Workers' Rights

President Erdogan announces an investigation after a crane collapsed into a furnace, triggering the blast near Izmir.

An explosion at a steel plant in western Turkiye has killed at least 16 people and injured 13 others.

The blast happened at 11:46am local time (08:46 GMT) on Monday at the HABAS factory in Aliaga, about 60km (37 miles) north of Izmir, which sits on the Aegean Sea in western Turkiye.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced an investigation and reported that two of the wounded were in serious condition.

Izmir’s governor said the explosion was caused by an overhead crane falling into a large industrial furnace while the boiler was being replaced.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay said that the full number of dead and injured would only become clear once the rubble had been cleared.

Deniz Ulker, an eyewitness, said the explosion felt like an “earthquake”.

“When I looked at the factory across the street, thick black smoke was coming out. A fire broke out where the chimney was,” he said.

Workers’ groups say there is a long record of safety issues at the factory.

The Izmir chapter of Turkiye’s Labour Party, a small Marxist group, said it was “the third fatal incident” at the factory in three weeks.

Writing on X, it warned that seven employees had died in accidents at the plant in the past 10 years and said that maintenance requirements and safety standards were not being met.

The European Union and Azerbaijan were among those to send condolences.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Laili Begum can no longer afford to keep her two children in school. There are days when the 37-year-old garment worker struggles to put even one proper meal on the table.

An experienced sewing operator at Virtual Bottoms Limited, a ready-made garments factory near Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, Begum earns around 15,000 taka ($121) a month, which sometimes rises to 18,000–20,000 taka ($145–$161) when she works overtime.

Her 15-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son dropped out of school earlier this year because she could not afford their education.

“We can barely afford one proper meal a day. This morning, we had only puffed rice and Bombay mix [a snack]. There was nothing for lunch. We’ve been going hungry, hoping to have a proper meal tonight. Yesterday was the same. This is how we survive now,” she told Al Jazeera.

“My son is so thin that you can count every rib in his chest. What else can I do?”

Begum is among approximately four million garment factory workers in Bangladesh, half of them women. They are now protesting for better wages.

Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China, is a key supplier to global fashion brands such as H&M, Zara, Levi Strauss, Walmart, and Primark. The country’s ready-made garment sector accounts for more ⁠than 80 percent of its export earnings, which touched $39bn last financial year.

Yet, the people sewing those clothes say their pay no longer covers basic living costs.

‘Government only makes promises’

A Muslim-majority South Asian nation of 170 million people, Bangladesh has one of the world’s lowest wages among apparel-producing countries.

Cambodia has a minimum wage of $210 a month for garment workers, Vietnam’s range from $140-$210, while wages at China’s manufacturing hub of Guangdong range between $286 and $378.

That disparity – worsened by rising inflation and the growing cost of living – pushed the workers to strike and hit the streets on Saturday to demand a minimum wage of 30,000 taka ($241), more than double the current wage of 12,500 taka ($102).

On Sunday, Begum joined one such protest in the Jamgora part of the Ashulia industrial area on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, with the police firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters, and arresting dozens of them.

The ⁠Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said the demonstrations disrupted operations at 529 factories on Sunday and affected nearly a million workers.

Later that day, the government announced the formation of a six-member wage board to review the workers’ demands.

But that did not stop the garment workers from returning to the streets for a third straight day on Monday.

In northern Dhaka’s Gazipur area, the workers blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway, and vandalised and torched several vehicles, while clashes with police were reported from the neighbouring Mirpur district.

“The government only makes promises,” Begum told Al Jazeera. “They haven’t told us when wages will increase and by how much.”

Inflation eating into wages

Rasel Khan, a 30-year-old garment worker at Ashulia, told Al Jazeera his monthly earnings of 18,000–20,000 taka ($145–$161), including overtime, were no longer enough to support his family, which included his mother and younger brother besides his wife and child.

As living costs soar, he has accumulated a debt of about 100,000 taka ($805) to meet his needs. “It’s impossible to support a family on this income anymore. Prices keep rising, and we have to borrow money just to survive,” he said.

The last revision of the minimum wage in the garment sector took place in December 2023. Since then, prices have continued to climb. Official data put annual inflation at 8.34 percent in September, including 7.22 percent for food and 9.30 percent for non-food expenses.

Begum says she pays 3,500 taka ($28) as rent for a single room shared with her mother and children. Her father, living in their village in the central district of Sirajganj, also depends on her income.

She says she is burning discarded paper and other materials to cook because she is not able to afford a gas cylinder that costs about 2,200 taka ($18).

Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office, said persistent inflation over the past five years has sharply eroded the purchasing power of low-paid workers.

“When real income falls, they have to cut their daily living standards,” he told Al Jazeera. “They don’t have any surplus income.”

Hussain said a recent hike in the salary of government employees has had a “demonstration effect” among private-sector workers waiting for a similar relief.

The government’s announcement of a wage board follows an amendment to labour laws to reduce the wage review cycle from five years to three years. The current three-year period ends in December.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman convened an emergency meeting of top government officials on Sunday, while Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed met the garment factory owners on Monday, assuring them that a new minimum wage would be fixed through negotiations.

Labour Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury meanwhile urged the workers to resume work, saying the wage board would begin its deliberations shortly.

But Babul Akhter, a workers’ representative on the board, called for the new wages to take effect with January 2027 salaries. He also asked the demonstrators to return to work and demanded the release of arrested workers and withdrawal of cases against them.

‘Western brands hold lion’s share’

The impending wage negotiations come at a challenging time for Bangladesh’s garment industry, as manufacturers balance workers’ demands for better wages with rising production costs and intensifying global competition.

Sheikh Hossain Muhammad Mustafiz, an official at Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and managing director of Cute Dress Industry Ltd, told Al Jazeera that fair wages and employment security must go hand in hand with their ability to compete in the international market.

“Workers deserve wages that support a decent standard of living. However, without fair purchasing prices from international brands, significant wage increases could put pressure on factories and threaten employment,” he said.

Mustafiz emphasised that protecting the workers’ purchasing power amid rising inflation is a responsibility that global brands that buy Bangladeshi garments must share.

“Sustainable wage growth cannot be achieved by manufacturers alone,” he said. “International brands must contribute through fair pricing and responsible purchasing practices to protect both the workers’ livelihoods and the industry’s long-term sustainability.”

Taqbir Huda, a Tech Global Institute senior fellow at the University of Oxford, accused the western brands who buy Bangladeshi garments of not addressing the issue of the workers’ rights.

“One party that could change the situation overnight has held the most extractive and exploitative role: the western buyer brands who hold the lion’s share of the value that is generated by the clothes that these workers produce,” he told Al Jazeera.

Huda said the wage board, which was due this year, was announced only after the workers began their protest.

“History gives very little reason for the workers to believe anything will improve unless they protest,” he said, adding that the formation of the wage board does not meet their demands unless it addresses rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

For Begum, a drawn-out process to decide the new wages means another month of struggle to feed her family.

“Wages must rise, but food prices must also come down.”

Workers in Bangladesh’s largest export sector are demanding a minimum wage increase amid rising inflation.

Hundreds of garment factories in Bangladesh are facing disruptions as worker protests over low pay and the rising cost of living rock the country’s industrial hubs.

There was a heavy police presence in the Mirpur industrial area of Dhaka on Monday and reports of protests taking place for the third day in the Savar, Ashulia and Gazipur areas, Al Jazeera’a Tanvir Chowdhury reported from the capital.

About 500 factories were temporarily shuttered after the protests began on Saturday. Thousands of workers have taken to the streets, facing tear gas and sound grenades from police.

In an attempt to quell the demonstrations, Bangladesh formed a new wage board on Sunday to review the minimum wage for garment workers. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, meanwhile, held an emergency meeting with his ministers and advisers.

Workers are seeking a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($242), more than double the current wage of 12,500 taka ($101).

Bangladesh’s garment industry is worth about $38bn and is a key source of export earnings and employment.

But workers’ current wages are “not enough because of the rising cost of living”, Chowdhury said.

Workers “cannot handle the lifestyle with that kind of money, and they want a share” of the multibillion-dollar export industry, he added.

Slowing demand

The protests come as Bangladesh’s garment industry, which competes with Vietnam’s, Cambodia’s and India’s, faces a range of challenges.

Factory owners said the industry is struggling with higher costs, energy market uncertainty during the United States-Israel war on Iran and slowing demand in some export areas.

Still, Bangladesh has “among the lowest garment wages in the world”, said Babul Akhter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation and a representative for workers on the wage board.

“If factory owners cannot pay workers properly, they should negotiate better prices with international buyers. They cannot build a business on the backs of underpaid workers,” Akhter added.

The president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Mahmud Hasan Khan, said the government “has already taken a step by forming the wage board”.

“We expect workers to allow the review process to proceed,” he said.

If protests continue throughout Monday, Khan added, “we will have no option but to invoke the ‘no work, no pay’ provision.”

Merida, May 10^th 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s new Labour Law for Workers (Lottt) came into effect this week, guaranteeing shorter working hours, longer maternity leave and pensions for all Venezuelans.

Described by the Venezuelan government as the “most advanced labour law in the world”, the Lottt reduces the working week from 44 hours to 40, and requires that employers provide two consecutive days a week off.

When the law came into effect on Tuesday, labour minister Maria Iglesias stated that the new working hours are part of the process towards a “just distribution of wealth”.

The following day, Carabobo state labour affairs committee president Jose Joaquin Vargas hailed the law as an important part of the transition from “capitalism to socialism”, while last week vice president of the National Federation of Public Sector Workers Franklin Rondon described it as “historic”.

“We are in a historic moment, in 14 years the achievements we have obtained for workers are numerous; we have achieved much more than in the last forty years,” Rondon told VTV on 5 May.

Vargas also urged workers to ensure their employers and unions act in accordance with the Lottt.

For the next six weeks, the government will be inspecting workplaces to ensure employers adhere to the new requirements. Although employers were informed earlier in the year that they would need to make any necessary changes prior to 7 May, on Tuesday Iglesias stated that inspections over the next six weeks will be “corrective in nature”. The minister warned that penalties will be imposed on employers who fail to adhere to the Lottt after 15 June.

However, workers are already reporting breaches of the new laws. In Miranda state, employees of processed meat manufacturer Industrias Alimenticias de Corralito (Inacor) have denounced their employer. A worker spokesperson, Peggy Serrano, alleged that management made a series of surprise changes to the timetable that could result in employees being forced to work overtime.

A Decade in the Making

Along with establishing new working hours, the Lottt prohibits unfair dismissal, outsourcing, guarantees the right to work for both women and people with disabilities and increases maternity leave.

Under the Lottt, Venezuela now has the world’s third longest maternity leave. Mothers are entitled to six weeks pre-natal leave, and twenty post-natal. Fathers are also entitled to two weeks paternal leave. Under the law, the same conditions apply to parents who adopt a child under three years of age.

All workers are also now entitled to retirement pensions, including full time mothers and the self employed.

The Lottt is the result of nearly a decade of discussions in both the national assembly and the labour movement.

When he approved the law last April, former president Hugo Chavez stated that, “In more than 200 years of republican history I am absolutely positive that there has never been a work law….that has been debated so much as this one.”