Weekly news
Weekly news: 1 November 2026
By Labour Lens
Bangladesh
Garment workers demanding a Tk30,000 monthly minimum wage clashed with police on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur on 31 October, and at least 30 workers and police were hurt, Prothom Alo reported. About 100 factories were forced to declare holidays during the protests, a BGMEA vice-president told The Business Standard, and Labour Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury said the government would announce a new wage board on 1 November.
Sources prothomalo.com, tbsnews.net
This week's news
United States
Two US shrimp businesses have asked the International Trade Commission to block shrimp made with forced labour at Nekkanti Sea Foods in India, Corporate Accountability Lab, which represents them, said on 28 October. The complaint alleges that workers at Nekkanti's Andhra Pradesh plants, many of them migrant women, live in guarded hostels under curfew and earn less than the state minimum wage. It also names as proposed respondents the wholesaler Eastern Fish and the grocers ALDI, Meijer and Ahold Delhaize, which sell the shrimp in the US.
Source corpaccountabilitylab.org
China
The US Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force added three Chinese genomics companies, BGI Genomics, MGI Tech and Shenzhen BGI Technology, to its Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, effective 29 October. Their goods are now presumed to be made with forced labour and are barred from US import unless the importer proves otherwise. The list now has 190 entities, according to the Federal Register notice.
Source govinfo.gov
Changes on Labour Lens
No grades changed this week.
Aqua Star
Its page now lists the shrimpers' complaint. A lawsuit filed in March says Aqua Star buys shrimp directly from Nekkanti Sea Foods. It stays at Lacks transparency, as the complaint is an allegation the Trade Commission hasn't yet investigated.
On Labour Lens Aqua Star
We now check brands against the updated Entity List of 190 entities. No brand on Labour Lens names any of the three new ones.
Coming up
United States
The International Trade Commission is due to decide by 27 November whether to investigate the Nekkanti complaint, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Source shrimpalliance.com
Bangladesh
The current garment minimum wage period ends in December 2026, and the new wage board will review it, The Business Standard reported.
Source tbsnews.net