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                  Bangladesh to Raise Pay for Garment Workers

   Bangladesh`s government says it plans to raise the minimum wage for
   garment workers in response to protests linked to last month`s collapse
   of a factory building that killed more than 1,100 people.
   Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddiky announced Sunday that a new
   minimum wage board will issue a recommendation for new wages that would
   be retroactive to May 1. The recommendations would have to be approved
   by government ministers.
   The average pay for a garment worker in Bangladesh is $38 a month.
   The April 24 accident near Dhaka sparked days of protests by garment
   workers protesting their pay and working conditions.
   On Friday, emergency workers rescued a woman who survived 17 days
   buried in the rubble of the garment factory complex. Crowds erupted
   into cheers after the woman, identified as Reshma Begum, was pulled
   from the ruins. Rescuers say she survived by finding reserves of water
   nearby.
   Emergency workers had earlier given up hope that they would find any
   more survivors.
   Authorities have arrested at least nine people in the aftermath of the
   collapse.
   Officials say the running of several heavy generators on upper floors
   may have contributed to the collapse because the structure was not
   built to support them.
   The Bangladesh government says it has shut down 18 garment factories
   for safety reasons following the April 24 collapse of the building that
   housed five garment factories.
   On Wednesday, eight people died in a garment factory fire in the the
   capital. The fire erupted it the Tung Hai Sweater Factory after most
   workers had gone home.
   Bangladesh`s $20 billion textile industry accounts for nearly 80
   percent of the country`s exports.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/bangladesh-to-raise-pay-for-garment-w
   orkers/1659757.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/bangladesh-to-raise-pay-for-garment-workers/1659757.html