A Bangladeshi garment worker shouts slogans at a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo / AP.

A Bangladeshi garment worker shouts slogans at a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo / AP.

DHAKA: Bangladesh has raised minimum monthly wages for its millions of garment workers by about 80 per cent after months of violent protests over poor pay and conditions, a Government minister said yesterday.

Garment workers in Bangladesh are paid the least in the world and are unable to buy food and arrange shelter on their monthly earnings, according to the International Trade Union Confederation, a Vienna-based labour rights group.

The official minimum wage has been set at 3000 taka ($59.79) a month, up from 1662 taka in the first raise since 2006, Labour Minister Khandaker Mosharaff Hossain said.

"We have tried our best to meet the demands of the workers," he said after months of negotiations with garment factory owners.

The new pay structure starts in November and has seven grades - the highest pay fixed at 9300 taka. Workers and labour rights groups have pressed for a monthly wage of 5000 taka.

The raise came about a week after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina criticised the garment industry for paying low wages to workers.

Bangladesh's garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe, earn more than US$12 billion a year - nearly 80 per cent of the country's export income.

The country has 4000 factories employing more than 2 million workers, most of them women.

In recent months, thousands of garment workers demanding higher wages have protested on the streets, attacked factories and blockaded highways in and outside the capital, Dhaka.

International clothing companies Wal-Mart, Tesco, H&M, Zara, Carrefour, Gap, Metro, JCPenney, Marks & Spencer, Kohl's, Levi Strauss and Tommy Hilfiger all import in bulk from Bangladesh.

The manufacturers say they're being squeezed by a slump in prices on international market because of the global economic crisis.

- AP