Hundreds of workers from two garment factories have taken to the streets of Dhaka’s Motijheel demanding back pay amid an ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Disgruntled workers of Binni Garments and Sardar Garments in Kamalapur began their protests at 9 am on Thursday, according to Motijheel Police Inspector Monir Hossain Molla.
The owners of Binni Garments subsequently started clearing their dues, he said. But the workers of Sardar Garments remained on the streets after the factory’s authorities told the police that they would start paying their staff from 2 pm.
The latest protests came a day after hundreds of garment workers demonstrated on the streets of Ashulia, Uttara, Badda, Bhatara, Mirpur, Bhasahntek, Shah Ali, Tejgaon and Motijheel to demand payment of outstanding wages.
In a bid to cushion the economic impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, the government also rolled out a Tk 50 billion bailout package for the exporting sectors, mostly readymade garment factories, to pay workers.
The government warned factory owners that they would face action if they failed to pay the workers by Apr 16.
But nearly half of the 2,274 members of the garment exporters’ lobby BGMEA had not paid their workers a day before the deadline, its President Rubana Huq said on Wednesday
Source: bdnews24.com
