RMG factories at Ashulia to reopen today

FE Team | Published: May 17, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has decided to reopen the factories at Ashulia from today (Friday), three days after their shutdown. The decision came Thursday at a meeting with government and labour representatives at the secretariat following the assurance from the authorities regarding ensuring adequate security at the RMG manufacturing hub -Ashulia. Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju presided over the meeting while his cabinet colleagues Home Minister MK Alamgir, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, former FBCCI President AK Azad, BGMEA president Atiqul Islam, its former president Abdus Salam Murshedy, labour leaders Shirin Akhter, Montu Ghosh, among others, were present at the meeting. Earlier on May 13, BGMEA announced an indefinite shutdown of garment factories located at Ashulia for an indefinite period on security ground following labour unrest over demand for wage enhancement. During the last three days, government, BGMEA and labour leaders sat several times on the issue. "The closed factories at Ashulia industrial belt will resume production from Friday," BGMEA President Atiqul Islam told the meeting, adding the decision was taken following the request of the minister. He, however, said since Friday is the holiday, their (workers) duties will be treated as overtime. Mr Islam said, "We don't want to keep our manufacturing units shut but we were forced to do so following the unrest." After the Rana Plaza collapse at Savar, factories surrounding it resumed production three to five days later while factories at Ashulia were facing troubles, he said adding there has been virtually no work in those factories. Workers just punched their ID cards and either left their workplace or sat idle, he said adding this situation is going on in all the factories at Ashulia just after the owners cleared wages. Those factories are the largest ones and work for the big retail brands including Walmart, H&M, Tesco and Inditex, he added raising question why those are facing continuous crisis. Nearly 99 per cent of workers are on duty while the rest is creating anarchy, he claimed. He also requested the workers to resume work and not to be panicked and instigated by others. Earlier the Home Minister assured that the sector will get all assistance regarding security. "The garment industry is a very important sector for both industrialization and economy of the country," he said adding "The sector will get all kinds of assistance so far as security is concerned aiming to run factories and keep production going on." Labour and Shipping ministers and labour leaders called upon the garment leaders to reopen the factories. The labour minister held separate talks with the labour leaders after the meeting.