In Ashulia, a center of the textile industry in Bangladesh, since December 2016, 3,500 workers were fired for striking .

Workers had started a strike on December 12, which in just a few days extended to 25 factories. The bosses countered with lockouts at all the textile factories in the industrial zone. By December 21, all factories in the zone were looked up, leaving 200,000 workers locked out. Police and paramilitary border police units were brought into the region to end the strikes and to intimidate and jail the strikers. On December 27, the factories were reopened.

The demands of the workers were to reinstate their colleagues who had been fired and to raise the minimum wage from 63 to 180 Euros per month. 

These factories produce for #GAP, #Zara and #HM among others.

(translation:janis/katrin)