Bangladesh Increases Minimum Wage Despite Walmart's Obstruction

by Amanda Kloer · 2010-11-06 06:00:00 UTC
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Despite Walmart's best efforts to keep wages down in Bangladesh, a new minimum wage of $43 a month took effect for garment industry workers this month. Workers in factories who make clothing for Walmart, however, are still paid just pennies an hour for their labor. It's time Walmart stopped ignoring the high cost Bangladeshi workers are paying for their low prices and started respecting workers' rights.

As Tim Newman mentioned earlier this week, the new Bangladeshi minimum wage was officially implemented at the beginning of November. The new floor of $43 per month is a vast improvement over the old one, which was set at a pitiful $23 per month. But even with the minimum wage more than doubled, many workers will still be earning just pennies an hour &mdash poverty-level wages in Bangladesh. Earlier this year, workers took to the streets in protest and asked for $72 per month, which they claimed would provide a living wage. But companies like Walmart fought such a "large" increase. Push-back from employers coupled with the severe government crackdown on workers' rights advocates has managed to keep many Bangladeshi workers living in poverty.

Walmart is one of the largest buyers of Bangladeshi garments, and Bangladesh is one of the largest suppliers to Walmart. This relationship means Walmart has tremendous power to improve working conditions, increase wages, and prevent human trafficking and other abuses in Bangladesh. Nearly 80% of Bangladeshi exports are clothing, and the industry employs some three million people. The vast majority of those workers are women. By raising its wages to $72 a month, Walmart could significantly reduce workplace abuse and exploitation. And by improving the lives of so many women, they could lift generations of Bangladeshis out of poverty.

But Walmart has proved too often that they are not willing to stand up for workers' rights or support an end to abuses like child and slave labor. They have repeatedly fought to keep wages and rights down. Tell Walmart it's time to make a change and actually support workers' rights.

Photo credit: dblackadder

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic

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