To become a Vogue Business Member and receive the Sustainability Edit newsletter, click here.
After months of protests, the heavily politicised minimum wage negotiations in Bangladesh have come to a close, but experts say the aftershocks will be felt across the garment industry for years to come.
The Bangladeshi government has set the new monthly minimum wage at 12,500 taka (about $113) — just over half of the 23,000 taka (about $208) proposed by workers and unions when talks started in April. The trade unions that came together for the negotiations have called off the protests in order to redirect their efforts in the short term to incremental changes within individual factories, but they maintain that the minimum wage is still far below what’s needed to support a family in Bangladesh and a longer-term solution must be found.
The impact of the violent crackdown from the Bangladeshi police and military is still being felt. Throughout the protests, which also began in April and escalated after the increase to 12,500 taka was proposed in November, there have been reports of violence against protestors. This only became worse when, with wage protests taking place simultaneously alongside pre-election rallies, political opposition attempted to co-opt the cause for their own gains. In the election on 7 January — which critics, including the US State Department, say was not free or fair and the UK said was rife with “acts of intimidation and violence” — prime minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term.
Under her rule, the country has been seen as increasingly autocratic, with with mass arrests, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of political opponents and activists.” It’s in this environment that the wage protests grew more violent and more dangerous for workers, and that is not likely to let up now. With garment workers saying the minimum wage is still far from adequate, many expect protests to continue and violence to follow, generating a heightened atmosphere of fear around the wage debate.
Already at least four garment workers have been killed, hundreds more hospitalised or injured, and advocacy group Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) estimates that between 115 to 200 remain in prison (many in dire conditions with no option of bail). Several news outlets have reported 3-4,000 workers being fired for having participated in the protests; WRC says it has yet to verify these claims.
“Many of the workers in jail are sick, the cells are crowded and cold, and they have no access to the outside world,” says Thulsi Narayanasamy, director of international advocacy at the WRC. “The hope is that they will be released now the election is over, but there are no guarantees. The workers are really frightened.” There is also the threat of up to 60,000 further arrests, thanks to a series of First Information Reports (FIRs) filed against workers. (FIRs essentially accuse large groups of unnamed workers of violence, opening the door for future arrests without substantive evidence.) The Bangladeshi government did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the muted response to the crackdown by the many global fashion brands that source from Bangladesh rang alarm bells about what the industry is willing to turn a blind eye to, says Narayanasamy. This still needs to be addressed. “We have seen violence, arrests and terminations, all with the tacit approval of brands because it has been incredibly well documented in the media,” she says.
“We are particularly distressed by the violence that has accompanied these negotiations and protests,” says Nate Herman, SVP of policy at the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA). “We condemn this violence in the strongest terms. We have continued to appeal to the Government of Bangladesh, through its words and actions, including releasing anybody unlawfully detained, to set a tone that facilitates only peaceful discourse as wage and related issues are addressed and resolved.”
Hollow commitments?
Bangladesh is the second-largest exporter of ready-made garments, according to the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), and — not coincidentally, experts say — its wages are among the lowest in the industry. The sector employs 4.4 million people (mostly women) and contributes over 11 per cent of the country’s GDP. Despite inflation and the Bangladeshi taka weakening against the US dollar, the national minimum wage for garment workers has not increased since the last negotiations took place in 2018, when it was set at 8,300 taka (about $95 at the time, or $75 today) per month.
The onus is on suppliers to cover the costs of any wage increase, unless brands are willing to adjust purchasing practices and pay more for their orders.
In September, Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) — an agreement between 19 global brands and Industriall Global Union “in pursuit of living wages” for garment workers — issued a letter in support of increasing the minimum wage. Signatories including PVH, Asos and Inditex recognised “the crucial contribution brands need to make through their purchasing practices and engagement with manufacturers and suppliers in Bangladesh”. Then, in October, members of the Fair Labour Association (FLA) — including Patagonia, Adidas and Hugo Boss — followed suit, with another letter urging the government to support a “successful conclusion” to the minimum wage negotiations, which “incorporates the views of all stakeholders and reflects the economic realities in Bangladesh”.
Both letters asked the government to refrain from punishing protestors, and underscored the importance of collective bargaining and freedom of association in peaceful negotiations. They also referenced commitments to more responsible purchasing practices that enable the payment of living wages.
However, advocates say neither letter explicitly supported the 23,000 taka figure proposed by workers, nor directly committed its brand signatories to absorbing the cost of this increase, which trade unions argued was necessary. This shows where human rights and sustainability actually sit on brands’ priority lists, says Nazma Akter, founder of labour rights NGO Awaj Foundation and president of Bangladeshi union Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation. “A statement is not the solution. There needs to be action, collaboration and direct support.”
According to US-based advocacy organisation Remake, H&M was the only brand that publicly committed to absorbing the cost of increasing the minimum wage to 12,500 taka, and Patagonia was the only one that committed to the higher 23,000 taka figure proposed by workers. “We have communicated to our suppliers that we acknowledge the importance of our purchasing practices as enablers for improved wage levels, better planning and forecasting, and beneficial payment terms,” a spokesperson for H&M told Vogue Business.
“A lot of brands just hid behind industry associations and gave watered-down statements about wanting the process to be equitable, but never actually committed or supported the minimum wage workers wanted,” says Remake founder and CEO Ayesha Barenblat.
Remake says it circulated a letter to brands that source from Bangladesh at the height of the protests, calling for them to support workers and let the government know they would absorb the cost of increased minimum wages. Not one signed. “That is the elephant in the room,” says Barenblat. “That’s why we’re not seeing progress.”
Wages won’t change until power dynamics do
Recent reports suggest that brand-supplier relationships globally are slowly improving. But the wage negotiations in Bangladesh were an opportunity for brands to listen to and support their suppliers — which experts consider best practice as the industry emphasises a just transition — and that opportunity was wasted.
The impact of low wages on workers was well evidenced years before the protests and regularly reiterated. In May 2023, AFWA reported that garment workers were consuming less food than the poverty-level caloriec standard set by Bangladesh’s government. Even in households where both adults worked in the garment industry, wages were not high enough to cover basic expenses, trapping workers in a cycle of debt and poverty.
The narrative that minimum wage jobs are better than no job, and that brands are somehow supporting the Bangladesh economy by paying such inadequate fees for orders, is outdated, says Akter. “Brands are taking the profit, while workers are essentially slaves. Hunger, police brutality, no job security — it’s not sustainable, especially when you also consider gender-based harassment. This needs to be stopped, and workers need to be given dignity.”
Remake is advocating for a multi-year strategy on living wages that applies to the entire South Asia region. “We are seeing similar suppression of freedom of association, stripping away of labour rights and downward pressure on the minimum wage in other countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” says Barenblat.
Industry players are pushing for the minimum wage reviews — which normally happen every five years — to become annual. “Instead of the current five-year revision of minimum wages in Bangladesh, we advocate for a yearly revision of the minimum wages to better follow the economic development in the country,” the H&M spokesperson said. The AAFA reiterated this demand for annual increases.
All roads lead back to commercial practices. “We walked into last year with brands and retailers centring cost-cutting measures. What that looks like on the factory floor is pushback on FOB (free on board) price, delayed payments and retroactive discounts,” continues Barenblat. “The way the industry is structured and how products are sourced from this region results in these rock-bottom-poverty wages and unsafe conditions. Until we tackle commercial practices, we will get nowhere.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
