The half of the unpaid wages of protesting jute mill workers who are now on strike will be cleared by the next week, State Minister for Textile and Jute Mirza Azam has said.
“Half of the unpaid wages will be paid now while the rest gradually,” he told UNB recently.
Mirza Azam urged the workers to end their protest and return to their
factories, warning that their wages of the days they are wasting in protest will be deducted.
Almost 26,718 workers of eight Khulna-Jessore region’s state-owned jute mills have been on strike since December 28 last year to realise their 11-point demand, including their due wages.
According to official sources, the workers, including 650 in Crescent Jute Mill, 2,000 in Eastern Jute Mill and 1,500 in Alim Jute Mill owe over Tk 40.68 crore in arrears.
Their protest and the subsequent strike were reportedly orchestrated by the jute mills’ collective bargaining agents (CBAs) and non-CBA union leaders.
Executive convener of the CBA and Non-CBA Council Sohrab Hossain told UNB that although the Pay Commission has been in effect since 2015, the workers’ wage board has still not be realised, resulting in irregular wage payments by the mill owners.
According to sources at Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), the jute mills, now in strike, usually produce 225 tonnes of jute goods a day.
The mills currently contain 21,474 tonnes of jute, waiting to be distributed in the market, worth Tk 215 crore.
BJMC was established under Article 10 of Bangladesh Industrial Enterprises (Nationalization) Order 1972 (PO 27 of 1972) with the aim and objective of controlling, supervising and coordinating the activities of jute millsnationalisedand placed under it.
As thelargest manufacturerin the jute sector, the BJMC produces mainlyhessian cloths, different types ofhessian bags,sacking cloth, sacking bags, yarn, geo-jute,blanket,jute canvasand carpet backing cloth (CBC) made from jute, the longestnatural fibrein the world.
