Gazipur garment manufacturers threaten to shut down factories

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FE Report brOwners of more than one hundred garment manufacturers Saturday threatened to shut down their factories if the government fails to ensure security at the country's key industrial area Gazipur by September 25.brThe manufacturers made the threat in a written memorandum after a series of protests in the past few weeks left at least 70 plants vandalised, hundreds of people injured and dozens of vehicles damaged.brThe manufacturers said in the last 15 days alone they incurred a loss of around Tk 8.00 billion due to the violence over ghost attacks and rumoured death of garment workers. brWe cannot continue production in this climate of fear and mindless violence, said Rashid Ahmed Hossaini, managing director of Nexus Sweater Limited said. brEveryday, factories are being ransacked and vandalised in a pre-planned way. Some people are spreading rumours of ghost attack and death of workers, inciting attacks by workers, he said. brThe manufacturers demanded immediate intervention by the government and improvement of security at the factories within days.br'If things don't improve by September 25, we'll have no choice but to shut down our factories from the next day, said the memorandum.brThe manufacturers also gave a token key of their factories to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) protesting continued unrest at the garment factories in Gazipur in recent period. brThe manufacturers vented their anger days after the BGMEA released findings by its crisis cell that this year at least 151 garment factories have been vandalized in the country.brOf the total, 109 factories have been attacked by workers protesting the rumoured deaths of their fellow colleagues while the rest were due to protests low wages. brBGMEA president Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvz said the government played an indifferent role over the issue.brThe factories of Gazipur are not the only victims of these attacks. The growth of the country's whole ready-made garments sector is now threatened due to the mindless violence, he said.brHe assured the Gazipur manufacturers that the BGMEA board would discuss the issue sit in the next two days and decide future course of action.brGarment is Bangladesh's biggest industrial sector, accounting for more than 75 per cent of the country's US$14.11 billion exports last year. Garment factories employ more than 2.5 million people, or 40 per cent of the country's total industrial workforce.