In a major act of international solidarity, both the 11.5 million member AFL-CIO labor federation in the United States and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain have released strong statements of solidarity in support of the Bangladeshi garment workers modest demand for a new minimum wage of 35 cents an hour. If the 3.5 million mostly women garment workers win their wage increase, it will allow them to climb out of misery and at least into poverty.
The current minimum wage, which has not been raised since 2006 despite annual inflation rates of 6.5 to 10 percent, is just 11.5 cents an hour, which is the lowest industrial wage in the world. Bangladesh’s garment workers are among the hardest working women in the world, and the most exploited. Despite working up to 12 hours a day, often seven days a week, the garment workers and their families are crowded into primitive one-room hovels, forced to live from hand to mouth, barely subsisting on rice and lentils. Dozens of families share one primitive hand water pump where they queue up to bathe, scrub their clothes and wash their dishes. Read the entire statement by the AFL-CIO by clicking here.
Wake-Up Wal-Mart has also launched a massive email letter-writing campaign-pressing Wal-Mart to support the Bangladeshi workers modest demand for a 35-cent-an-hour minimum wage. Send a letter to Wal-Mart in support of these workers by clicking here.
