300 more RMG units shut in Ashulia

FE Team | Published: June 14, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
At least 300 more garment factories in Ashulia Apparel Industrial Belt were shut Wednesday as workers' protest over wage hike stretched into the third consecutive day.
More than 60 people, including law enforcers, were also injured in sporadic clashes between police and apparel labourers that have jolted the zone where hundreds of apparel units are located.
The frequent labour unrest experienced by the US$19 billion industry has caused a matter of immense concern to the apparel manufacturers who sat in an emergency meeting with high-ups of labour and home ministries as well as garment union leaders to resolve the crisis.
Labour and Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told reporters after emerging from the meeting that the garment factories will resume production from today (Thursday).
"The law enforcers were instructed to take necessary steps towards it," he said.
Readymade garment (RMG) workers have been staging demonstration for the last several days in the belt demanding a sharp increase in their monthly salaries to cope with the spiralling prices of essential commodities.
Witnesses and police said the fresh violence erupted at about 8:15am when nearly 12,000 workers of different garment factories in the highly sensitive apparel hub went on the rampage.
Police have fired rubber bullets and teargas shells to disperse the unruly protesters from busy Dhaka-Tangail Highway that connects 16 northern districts of the country with Dhaka.
The protesters being infuriated by the police action, completely halted traffic movements after setting fire to several objects on the highway.
They also aggressively responded to the police move through pelting brick chips and stones turning the area into a veritable battlefield.
A number of stranded vehicles and roadside RMG factories like Scandex, Windy, Medlar, AM Design and Safa Sweater were vandalised during the agitation.
"The situation is worse than the last two days and we had to shoot 200 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas canisters to bring the situation under control," said Mohammad Fayezul Kabir, deputy director of Industrial Police-1.
He said the garment owners should take immediate measures to resolve the issue before it turns severe. "They (garment workers) have become very unruly and frequently ambushed the police," he added.
The chaos forced owners of the most apparel factories in the area to suspend production fearing large scale of vandalism, he said, adding that at least 20 policemen were injured during the skirmishes.
The protesters have warned the apparel makers of tougher movement in the coming days if the demand for wage increase placed by them is not met.
"We've been protesting for our survival as major portion of our monthly income is spent on house rent," a protester said.
Another demonstrator said the garment industry cannot flourish leaving its workforce in starvation. "We don't want any chaos in the sector. But we're forced by the factory management to launch movement," he added.
But garment owners have rejected the one-point demand of the workers, saying that the sector will not sustain in coming days as the latest wage hike was made less than two years back in 2010.
They said that the latest trouble has come as another hurdle for the struggling sector, which is already under pressure from its global buyers over labour-related issues.
"It's not possible at all to make another salary hike within less than two years," managing director of Envoy Group located in the violence-hit area Abdus Salam Murshedy told the FE.
He said the problem has come at a time when the country's highest foreign currency earning sector is fighting hard to regain confidence of international retailers, who recently expressed their concern over current labour situation here.
"The unrest is destroying the country's image to global buyers. It should be immediately stopped for the betterment of the economy," he said requesting the government to protect their industries from vandalism.
Rejecting the demand of wage-hike, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said the export of Bangladeshi garment in the global market has marked a fall due to financial downturn during the last fiscal year.
Bangladesh's garment export to the EU markets has gone down by nearly 15.40 per cent while shipment to the USA has recorded a 28.40 per cent fall in the current fiscal, president of the country's apex apparel body said.
"We've been requesting the government to introduce food rationing for the workers to help them tackle the growing prices of essentials," he added.