200,000 Bangladeshi Workers Protest Slave Wages, Factories Burn (VIDEO)

[TheDemSocialist]

Over 50,000 garment workers gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh to demand a $100 per month minimum wage (yes, you read that right, they want a minimum wage of $100 a month - ed), according to a September 21 report from WochItGeneralNews. Police and labor leaders proclaimed it the “largest demonstration so far.” Nazma Akkter, the United Garment Workers’ Federation’s founder and president added, “Our backs are against the wall, so we don’t have any alternative unless we raise our voice strongly.” Here is the video:

Two days later, AFP reports the have escalated into violence, as “up to 200,000″ angry Bangladeshi garment workers block roads, set factories on fire, barrage factories with rocks, and clash with police

[h=2]Facts about sweat shops, factories, and Bangladesh garment workers:[/h]

• 3.5 million workers in 4,825 garment factories and produce 80% of Bangladesh’s $27 million in export earnings.
• Most Bangladeshi textile workers earn only 3,000 taka per month ($38.72), only 60% percent of the bare-minimum living wage of 5,000 taka per month ($64.54).
• Workers routinely toil 14-16 hour shifts with less than 5 hours in between for rest.
• Work conditions are hazardous and building codes are virtually non-existent, which is why there are so many worker injuries and factory fires.
• Over the past 23 years, factory fires have caused 400 deaths and several thousand injuries.
• 1,300 workers died in April 2013, when a factory that produced clothes for Walmart collapsed.
• 85% of Bangladesh’s garment workers are women. These women report that sexual harassment is widespread and employers do not provide paid maternity leave.

Read more @: 200,000 Bangladeshi Workers Protest Slave Wages, Factories Burn (VIDEO) -

God bless them all on their struggle for a more humane work place. They deserve it. This is sickening that American companies use this type of slave labor (basically what it is), in such inhuman conditions for petty profits. Just another ****ed up product of the "free market".

 

[Ray410]

Give them all that they want. Get those wages up so high that our jobs come back to the United States where they belong instead of going to America hating foreign scabs.

 

[MaggieD]

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Read more @: 200,000 Bangladeshi Workers Protest Slave Wages, Factories Burn (VIDEO) -

God bless them all on their struggle for a more humane work place. They deserve it. This is sickening that American companies use this type of slave labor (basically what it is), in such inhuman conditions for petty profits. Just another ****ed up product of the "free market".

Yes, God bless them. They sure DO deserve it. It would be a wonderful thing if there was an organization (nonprofit) who rated these countries and so-marked products as "acceptable" for purchase. I, for one, would look for that when shopping. (Bet Nike wouldn't qualify.)

 

[keith]

Subsistence level wages is the first step toward a highly developed Westernized economy. It ain't perty, it is neccesary.

Quoting the link:

•Workers routinely toil 14-16 hour shifts with less than 5 hours in between for rest.

Them stinkin' capitalists have sped up the time it takes the Earth to circle the sun from 24 hours to 19-21 hours just to screw their workers!!

 

[KevinKohler]

So here's the question. What will this affect more, prices for our cheapest products, or profit margins?

 

[ocean515]

[/LIST]
Read more @: 200,000 Bangladeshi Workers Protest Slave Wages, Factories Burn (VIDEO) -

God bless them all on their struggle for a more humane work place. They deserve it. This is sickening that American companies use this type of slave labor (basically what it is), in such inhuman conditions for petty profits. Just another ****ed up product of the "free market".

Perhaps a solution would be to require a label on every garment accurately stating the country of origin. (Maybe that's already in place?)

People shouldn't buy anything produced in countries like this. When the businesses fail, the owners will understand what they need to do.

In the end, a label will pave the way for the consumer to be appropriately blamed for any business done through these horrendous sweatshops.

 

[RDS]

There is one place in USA where workers aren't paid the U.S. minimum wage, and where factory employees are kept against their will in barracks that are surround by barbed wire. Clothing companies like The Gap, Target and J.C. Penny have flocked to these islands. Northern Mariana Islands.