Maine
Why the garment workers of Bangladesh are feeling poorer than ever
Ayesha Begum is working hard on her sewing machine. Her slender fingers glide the needle along the jeans she is piecing together, sewing on pockets before passing the pants to the next garment worker. It’s for the international clothing chain, Zara. The jeans will sell for around $50 each. She handles around 90 pairs an hour and earns $134 a month.
“I can’t get by on what I earn,” she says, “I have to pay for my son’s schooling, I have to pay rent, I have to look after my mother and my parents-in-law. It’s just not enough.”
Begum, 26, lives in the town of Gazipur, a few hours north of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. She and her husband work at Beximco, one of the largest garment factories in the country, employing 23,000 workers. But even with their combined income, they find it hard to make ends meet.
Begum one of four million garment workers in Bangladesh making clothes for American and European markets – brands such as Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Zara and others. Zara did not respond to NPR’s requests for comment on this story.
Bangladesh is the second largest export of readymade garments in the world after China, with 4,000 or so garment factories that generated $47 billion in revenue last year.
The country’s garment workers have always been paid low wages, but now they’re facing a triple-barreled threat. Western buyers are paying less for the clothes, while food prices in the country have gone up by around 10% since last year.
Khaled Shahrior, a manager at Beximco, says retailers aren’t concerned with paying more for garments to address the increased costs most local factories are bearing.
“They don’t bother about everyday inflation and food prices and everything,” he says, “they should have that accountability.”
Politics has an impact
Added to this, the industry has also suffered after a wave of political unrest. In August, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following a student uprising. At least four factories were set on fire, including Beximco, after the factory owners were accused of having close ties with Hasina and her government.
The instability has resulted in a loss of business for the industry as some brands have taken their business to other countries.
Mushfiq Mobarak, professor of economics at Yale University, says those brands are, in fact, now paying higher prices.
“In those other countries they’re actually paying around 20% more,” he says, “so that suggests that they can afford to pay, it’s just that when they’re sourcing from Bangladesh, they’re not willing to.”
Union leaders and workers hope the recent political changes will lead to improvements in their conditions.
T-shirts sell for less
But at the moment, it’s harder than ever for garment workers like Begum to get by.
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the average price American retailers paid two years ago for a cotton t-shirt made in Bangladesh was $1.83. This year, it’s $1.65 – nearly a 10% drop.
One reason is increased competition among factories in Bangladesh to sell their wares, so prices are dropping.
At the same time, the country is experiencing a wave of inflation that has meant greater expenses for the workers in their daily lives — and for factories as well.
Economist and nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus is serving as the chief adviser for Bangladesh’s caretaker government.
Mobarak says that Yunus has an opportunity to use his influence to protect workers’ rights.
“He could use his voice effectively to bring international buyers to the table and help them recognize their ethical obligations toward poor Bangladeshi workers,” he says.
So far, Yunus has not publicly addressed this issue.
They’re protesting
Meanwhile, since the uprising, some garment workers have been protesting for higher pay.
Union leader Kalpana Akter says a raise in the minimum wage to 12,500 taka ($104) last year – up from 8,000 taka ($69) – didn’t go far enough. And that there isn’t universal compliance.
“It is not enforced in many factories.” she says.
Even those who make slightly more than minimum wage are struggling.
Iti khatun, 44, who has been a garment worker for 22 years, earns $126 a month, sometimes more if overtime is available.
She pays $25 a month for rent and household bills such as gas and electricity.
She lives in a dimly lit windowless room in a large, crumbling building and shares a bathroom and kitchen with a dozen other residents.
Another $30 goes toward her 18-year-old son’s schooling. She spends the rest on food, but with one kilo of rice — 2.2 pounds — costing as much as a dollar, she has to stick to a basic diet.
“Meat costs 6 dollars a kilo,” says Khatun. “If I eat meat, it will be too difficult for me to budget for the rest of the month.”
And she’s aware of the irony that she could never afford the clothes she makes.
Mobarak says Western consumers need to be more aware of the impact of their shopping habits.
“They need to understand the decisions they make,” he says, “such as going to another retailer to chase lower prices, ultimately will have an effect on the wages paid to the workers who produce those garments.”
NPR contacted the Ministry of Labour and the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents the factories, for comment but got no response.
Begum, the 26-year-old who sews pockets on jeans, has a simple wish: “If I could earn a bit more money I could plan for my son’s future. I’d be able to save, to live better, eat better. Even 3,000 taka [$25] more a month would make a big difference.”
Shamim Chowdhury is a London-based freelance journalist and writer. She spent six weeks in Bangladesh following the recent student uprising.
Copyright 2024 NPR
A Massachusetts photographer was seriously injured when he was stabbed during a wedding reception last month in Raymond, Maine.
Donald Halsing, 26, was hospitalized for five days after the stabbing on May 23. NBC affiliate News Center Maine reported that 26-year-old Andrew Manderson was arrested and charged with elevated aggravated assault.
Still recovering, Halsing told NBC10 Boston the attack came out of nowhere — one moment, he was snapping photos on the dance floor, while the next, he was searching for help as blood spilled onto his camera.
“I was sitting there in that chair thinking, ‘There’s a real possibility I could die here,’” Halsing said. “Immediately, I put my hand on my chest here to try and stop the bleeding, get some pressure on it, and started yelling for help.”
Halsing was working at the reception at the Kingsley Pine Campgrounds. He took his last photo at 9:01 p.m., minutes before the stabbing.
“One of the wedding guests came up to me and started asking questions about our business,” he said.
Halsing said it was nothing out of the ordinary, and he tried to explain his photography business to the inquiring guest through the pulse of the DJ booth and celebrating guests.
“I thought he was going to reach in his back pocket for his phone, and instead, he didn’t pull out his phone — he pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed me,” he said.
Manderson, who faced a judge days later, is a cousin of the bride.
“There was this look in his eyes that he wasn’t quite all there,” Halsing said.
Halsing’s fiancée, Ashley Wall, was feet away as he struggled to stay awake. She has been his photography partner for eight years since they met at Framingham State University, and she was helping him work the wedding.
“People who were around me, they asked, ‘What can we do to help you? What do you need?’ And I said, ‘Please go check on Ashley. Please go check on my fiancée,’” he recalled.
Halsing spent five days in the hospital suffering from two lacerations to his liver, ultimately developing a blood clot in his left leg. But the road to recovery exceeds his physical wounds as he contemplates his mental state when he resumes photography next year.
“I’m also worried about what lingering effects there might be,” he said. “If we get out on the dance floor and I start remembering what happened, I don’t know how I’m going to react.”
Halsing still doesn’t know why he was attacked.
Manderson was released on $50,000 bail and is due back in court in October.
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This story will be updated.
The Maine Department of Transportation is moving to slash up to $400 million in projects from its agenda, a shocking and abrupt cutback that is rattling the state’s construction industry at the start of building season.
Roughly $50 million across six pavement projects have already been delayed, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The agency plans to cut or delay another $150 million in bridge, highway, intersection and multimodal projects later this month. A further $200 million or more in cuts are planned in the next three-year work plan.
Those figures were outlined by Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty in the May 18 memo to Gov. Janet Mills that has since circulated widely in the transportation sector, which has been getting drip-by-drip details on the wide scope of the cuts over the past three weeks.
It comes at the beginning of the state’s relatively narrow construction season. Companies have hired workers and ordered materials for projects they expected to begin this summer. The severity of the transportation budget problems was not raised to lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the shortfall “deeply troubling” in a statement.
“We stand ready to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and industry partners to identify both immediate and long-term solutions,” Flagg said. “Maine cannot afford to fall further behind.”
Insiders saw this first.
This story was broken in Maine Politics Insider, the BDN’s daily premium newsletter for the most ardent political news followers. If you are a new BDN subscriber, you can sign up here. Current subscribers can contact our customer service team to upgrade.
The cuts stem from a structural funding gap of at least $130 million in the state’s current work plan, according to Doughty’s memo. Losses are magnified because state money from the gas tax and other revenue sources is matched by federal funds. Lawmakers have long grappled with politically difficult long-term problems with the state’s transportation budget.
A Mills spokesperson said Wednesday morning that the administration was working on a response to questions from the BDN. The department says it needs roughly $240 million more in state capital funding annually to maintain the existing system, and that anything less than $200 million will erode it over time.
Doughty’s memo the only near-term solution is a series of bonds beginning as soon as possible. Lawmakers would have to return to Augusta to authorize that if one is going to appear on the November ballot.
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Michael Capeci is the former chairman of the Bangor GOP.
Let’s be honest about Maine’s current state.
For many families, the cost of living has become unsustainable. Housing is out of reach for many young people. Energy bills keep rising. Many small businesses are struggling under taxes and regulations that make it harder to grow. Rural hospitals are under strain and despite years of increased state spending, the results are not showing up in people’s daily lives.
Concurrently, Maine continues to lose young workers to other states. That is not a statistic, it is a warning sign.
To me, the question in this Republican primary for governor is not about slogans. It is whether we continue with a political approach that has failed to reverse these trends, or whether we nominate someone with new ideas. I think that someone is Owen McCarthy.
Owen is not a political insider. He is an entrepreneur from Patten, a small town where opportunity is not assumed, it is built. He grew up in a working-class family, became the first in his family to graduate from college graduating from the University of Maine, and founded MedRhythms, a healthcare technology company focused on neurological treatment.
He didn’t just talk about opportunity. He built it. That distinction matters, because Maine’s problem is not a lack of debate it is a lack of results. We have seen the trajectory: higher costs, slower growth, and a steady outmigration of young workers. I believe Owen McCarthy represents a break from that pattern.
His Maine 2040 plan focuses on creating 50,000 new jobs in sectors where Maine has real advantages — maritime and defense, advanced forest products, and life sciences. These are export-driven industries tied directly to Maine’s workforce, geography, and institutions. What sets Owen apart is not only what he proposes, but how he approaches governing.
He prioritizes modernizing permitting so projects do not stall. He supports using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. He focuses on making it easier to build, hire, and expand in Maine.
That same practical mindset extends to healthcare. Expanding telehealth, strengthening EMS systems, improving provider flexibility, and shifting toward earlier intervention are not abstract reforms. They are system upgrades designed to improve access while controlling costs.
Maine voters consistently respond to competence. They reward candidates who understand problems and present plans to solve them. I believe they are tired of rhetoric that does not translate into results, and skeptical of politics that prioritizes messaging over execution.
Owen’s approach is grounded in solving the issues that shape daily life — affordability, healthcare access, job creation, and government efficiency. That is not just policy positioning. It is a governing model that speaks directly to voters.
Some will point to his lack of political experience. But I believe Maine’s core problems are not the result of insufficient political experience; they are the result of policies that have failed to deliver measurable improvement. Experience inside a broken system, by itself, is not a solution.
If Republicans want to win, this primary must be taken seriously. From my perspective, it is not about choosing a nominee for governor who can energize the base. It is about selecting someone who can compete in a broader electorate that is frustrated and looking for change.
That requires a candidate who can speak beyond the base, not by abandoning principles, but by demonstrating competence and a credible plan to address Maine’s challenges. I believe Owen McCarthy offers that combination. He represents a shift away from managed decline and toward economic execution.
This is not just another primary. It is a decision about whether Republicans position themselves to win Maine or whether they remain trapped in a cycle of repeating the same strategies and expecting different outcomes.
If Republicans want to compete for Maine’s future, they cannot afford to nominate a candidate who only motivates part of the electorate. They need someone who expands it.
I believe Owen McCarthy is that candidate.
And if the goal is to win Maine, then the choice should be unmistakable
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