Special Correspondent :
The Prime Minister Office (PMO) has asked the garments industry owners to pay the workers’ dues to prevent incidents of labour unrest ahead of the upcoming election.
At the same time, it has also directed the security agencies to intensify vigilance in the country’s key garments industrial belts (Savar, Gazipur and Chattogram) to avert any untoward situation.
PMO gave these directives in a high level meeting between the senior government officials and the industry owners held recently at the PMO with Principal Secretary Md Najibur Rahman in the chair.
Secretaries of Textiles and Jute Ministry, Home Ministry, Labor and Employment Ministry, Director General of Industrial Police, Presidents of BGMEA and BKMEA also attended the meeting, among others.
The meeting formed a high-powered body to closely monitor law and order situation and working conditions in the apparel industrial zones.
“The seven-member body led by the Commerce Secretary, will oversee the overall labour situation in the garment sector and send report to the PMO once in every seven days,” an anonymous Labour Ministry official told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, the body along with local administration will take effective measures if any unpleasant situation arises in the garment industrial zones.
The concerned ministry and departments, the Deputy Commissioners and the Police Superintendents will be in constant touch with the body so that prompt actions could be taken against the troublemakers.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will appoint a focal point officer and inform the concerned ministry and local administration about the overall situation.
“Law-enforcement agencies and industrial police have been asked to beef up security in the garment industrial zones and labour leaders under close intelligence watch to maintain peace and stability in the industry ahead of the election,” added the labour ministry official.
He also said that the PMO has also asked the BGMEA and BKMEA leaders to take effective measures to pay wages regularly to the workers in order to maintain smooth law and order situation in the industrial areas.
Admitting the matter, BGMEA President M Siddiqur Rahman said that the meeting discussed the overall situation of the country’s garment sector and gave necessary directives to pursue peaceful working conditions in the garment industries.
The BGMEA earlier said that a vested quarter was trying to create labour unrest in apparel sector ahead of the upcoming national election in the name of the implementation of a new wage board for garment workers.
The country ready-made garment industry provided about 4.5 million jobs and accounted over 80 per cent of its total merchandise exports.
Meanwhile, hundreds of workers took to the streets in city’s Mirpur-12 on Monday demanding review of the grades endorsed in the new wage structures, forcing the authorities to shut at least 20 factories there.
Earlier, in the morning workers of Pioneer Appeals Limited in Pallabi came out to the streets demanding wage hike.
Later, workers of the neighboring factories joined them forcing the factory managements to shut down their units fearing a massive labour unrest.
Shamima Nasreen, a labour leader, alleged that some outsiders carried out attack on the peaceful demonstration of the workers leaving at least 10 of them injured.
“Many female workers were assaulted during the attack,” she added.
The workers responded to the attackers by throwing broken bricks and also vandalised several factories, witnesses said.
The Officer-in- Charge of Pallabi Police Station could not be reached for comments despite several attempts on his cell phone.
The Prime Minister Office (PMO) has asked the garments industry owners to pay the workers’ dues to prevent incidents of labour unrest ahead of the upcoming election.
At the same time, it has also directed the security agencies to intensify vigilance in the country’s key garments industrial belts (Savar, Gazipur and Chattogram) to avert any untoward situation.
PMO gave these directives in a high level meeting between the senior government officials and the industry owners held recently at the PMO with Principal Secretary Md Najibur Rahman in the chair.
Secretaries of Textiles and Jute Ministry, Home Ministry, Labor and Employment Ministry, Director General of Industrial Police, Presidents of BGMEA and BKMEA also attended the meeting, among others.
The meeting formed a high-powered body to closely monitor law and order situation and working conditions in the apparel industrial zones.
“The seven-member body led by the Commerce Secretary, will oversee the overall labour situation in the garment sector and send report to the PMO once in every seven days,” an anonymous Labour Ministry official told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, the body along with local administration will take effective measures if any unpleasant situation arises in the garment industrial zones.
The concerned ministry and departments, the Deputy Commissioners and the Police Superintendents will be in constant touch with the body so that prompt actions could be taken against the troublemakers.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will appoint a focal point officer and inform the concerned ministry and local administration about the overall situation.
“Law-enforcement agencies and industrial police have been asked to beef up security in the garment industrial zones and labour leaders under close intelligence watch to maintain peace and stability in the industry ahead of the election,” added the labour ministry official.
He also said that the PMO has also asked the BGMEA and BKMEA leaders to take effective measures to pay wages regularly to the workers in order to maintain smooth law and order situation in the industrial areas.
Admitting the matter, BGMEA President M Siddiqur Rahman said that the meeting discussed the overall situation of the country’s garment sector and gave necessary directives to pursue peaceful working conditions in the garment industries.
The BGMEA earlier said that a vested quarter was trying to create labour unrest in apparel sector ahead of the upcoming national election in the name of the implementation of a new wage board for garment workers.
The country ready-made garment industry provided about 4.5 million jobs and accounted over 80 per cent of its total merchandise exports.
Meanwhile, hundreds of workers took to the streets in city’s Mirpur-12 on Monday demanding review of the grades endorsed in the new wage structures, forcing the authorities to shut at least 20 factories there.
Earlier, in the morning workers of Pioneer Appeals Limited in Pallabi came out to the streets demanding wage hike.
Later, workers of the neighboring factories joined them forcing the factory managements to shut down their units fearing a massive labour unrest.
Shamima Nasreen, a labour leader, alleged that some outsiders carried out attack on the peaceful demonstration of the workers leaving at least 10 of them injured.
“Many female workers were assaulted during the attack,” she added.
The workers responded to the attackers by throwing broken bricks and also vandalised several factories, witnesses said.
The Officer-in- Charge of Pallabi Police Station could not be reached for comments despite several attempts on his cell phone.
