Workers of West Knit Apparels and PM Garments staging a demonstration for pay hike at Siddhirganj in Narayanganj on Wednesday, blocking traffic in the area — Focus Bangla At least 50 people were injured in spells of clashes between agitating workers and members of the law-enforcement agencies in different industrial hubs off the capital, including Savar, Ashulia, Tongi and Gazipur, on Wednesday.
Demanding elimination of wage disparity in the latest pay-scale, the workers of various ready-made garments (RMG) factories in the areas continued their agitation for the fourth consecutive day.
In the early morning, the labourers blocked Dhaka-Aricha Highway at different points like Bipail, Kathgora and Pukurpar in Ashulia, and Ulail, Genda, Hemayetpur, Narshinghapur and Jirabo in Savar.
Clashes broke out soon, as the members of Industrial Police tried to clear the roads for vehicular movement.
The clashes between the two parties left some of the RMG workers hurt. Some 30 workers were injured in clashes with police and plain-clothes individuals at different points of Dhaka-Aricha Highway, said the agitating workers.
A garment worker named Suman Mia died, allegedly after being shot by police on Tuesday evening, which sparked further protests from the workers.
Besides, at least nine members of the law-enforcement agencies also received injuries, said Sana Shaminur Rahman, director of Industrial Police (Savar and Ashulia zone).
Meanwhile, a number of export-oriented RMG factories were shut or declared day-off on Wednesday to avoid any untoward situation, as many of their workers took to the streets to realise various demands.
According to Industrial Police and RMG sector insiders, at least 80 factories - 20 in Dhaka, and 60 in Tongi, Ashulia and Savar - stopped their production on the day.
Meanwhile, four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed in Gazipur to bring the situation under control.
Talking to the FE, Patriot Eco Apparel Limited managing director M Iqbal Hossain said, "My workers were working in the factory. But all on a sudden some outsiders entered into the factory at around 10:30 am."
The invaders shattered the glasses of the green factory, located in Tongi BSCIC Industrial Area, threw brickbats, and vandalised offices and automated attendance machines, all of which caused around Tk 5.0 million loss to the company, he added.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has expressed his concern that some people were trying to create unrest over the new wage structure for garment workers.
These people were behind the acts of vandalism during the ongoing agitation by the garment factory workers, he told reporters at his secretariat office on Wednesday.
The government was closely watching the situation, he added.
Despite repeated assurances to address the grievances of workers, they were still demonstrating, said the minister.
He called on the garment workers to return to work and have patience. He said that the issue would be resolved within one month.
No worker would be paid less wages, he said, adding that if anyone saw their wages shrink due to new pay structure, it would be readjusted and they would be paid arrears.
On Tuesday, the government formed a 12-member committee to review the wage structure for garment workers and take necessary steps in a month.
The committee comprises five representatives from each of the two groups -- factory owners and workers. The committee also comprises the secretaries of the commerce and labour ministries.
State minister for labour Monnujan Sufian told the FE that the committee will sit today (Thursday) to discuss the issue.
The protesters alleged that monthly wages of the workers in the seventh grade increased to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300 in the latest wage structure gazette published by the government last year.
But, wages of the workers in other grades did not increase at the same rate.
The wage hike for the entry-level workers was more than that of their senior operators, who have been working for more than seven to eight years in the industry.
The major disparity in the wage hike was noticed in the third and fourth grades, as wages of the workers belonging to these grades did not increase like that of the entry-level workers.
In the new wage structure, only Tk 500 was raised in most of the grades, other than the seventh, whereas an entry-level worker's wage was increased by Tk 2,700, they observed.
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