After months of protests on the streets by thousands of garment workers, Bangladesh raised the minimum monthly wage for its over 2 million garment workers. Workers and labor rights groups were asking for a wage of $73. The minimum wage is now $45 dollars a month, up from $25 a month. Last week the prime minister criticized the low wages in the garment industry. Many of the manufacturers running the countries 4,000 factories say that they cannot afford to raise the wages because of the economic downturn and energy costs.
See "Bangladesh raises garment workers' pay 80 percent", Farid Hossain, July 28, 2010