The era of ultracheap labor at the core of many apparel supply chains is under strain. The armies of people who make clothes for Western brands in Bangladesh are protesting for better wages, the WSJ’s Jon Emont reports, and the impact is already buffeting supply chains, with demonstrations spiraling, some factories set ablaze and around 300 production sites forced to halt operations. Fashion giants H&M, Gap and Zara-parent Inditex, say they support higher wages, but no one can agree on who should foot the bill. These are some of the lowest-paid factory workers in the world. Factory owners are offering a minimum wage of $95 a month, and say Bangladesh would lose its competitive edge under the workers’ demands for a roughly $205 minimum monthly wage. One factory owner says the issue traces back to the international clothing brands, who dig in against even small price increases.

Hydrogen is becoming the clean energy solution that even public officials in America’s oil patch can love. Republican Reps. Randy Weber of Texas and Clay Higgins of Louisiana are among those supporting a Houston-based hydrogen program vying for a piece of $7 billion in federal grants, although they voted against the legislation behind the grants. The WSJ’s Phred Dvorak reports that hydrogen is emerging as a big-tent fuel in the country’s polarized energy debate. Hydrogen doesn’t produce carbon emissions when burned, and backers are looking at it for cars, power generation and steel manufacturing. Companies including Exxon Mobil and Chevron are among those planning hydrogen-production projects in Texas and Louisiana, which already have pipelines and facilities for hydrogen and natural gas. Critics say hydrogen production raises significant environmental questions. But the agreement in the center of the U.S. oil-and-gas sector suggests the fuel has room to expand.

• British Steel plans to close two blast furnaces and replace them with less carbon-intensive steelmaking technology. (The Guardian)

Foreign firms are yanking earnings out of China at a rapid and sustained pace. (WSJ)

New orders at German factories unexpectedly rose in September. (WSJ)

Earnings for the nation’s biggest companies are poised to show their first collective increase in a year and revenue is on track to grow 2.3% from a year ago. (WSJ)

Tesla is boosting factory worker pay in Germany amid an aggressive unionization drive. (WSJ)

The head of the East and Gulf coast dockworkers’ union told members to prepare for a possible strike next year. (Journal of Commerce)

Shipping experts say large oil and gas carriers won’t be able to transit the Panama Canal next year. (Splash 247)

The management and supervisory boards at German container terminal operator HHLA approved Mediterranean Shipping’s purchase of a large ownership stake. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Amazon’s decade of research on drone delivery has yielded a service that can handle only small items one at a time. (New York Times)

Alibaba logistics arm Cainiao is part of a consortium proposing to buy out Chinese logistics provider Best. (South China Morning Post)

Emirates is considering an order for Boeing or Airbus freighters and may convert more passenger jets to expand its cargo fleet. (Bloomberg)

More than three-quarters of supply chain managers in a survey are increasing buffer inventory and pursuing dual-sourcing strategies for raw materials. (Supply Chain Quarterly)

Kimberly-Clark expects a supply-chain technology upgrade will save the consumer-goods supplier millions of dollars annually while improving product availability. (Logistics Management)

Mort Downey, a longtime transportation policy maker who was deputy secretary of Transportation for eight years, died at 87. (Progressive Railroading)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.