Workers for Fast Fashion Brands Fear Starvation as They Fight for Higher Wages

Garment workers in Bangladesh making clothes for UK brands say plans to increase their pay to £92 a month is not enough to survive

Garment workers making clothes in Bangladesh for UK high-street brands say they are facing starvation and are having to steal and scavenge food from fields and bins to feed their children, as protests continue over a new minimum wage for the garment workforce of 4 million people.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of workers have taken to the streets in increasingly violent protests that, according to unions and news reports, have left one young garment worker, Rasel Hawlader, dead.

Garment workers taking part in protests in Dhaka told the Guardian that anything less than 23,000 taka a month would condemn their families to starvation.

“The leggings I make retail for more than my entire month’s salary,” said one garment worker with young children who did not want to be named. “To us, it is clear that there are huge profits being made on our backs. Even the 23,000 taka we are asking for wouldn’t be enough, but it would offer some kind of relief. Why should my children go hungry?”

Another garment worker, Rojina Akter, said her wages did not cover even basic food costs, and that she felt desperate as costs keep rising.

“I despise every moment at the factory because of the harsh conditions and harassment, but with rising inflation the wage I earn is insufficient. Many times, I’ve had to sneak into fields on my way home from work to hunt for vegetables to feed my children. Starvation is next,” she said.