Violence in RMG sector spreads to N'ganj, Tangail

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An RMG worker throwing a brickbat at a bus at Kuril in the city Tuesday, as the workers continued demonstration on the day for minimum monthly wages of Tk 8,000. — FE Photo

FE Report Readymade garment (RMG) workers' protest demanding Tk 8000 as a minimum monthly wage continued Tuesday also leading to suspension of production in a number of factories in areas in and around the capital city. The labour unrest, which was limited to various parts of Gazipur, Savar and Dhaka industrial zones until Monday last, spread to Narayanganj district and Mirzapur industrial area in Tangail on the day. Production at nearly 40 factories, mostly in Chandra, Mouchak and Konabari under Gazipur Industrial Hub, were suspended because of the latest spell of violence. Around 50 people, mostly RMG workers, were also injured in the fresh trouble on the day. Police and witnesses said the fresh violence erupted at about 8:30am at Chandra in Kaliakoir when workers of Apex Textile took to the street and blockaded Dhaka-Tangail Highway demanding better wages. At one stage of the demonstration, the protesters became violent and vandalised Eye-Moon Tex, Inter-Staff Apparel Ltd and Divine Tex Ltd factories the area which prompted policemen to go for action, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kaliakoir Police Station, Omar Faruk said. He said most of the factories located on both side of the highway were declared closed for the day in the face of trouble. "Additional numbers of law enforcers were deployed in the area to avert any further chaos," he said. The ongoing violence in the garment industry over wage hike had started from Kaliakoir Industrial Area since Saturday last when workers of several factories there were not allowed by the owners of those factories to attend a grand rally in Dhaka city. The situation turned critical at Mulaid in Sreepur under Gazipur industrial area when thousands of workers from Hasin Sweater, Talha Spinning Mill and Welltex Ltd barricaded Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway for two hours, causing traffic congestion on the both sides of the highway. As police intervened to clear the highway which connects Mymensingh, Netrokona, Sherpur and Jamalpur districts with the capital, protesters got angry and launched an attack on the policemen, a senior officer of industrial police-2 (Gazipur) said. During the chase and counter chase that lasted for nearly two hours, several vehicles were smashed by the demonstrators, he said. At the same time, nearly 2000 workers of Khan Textile at Gorai in Mirzapur industrial area staged demonstration over the same demand and they turned violent when workers of Comfit Composite Knit factory joined them. "We fired rubber bullets and teargas shells to take control of the highway," OC (investigation) of Mirzapur Police Station, told the FE. In Narayanganj, workers of Liberty, Micro Fibre and Palmal Group staged agitation inside the factory in the morning and after an hour they came out on the street and resorted to damaging vehicles. They also blockaded Narayanganj Link Road for nearly two hours from 9:00am, leading to clashes with the law enforcers. Workers' protests were also reported at Kuril and Khilkhet in the capital, causing traffic jam and damaging of vehicles. Talking to the FE, Director of Industrial Police-1 (Savar and Ashulia) Mustafizur Rahman, said most of the garment units at Ashulia and Savar resumed production as workers joined duties amid tight security. Workers of Mascot Garments, Macsuoka Apparel Limited and Reliance Garments Limited went on work abstention since morning. "They (workers) tried to create trouble but couldn't proceed further because of our instant intervention," he said.