Many workers of the garment factories closed during the compliance inspections following the recent mishaps are still in the dark about their rightful wage benefits and compensation following non-settlement of their dues in accordance with the existing law, labour leaders said.
According to them, manufacturers concerned are not following the existing labour law regarding the payment of wages and other service benefits to their respective workers in absence of proper monitoring from government side in this matter.
Besides, none of the authorities concerned has any detailed information as to how many workers had to lose their jobs following the suspension of production under the ongoing factory-assessment programmer and how many of them got wages and benefits accordingly, sources said.
Since the start of health checkup of garment factories by Accord, Alliance and BUET amid a row in the West over factory conditions and worker safety, a total of 21 factories have been closed down or their production suspended while seven of them might not reopen due to their structural conditions, according to industry-insiders and officials.
Thirteen of the factories were located in Dhaka while the rest eight in the port city of Chittagong. Out of the 21 units, one faced closure or production suspension following Alliance inspections, seven due to Accord's inspection and one following the BUET inspection. The rest shared the buildings, according to the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
These 21 units employed more than 13,000 workers. However, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) claimed the number of workers to be about 20,000.
Abdur Razzak, a worker of one of the closed factories, namely Softex Cotton, told the FE that he only got basic pays of three months but no other service benefits.
"We were forced to take the said money," he alleged, adding that they protested but failed to realize their demand due to non-cooperation from the local government authorities concerned.
"None of the factories that closed following the inspections did pay or compensate their workers according to the law," President of Bangladesh National Garment Workers-Employees League Sirajul Islam Rony said.
There are many workers who had served the factories for many years unit getting the chop but were yet to get any service benefit. Many of them are yet to get a new job, he further noted.
Factory owners claimed that they had mutual understanding with the workers and paid according to the law.
Inspector-General of DIFE Syed Ahmed said they had information that about 15 factories located in Dhaka had paid off their workers as per the law while few of them assured of giving the wages shortly.
But DIFE has no information about the Chittagong factories, he said, adding that they are working to collect such information.
"If any factory owner fails to pay the workers according to the existing law, the government will take legal action against them," he added.
When contacted, BGMEA vice-president Md Shahidullah Azim said many of the owners are not able to pay the workers at a time and workers would get their payments monthly when remediation is taking place.
He also called on the Accord to come forward to share the worker payments with the owners during suspension of production, as done by the Alliance.
Alliance, another initiative by the North American retailers, is contributing 50 per cent to the workers' payments with the owners during suspension of production or closure of any factory.
When his attention was drawn, Accord's Executive Director Rob Wayss said Accord signatory companies shall require maintaining worker-employment relationship and regular income during any suspension of production.
"We are monitoring and working in this regard," he said but could not explain how they are going along.
He also admitted that Accord doesn't have all information about workers of the shut-down units, how many of them get their wages, whether they get another job or not. "We have some and are working to collect the rest," he added.
Replying to a question, Mr Rony said many rights groups are working positively and trying to make the workers aware of the facts. And that is why they are not coming out to the streets.
However, labour leaders called on the garment owners to pay the workers according to the law and requested the government to strictly monitor it so that workers are not deprived.
They said if workers continue to be deprived, they might take to the streets and go against the inspection programmes as they are losing their jobs following the assessment exercises, they feared.
