Who will answer for Rasel’s death?

We are enraged at the way police have been behaving over the past couple of days to disperse protesting garment workers who have been demonstrating for a minimum wage of about Tk 23,000 across the country. A number of clashes occurred between RMG workers and law enforcers in the past few days. On October 30, the situation took a more dangerous turn as police shot a garment worker dead in Gazipur. In a separate incident, another died after a factory was burned. Even today, there have been violent clashes during protests.

Reportedly, deceased Rasel Hawlader was an electrician at a local garment factory. As the factory was closed that day due to demonstrations, he was returning to his dorm with one of his colleagues. He already had pellet injuries in his right arm from the rubber bullets shot by police to disperse protesters. But police still caught him and shot him in the chest. We must ask: is this how the industrial police supposed to act? Who gave them the power or direction to shoot protesters in the first place?

That said, we do not condone the vandalism perpetrated by some of the agitating workers. Apart from that, their week-long protests have been largely nonviolent. Anyone living in the country knows very well how the millions of garment workers are passing their days in financial hardship during this time of high inflation. It is only logical to demand a wage that meets their requirements and makes their life somewhat bearable.

Under the current economic circumstances, can our garment workers survive with a minimum wage of Tk 10,400, which has been proposed by the owners' representatives at the wage board? How could they come up with such a proposal in the first place? The workers' representatives' proposal – for Tk 20,393 – is more realistic and in line with the needs of workers. The question is, why do our RMG workers get such low wages compared to their counterparts in other sectors, especially when they are bringing a major bulk of our foreign exchange?

We think it would be wise for them to listen to the workers' representatives, declare a minimum wage that is acceptable to all workers, and address their concerns that are driving ongoing protests without any further delay.