Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina denied any further increase in the minimum wage for workers in the country’s garment industries; who have been on strike for more than ten days demanding almost a tripling of their salaries.

“I would say to the textile workers that they should work and be satisfied with this increase in their wages, they should continue to work,” Hasina said during a meeting of her party late Thursday night.

On Tuesday, the textile industry’s minimum wage committee announced a 56.25% increase in the basic monthly salary of the industry’s four million workers to 12,500 taka (104 euros), but unions called the amount “ridiculous” and rejected the proposal.

Garment workers are demanding almost a tripling of their wages, which now stand at 8,300 taka (70 euros) to 23,000 taka (190 euros).

“If they take to the street to protest under someone’s instigation, they will lose their job, their work, and they will have to go back to their villages,” warned the Bangladeshi prime minister.

According to unions, garment workers have been hit hard by inflation, which reached nearly 10 percent in October, while Bangladesh’s local currency, the taka, has depreciated by about 30 percent against the U.S. dollar since beginning of last year.

But Hasina says the increase proposed to garment workers is much higher than the roughly 5 percent that civil servants received.

But unions say the wage increase they were offered this week is not enough in the face of soaring food prices, rents and health and education costs.

According to the police, at least three workers have been killed since the protests began and six policemen have been injured, while more than 70 industries have been looted.

The Bangladeshi prime minister denounced that 19 industries were “attacked and destroyed”, while underlining that these are businesses that “give (workers) their livelihood, food and work”.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter after China.

The 3,500 garment industries in the country, in which women work mainly, generate 85% of the country’s annual export revenue of €51 billion.

These factories supply clothes to global companies such as Zara, Levi’s and H&M.

“If these industries are closed, if production is disrupted, if exports are disrupted where will their jobs go? They should understand it,” Hasina said.