Bangladesh labor unions urge restraint after protests

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s key garment labor unions called for restraint on Friday after the industry’s wage board agreed to raise the minimum wage following weeks of violent worker protests.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people is the world’s second-largest garment exporter after China, producing clothes for major international brands including Fruit of the Loom, Levi Strauss and VF Corp., whose labels include Vans, Timberland and The North Face.

“Do not get involved in any subversive activities that could jeopardize the ongoing work of the wage board,” union leader Meer Abul Kalam Azad told fellow workers.

Workers say rising food, housing, transport and health care costs have eroded their purchasing power in a country where inflation is running at around eight percent.