Dhaka: In a significant development, Bangladesh has increased the minimum monthly pay for the country's four million garment workers by 56.25 percent. However, unions have immediately rejected this raise, as they were seeking a near-tripling of the minimum wage.

Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories contribute to approximately 85 percent of the country's $55 billion in annual exports. These factories supply some of the world's leading fashion brands, including Levi's, Zara, and H&M. Despite this, many of the four million workers in this sector, primarily women, are subjected to dire working conditions, starting with a monthly wage as low as 8,300 taka ($75).

Workers have staged strikes to demand a nearly threefold increase in their wages, resulting in violent incidents. Meanwhile, employers had offered a 25 percent raise. The minimum wage is determined by a state-appointed board consisting of representatives from manufacturers, unions, and wage experts.

The board secretary, Raisha Afroz, announced the new minimum monthly wage for garment factory workers at 12,500 taka ($113), but this figure was immediately rejected by the unions. The unions have been pushing for a minimum of 23,000 taka.

Unions argue that their members have been significantly affected by persistent inflation, which reached nearly 10 percent in October, and a cost of living crisis partly triggered by the taka's depreciation against the US dollar by approximately 30 percent since early last year.

Tensions have escalated ahead of this announcement, with police firing tear gas at thousands of workers who set a bus on fire outside Dhaka. Violent protests also broke out in Gazipur as workers walked out of their factories and staged demonstrations. During the protests, police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The demonstrations have coincided with separate violent protests by opposition parties calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ahead of the upcoming elections scheduled for January.