RMG workers demonstrate for wages

Thousands of readymade garment workers in Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur and Dhaka on Sunday took to the streets demanding their wages due for March.

They also wanted assurance from the authorities about the exact date of payment as many factories failed to make payment on the due date.

Workers from more than 11 factories in Savar and Ashulia, 10 factories in Gazipur and at least five factories in Dhaka city on Sunday staged demonstration demanding their wages for March, according to labour leaders and local police.

Several thousand RMG workers of at least 11 factories at Savar and Ashulia, on the outskirts of the capital, on Sunday demonstrated demanding their due wages.

Witnesses said that several hundred workers at Hemayetpur went to the factories in the morning for their wages and started a demonstration when the authorities did not make any payment.

Khairul Mamun Mintu, organising secretary of Garment Workers Trade Union Centre, said that wage was workers’ right. He also added that the demonstration raised the risk of coronavirus spread among the workers as hundreds of them gathered violating the social distancing norm.

Several hundred workers of Tua-Ha Textile Ltd at Kabirpur of Ashulia also blocked the Dhaka-Tangail Highway.

Workers said that in absence of food assistance and in the face rising prices of the essentials, timely payment of wages was necessary.

Ashulia police station inspector Javed Masud said that many garment factory owners went into hiding as their production remained suspended while their buyers cancelled their order for COVID-19.

Hundreds of workers of Saarc Netware Limited at Birulia of Savar blocked the Savar-Birulia bypass road as the factory management shut their unit for indefinite period suddenly without paying workers.

Savar police station sub-inspector Apurba Datta said that the workers went back home after three hours without resorting to violence.

New Age correspondent in Gazipur reported that several thousand workers of at least 10 garment factories on Sunday staged demonstration and blocked several roads in Gazipur demanding wages of the month of March.

Superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police Md Jalal Uddin said that workers of several garment factories on Sunday blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway demanding wages due for March.

Workers withdrew their blockade with the assurance of payment on April 16, he said. Workers from at least five factories in Dhaka city staged demonstration demanding wages. They took to the streets in Dakkhinnhan, Mirpur, Rampura and Malibagh in the city.

According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association data, a total of 761 factories out of 2,274 paid their workers till Sunday.

‘Requested deadline for salary payment from our end is April 16. We are hopeful that 80 per cent of the factories will clear the dues,’ BGMEA president Rubana Huq told reporters.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net