Bangladesh garment workers protest again in Ashulia: more than 100 factories suspend operations as the wage board has yet to set the pay rise
Garment workers in Ashulia, the manufacturing hub on the outskirts of Dhaka, reported for work early on Thursday 5 November 2026, then walked out and blocked a major highway, demanding a clear announcement on the proposed wage increase, Reuters reported. Ashulia's industrial police superintendent said more than 100 factories suspended operations in the area on Thursday, and that police used tear gas and sound grenades after protesters threw bricks and vandalised police vehicles. The protests, which began on Saturday, have forced the closure of hundreds of factories across Bangladesh, the world's second-largest garment exporter after China. A wage board agreed on Wednesday to bring in a revised pay structure from December, with the first pay under the new scale in January — but it has not yet decided the size of the increase. Workers are demanding the minimum monthly wage more than double, to 30,000 taka ($241.55) from 12,500 taka, saying rising food, housing and transport costs have eroded their purchasing power.
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Key points
- Thursday in Ashulia: workers walked out, blocked a highway, and more than 100 factories suspended operations; police used tear gas and sound grenades (police superintendent, via Reuters).
- The wage board has promised a revised pay structure from December, first paid in January — but has not yet decided the size of the increase.
- Workers demand the minimum monthly wage more than double, from 12,500 taka to 30,000 taka ($241.55), citing food, housing and transport costs.
- Since Saturday, hundreds of factories have closed (BGMEA's Sunday tally: 529 factories, 987,190 workers out) in the world's second-largest garment-exporting country.
What happened
Bangladesh's garment industry was built on low wages and duty-free access to Western markets, and it now carries the economy: about 4 million workers, more than 80% of export earnings, and the order books of H&M, Inditex and Walmart. That is why a wage dispute in Ashulia is a national story — the unrest is testing the low-cost advantage the whole model rests on, in the peak season for export orders, and why the government formed a wage board within a day of the first factory closures.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Verified on Reuters' report from Dhaka (read in full in this run via syndication), with Arab News' report of the same Thursday protests (queue #1759) in agreement. The tear-gas account is the police superintendent's own statement, quoted as his — the sequence he describes is the police account of the clash, and no protester account of Thursday's clash appears in the reporting read.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Verified on Reuters' reports of 5 November and 1 November (both read in this run). The board itself is a six-member body — two representatives each from workers and employers, a government representative and a neutral member — formed on Sunday 1 November after talks with workers' representatives and industry leaders, per Reuters' earlier report. The demand and the current minimum are the figures Reuters gives in both reports ($1 = 124.2 taka in its 5 November conversion).
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The 'hundreds closed' and peak-season points are Reuters' 5 November report; the 529-factory and 987,190-worker figures are the BGMEA's, as reported by Reuters on 1 November — the industry association's tally, carried with its attribution, and a Sunday figure that will have moved since. The sector-scale figures (about 4 million workers, more than 80% of export earnings, world's second-largest garment exporter after China) are Reuters'.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Thursday's Ashulia walkout, highway blockade and 100-plus suspensions, and the calmer picture in Savar and Gazipur — from Reuters' Dhaka report, read in full in this run.
- The wage board's timetable (new structure from December, first pay in January) and that the amount is undecided; the workers' demand (30,000 taka) and the current minimum (12,500 taka).
What we don't know yet
- The size of the increase the wage board will set — the central unanswered question of the dispute.
- How many factories were closed in total by Thursday — the last full tally is the BGMEA's Sunday figure (529), carried as such.
- Whether the protests continue into the weekend or the board's promise settles them — no announcement either way appears in the reporting read.
Why it matters
Almost a million workers were idled by Sunday in an industry that earns four-fifths of Bangladesh's export income, and the dispute is now in its sixth day because the one number that would end it — the new minimum wage — is the one number the wage board has not produced. Every day of closures in peak season pushes orders toward rival exporters, while every day of delay pushes more workers toward the highway blockades seen in Ashulia on Thursday.
Background
Show the background timeline (4)
Garment workers' protests begin over pay; factories start closing across the main industrial hubs and police use tear gas and water cannon (Reuters, 1 November report).
The government forms a six-member wage board to review garment wages; the BGMEA puts closures at 529 factories with 987,190 workers out of work; the labour minister urges workers to return.
The wage board agrees a revised pay structure will apply from December, with first pay under it in January — without setting the amount.
Ashulia workers walk out and block a highway demanding a clear announcement; more than 100 factories suspend operations in the area while Savar and Gazipur stay relatively calm.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Published as a brief in Checking state from queue #1759 (Arab News/Reuters). Basis: Reuters' 5 November Dhaka report read in full in this run, with its 1 November wage-board report read alongside. JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary state the same outcome — protests continued Thursday, factories suspended, the pay figure still unset; no wording states a wage rise has been agreed, because only the structure's start date has. (2) Thursday's events are Verified on Reuters with the police account quoted as the police account; the BGMEA tally is attributed to the association and dated to Sunday wherever it appears, including the key points. (3) Every number traces to Reuters: more than 100 Ashulia suspensions (police superintendent via Reuters), 529 factories and 987,190 workers (BGMEA via Reuters, 1 Nov), 30,000 taka demand ($241.55) against 12,500 taka, about 4 million sector workers, more than 80% of export earnings. (5) The workers' own voice is present (Shilpi Khatun, quoted by Reuters); the employers' association appears through its tally; the undecided wage amount is in the don't-know list, never glossed. (6) Photo is a labelled file photo of Bangladeshi garment workers; the official-video check was made and no qualifying official video was found. Translations: headline, summary and take labels in all 13 non-English languages at publish.