President Bangladesh National Workers Federation ON FEBRUARY 13 unions representing jute and textile workers in Bangladesh began a three-day general strike to demand an end to the privatisation and dismantling of the jute industry.
The workers are further demanding that the government live up to the agreement it signed last year, which would raise the minimum monthly wage of jute and textile workers to US$23.
The government's response to the general strike and its massive support was to violently repress the strikers.
During the first two days of the strike four workers were killed and 300 injured.
In response to this unprovoked act of aggression by the government numerous trade union federations as well as the Democratic Front decided to call a one-day strike on February 15.
The strike paralysed the entire country. They also staged a mass rally in Dhaka which drew tens of thousands of workers to protest the police violence and to demand that the government heed the strikers demands.
The government responded to these mobilisations with more violence.
By the end of the day of February 15 a total of eight strikers had been killed and hundreds more had been injured. One hundred and twenty workers and strike leaders remain in jail.
This three-day strike came up on the heels of another series of mass actions by the jute and textile workers.
On January 21-24 a three-day general strike took place with more than 500,000 participating. One worker at the Kakurghot Jute mill in Chittagong was killed and more than 100 were injured.
The embattled jute and textile workers have risen up to save the jute industry - which sustains 30 million people in Bangladesh alone, 1.2 million of whom are industrial workers.
IG Metall gains will fuel pay SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 80, March 25 1995, Page 11.