H&M, C&A, Tchibo and Inditex which owns Zara – all top clients of Bangladesh’s $30 billion garment industry – have pulled out of the Dhaka Apparel Summit, the signature annual event in the global textile hub, scheduled for Saturday. The move follows strikes in December when tens of thousands of garment workers in the industrial town of Ashualia staged mass protests demanding a three-fold hike in pay, which can run as low as $68 a month. A spokesman for Swedish apparel giant H&M confirmed the boycott. The summit is hosted by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), an industry body that represents the country’s 4,500 clothing factories, and features Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as its keynote speaker. BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman told AFP that they “did not get any communication from any brand not attending the summit”.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 23, 2017 06:17 UTC