Staff Reporter :
All garment factories area the country will be kept shut for an indefinite period if the protesting workers do not return to their workplaces by today (Monday), the President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said on Sunday.
Under Article 13/1 of the Labour Act, the BGMEA will take such action, the association’s President Siddiqur Rahman told journalists at an emergency press briefing in the city’s BGMEA Bhaban.
“No work, no pay,” Siddiqur Rahman added. The BGMEA called the emergency press conference over the ongoing labour unrest on Sunday.
The press conference was held around 12:30pm to brief media on the production loss, the challenges in shipment, number of factories that are closed and other issues.
The government is expected to announce a revised wage structure for apparel workers of grades 3, 4 and 5, in an effort to quell the labour unrest that has affected production in the country’s largest forex-earning sector.
Readymade garments workers continued their demonstration for the eighth consecutive day on Sunday with a break on Friday. The protest began on January 6 over the wage gap.
Even on Sunday, at least 10 people were injured when police charged batons and used water cannons to disperse workers, who blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Ashulia on Sunday morning protesting the disparity in their new wage structure.
In September last year, the government raised the minimum monthly wage for RMG workers by around 51 percent to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300. The new wage took effect in December.
But, when workers drew their pay in January, they found a huge disparity, triggering the agitation.
On the third day of the protest, the government assured the workers of addressing the discrimination in a month. The workers, however, refused to leave the streets.
