DHAKA: Bangladesh`s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has rejected any further pay hikes for protesting garment workers demanding a nearly tripled wage increase, after violent clashes with police and ransacking of factories.

Bangladesh`s 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports, supplying many of the world`s top brands including Levi`s, Zara and H&M.

But conditions are dire for many of the sector`s four million workers, the vast majority of whom are women whose monthly pay starts at 8,300 taka.

A government-appointed panel raised wages on Tuesday by 56.25 percent to 12,500 taka ($113) for garment factory workers, who were demanding a 23,000 taka minimum wage in all plants.

`I would say to the garment workers: they have to work with whatever their salary is increased, they should continue their work,` Hasina told a meeting of her ruling Awami League late on Thursday.

`Climate of fear` `If they take to the streets to protest at someone`s instigation, they will lose their job, lose their work and will have to return to their village,` the prime minister added.

`If these factories are closed, if production is disrupted, exports are disrupted, where will their jobs be? They have to understand that.

Hasina said 19 factories were `attacked and destroyed`, businesses that `give them bread and butter and food and employment`.-AFP