29 More Garment Factories Closed in Gazipur as Workers Find Closure Notices at Gates
Authorities have closed 29 more garment factories in different areas of Gazipur amid the ongoing workers’ movement demanding, among other things, a minimum wage of Tk 30,000. Closure notices were issued at 13 factories on Saturday night and at the remaining 16 factories on Sunday morning.
Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent Amjad Hossain said that when workers tried to protest at several places on Sunday morning (15 November), members of the law enforcement agencies moved them away.
Workers at the 13 factories had already been informed on Saturday night that the factories would remain closed from Sunday. Notices for 16 more factories followed in the morning. Workers arriving to join work found closure notices at the factory gates and were forced to return without entering. Some waited for a long time but could not get any confirmation about when the factories would reopen.
Garment workers began their movement late last month demanding a minimum wage of Tk 30,000. The movement spread to Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia and Narayanganj, as well as Mirpur in the capital, turned violent at one stage, and one worker was killed.
For the past several days, protests, vandalism and road blockades have been taking place in Gazipur and other industrial areas. As part of that, workers blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur on Saturday and demonstrated.
On the same day, owners closed 40 readymade garment factories in the Ashulia industrial area of Savar and gave a one-day holiday at seven more factories. Police, SRB, Ansar and BGB personnel have been deployed in the industrial areas to control the situation.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing unrest, the two garment owners’ organisations, BGMEA and BKMEA, told a press conference in Dhaka on Saturday that owners would be forced to keep factories closed if labour unrest broke out at any factory and workers did not join work.
BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan Babu said at the press conference that factories in the affected areas could not be kept running because the safety of the industry and a favourable production environment were not being maintained. For that reason, it was decided to keep factories where production was disrupted by labour unrest closed indefinitely from 15 November under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act.
Section 13(1) of the Labour Act states that if there is an illegal strike in a branch or section of an establishment, the owner may close that branch or the entire establishment, partially or fully. In such a closure, workers who take part in the strike receive no wages.
Meanwhile, the government formed a minimum wage board on 1 November to set workers’ wages. At the board’s second meeting, the workers’ representative proposed a minimum wage of Tk 32,000. The board’s third meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday.
