The Dhaka Times Desk Bangladesh's garment industry has recently been plagued by problems including factory collapses, fires and labor unrest. But this garment industry is making Bangladesh's main export product. In the meantime, the garment workers in Ashulia garment factories have come to the field to demand an increase in wages. As a result, Garment Owners Association BGMEA announced the closure of all garment factories located in Ashulia. BGMEA announced their closure of the factory in such a way that the workers will not get paid for the days the factory is closed. All in all, this main sector of Bangladesh's development is now under threat.
So far BGMEA administration has not come to a decision about opening a garment factory in Ashulia. They said that the government and labor leaders must guarantee the safety of the factory, otherwise the factory will not be opened. However, in Ashulia, some ordinary factory owners have kept their factories open and workers have also joined the work there. As the reason for this, the factory owners said that now is the busy season. If the factory is closed during this time, the amount of loss is huge which cannot be recovered later. Abdus Salam Murshedi, the former president of BGMEA, the owner of Envoy Group, told Kal Kantha last night, "The garment factory was not declared closed as per the decision of BGMEA. BGMEA leaders took this decision in view of the request of the factory owners. When asked when the factories will be reopened, he said, 'We are sitting in a meeting, we will be informed when the decision is made.
It is known that almost all the garment factories located on both sides of Bypail-Abdullahpur highway from Ashuliasth Jirabo area to Bypail Mor were closed. As a result of the one-day shutdown, 300 factories located in this area suffered a loss of Tk 85 crore. Meanwhile, after the Rana Plaza incident in Savar, garment factories in this area were closed for 17 days out of the last 20 days. As a result, these factories are facing huge losses.
If the factory is closed for so long only the owners will suffer but now the workers will also suffer as a result of this new rule. The workers will not get paid for the days that the factory will be closed. At the end of the month, the wages of the closed days will be deducted from them. There is no actual count of how many workers work in the approximately 300 factories in Ashulia area. However, it is believed that this number is more than 3 lakh. A garment worker in this region earns an average monthly salary of Rs 8,000 including overtime. Therefore, due to the indefinite closure of the factory in that area, the salary of the workers can be deducted at an average rate of Tk 266 per day. In total, a total of Tk 7 crore 98 lakh wages can be deducted in one day in Ashulia area.
Meanwhile, after labor unrest arose, the government formed a separate wage board for the workers. The government has also announced that the wage structure announced by the wage board will be implemented from May. With which the owners expressed immediate anger. And the labor leaders thanked the government.
Labor leaders welcomed the formation of the government's wage board and the decision taken, but labor unrest in Ashulia area did not stop. Workers attend work in the morning to keep their wages and refuse to continue working later. The owners are very upset with the behavior of the workers because they have to pay the workers only if they show up.
Meanwhile, BGMEA leaders say that there is incitement behind this labor dissatisfaction, otherwise the movement would have stopped after the formation of the wage board.
However, labor leader Babul Akhtar said, "The labor unrest would have stopped earlier, but the workers are continuing their agitation because of the many ambiguities in the announcement of the wage board." It was not said.
SM Mannan Kochi, vice-president of BGMEA, pointed fingers at the miscreants and said the genuine workers were not responsible. One percent of the total workers are perpetrators, they are causing these incidents. The labor leaders supporting these workers are very powerful. They cannot be brought under the law.
It is to be noted that since the accident at Rana Plaza in Savar on April 24, garment workers of Ashulia area have been protesting and vandalizing factories almost every day demanding salary increase for all garment workers along with compensation.
News sources: The voice of time
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