Top brands to boycott BD summit

Dhaka: Leading fashion brands including H&M and Zara will boycott a key industry conference in Bangladesh in support of garment workers who have been sacked, hunted or jailed for participating in wage strikes, the companies said Wednesday.

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.

Dutch clothing brand C&A said, "C&A together with other apparel brands, including H&M and Inditex decided not to participate in the BGMEA Dhaka Apparel Summit."

"We strongly encourage the Government of Bangladesh to take immediate steps to ensure the protection of the workers´ rights, with special attention to the legitimate representatives of the workers who have been arrested," C&A spokesman Thorsten Rolfes told AFP.