The labour situation in Ashulia and Gazipur industrial belts has improved as the workers of most of the garment factories joined the workplace on Wednesday.
The development came a day after a tripartite meeting.
Factory owners have agreed to meet workers' 18-point demand, including an increase in the allowance for attendance, tiffin and night bills, to restore normalcy in the foreign currency-earning sector.
However, industrial police sources said some 26 garment units in Ashulia and Gazipur areas stayed shut on Wednesday.
On the other hand, 11 factories in Ashulia and three in Gazipur lay suspended in line with the labour law provision 13 (1), meaning 'no work no pay'.
Nurani Ferdous Disha, superintendent of the Industrial Police, confirmed the number of closed RMG factories to the FE.
Each five factories in Ashulia and Gazipur announced holiday while workers in two units in Gazipur observed a stoppage over unpaid wages for August.
The labour situation has improved with workers rejoining the workplace, according to the police official.
Ms Disha said no major incident was reported barring the blockade of Dhaka-Mymensingh highway by workers of a factory at 10:20 am. However, law-enforcement agencies dispersed them at 1:00 pm.
According to sector leaders, the labour situation improved on Wednesday following an announcement to address the demands of the sewing machinists.
The demands included the payment of outstanding wages and the execution of the latest wage board award across all garment factories.
Yet, some factory owners kept their units shut out of concern for potential unrest, said the apparel leaders, adding: "As things stand at present, they expect all factories to reopen shortly."
A good number of factories in Savar, Ashulia and Gazipur hubs, mostly from Ashulia, failed to operate for more than two weeks this month.
Workers were out on strike for an increase in attendance and tiffin allowances, removal of some mid-level employees, recruiting more males and no blacklist of workers who engaged in last year's wage hike demand.
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