fight for unpaid wages in pandemic’s shadow
LAYLI FOROUDI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on widespread labour abuses in Tunisia’s garment industry…
Brands urged to extend workers’ safety deal, eight years after Rana Plaza disaster
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Labour activists on Thursday urged brands to extend a factory safety deal in Bangladesh ahead of the eighth anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster, in which some 1,100 workers died. The collapse of the eight-storey building near Dhaka – the industry’s deadliest accident – on 24th April, 2013, led some 200 […]
Fashion brands urged to fix “broken industry” with pledge on workers’ pay
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Fashion brands should fix their “broken industry” by ensuring millions of pandemic-hit workers receive their full wages and by guaranteeing severance pay if jobs are cut, a coalition of more than 200 rights groups said on Monday. The #PayYourWorkers campaign said brands and retailers that made a profit in 2020 – like […]
Asian garment makers fashion united front to pressure Western brands
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Manufacturers from the six nations that make most of the world’s clothes have forged a common front to negotiate better terms with Western fashion brands, whose cancelled orders devastated Asian garment workers early in the pandemic. “We want to come together to tackle the common problems we face. This is not […]