Syed Shemul Parvez :
The RMG authorities fired nearly 11,000 workers as they took part in the demonstration for salary hike and work-safety. Their dependants are now crying for basic human needs which have become hard for the sacked and arrested RMG workers to earn.
Meanwhile, Md Siddiqur Rahman, President of BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) said, we couldn’t find any reliable source about sacking of 11, 000 workers.
However, we have information of dismissing around 4,000 workers. They become the prey of the recent unrest in ready-made garment sector. “We have issued directives to guard against harassing and sacking of innocent workers,” said Siddiqur.
Some of the workers lost jobs due to factory shut down. We shall work in order to ensure the better environment for the workers. Our Monitoring division must observe the activities of both Owner and workers, he added.
BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rahman disclosed the matter during a press conference on Monday.
Earlier in the day, he held a meeting with US Ambassador in Dhaka Earl Robert Miller at the BGMEA Bhaban.
We have also discussed the GSP issue. Though the USA has given about 16 conditions on the getting of GSP facilities, we have already met 15 conditions. So we are very optimistic to get it soon, the BGMEA president added. As such the delay made by the USA as unrealistic and illogical.
It is noted that some rights organizations are also very active on the street. They protested the mass arrest and demanded the release of the RMG workers.
They demanded that one hundred more workers had been arrested and 11,000 more sacked from the different factories during the instability of RMG sectors.
