DHAKA: In a vast Bangladeshi factory hall thrumming with sewing machines, garment workers churn out seemingly endless pairs of mountain hiking trousers for customers in Europe and North America.
Bangladesh’s key clothing manufacturing industry supplying global brands was crippled by a revolution that toppled the government last year, in which garment sector protesters played an important role.
While owners say business has bounced back, frustrated workers say hard-won concessions have done little to change their circumstances, and life remains as hard as ever.
“It is the same kind of exploitation,” said garment worker Khatun, 24, asking that only her first name be used as speaking out would jeopardise her job.
Production in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturer was repeatedly stalled by the months-long violence, before protesters forced long-time autocrat Sheikh Hasina to flee in August.
An interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, took over.
Scores of factories closed and tens of thousands lost their jobs.
But after a five percent wage hike was agreed in September, the industry rebounded.
‘Operating at full swing’
“We are doing well,” said garment producer factory owner S.M. Khaled, who heads the Snowtex company, employing 22,000 workers.
The South Asian nation produces garments for global brands – ranging from France’s Carrefour, Canada’s Tire, Japan’s Uniqlo, Ireland’s Primark, Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara.
The apparel industry accounts for about 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports, earning $36 billion last year, dropping little despite the unrest from the $38 billion exported the previous year.
“I am working with at least 15 international brands, and our products will be available in 50 countries,” Khaled said.
“Almost all garment factories are operating at full swing after waves of unrest. We are on the growth side.”
Despite challenges with a cooling of demand, Anwar Hossain, the government-appointed administrator of BGMEA, said the industry was returning to strength.
“The largest contributor to exports was the apparel sector,” Hossain said.
The garment industry recorded a 13 percent increase from July-December 2024 – the period after the revolution – compared to the same period the year before, he said.
‘Half my basic wage’
Workers tell a different story.
Khatun welcomed the wage rise but said factory managers then hiked already onerous demands for “nearly unachievable production targets”.
Scraping by in the capital Dhaka’s gritty industrial suburb of Ashulia, she earns $140 a month including overtime and benefits to support a family of four.
Most factories are now back in operation, but employees say that at some, conditions are worse than before
The wage increase of $8.25 a month seems a miserly addition.
Opening her fist, she showed a 500-taka note, just over four dollars, all she had left after paying rent and other expenses.
“We have good facilities inside the factory, like toilets, a canteen, and water fountains,” she said. “But we don’t get even a 10-minute break while trying to meet the targets”.
Many factory owners were close to the former ruling party.
