The workers of five Tuba Group factories rejected Friday the apparel trade body's assurance about payments and decided to continue their ongoing agitation unless their demands are met.
They said the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) made a ploy to get released Delwar Hossain, managing director of Tuba Group, now in jail in the Tazreen Fashions fire case.
They were just holding nearly 1,600 workers of the five units hostage only to force the government to release Delwar.
The Tuba Group is the parent company of the Tazreen Fashions that burnt down on November 24, 2012 killing at least 112 workers.
At a press conference Garment Workers Solidarity Forum leader Moshrefa Mishu said they would stage a protest rally Saturday (today) in front of the Hossain Super Market, which houses three of Tuba Group factories, demanding payment of their wage arrears and other allowances.
About the BGMEA assurance, she said, "It's nothing but an evil design to deter us from staging our agitation through delaying it. The earnings made by the Tuba Group over the last three months are much higher than the workers' dues."
"Will the BGMEA inquire about the export earnings or check with the bank accounts of errant factory owners?" the workers' leader posed a question. She also has been taking part in the hunger strike from the first day. "BGMEA is trying many tricks to get Delwar Hossain out of jail and it's a part of it. We want to make it clear that the workers will continue with their hunger strike until their demands are met," Mishu said.
The agitating workers, who have been going unpaid since May last, said with frustration that they had approached the BGMEA on several occasions. But there was no development regarding payment of wages, festival allowances and overtime bills.
In the face of the hunger strike that began Monday last, the BGMEA leaders at a press briefing Thursday afternoon made an announcement that the wage arrears and allowances of the striking workers would be paid within seven working days.
A day after the announcement, the apparel workers arranged the press briefing to reject the pledges made by the BGMEA.
They workers said there was no logical ground for setting a seven-day timeframe to clear three months' arrears and festival allowances that will run as high as Tk 45.69 million (4.569 crore).
They also formed a special body, Tuba Group Workers Movement Committee, comprising 11 groups of workers, mostly left-leaning ones, to take the protest further ahead.
Talking to the FE, a sewing operator at Taif Design, one of the five apparel units, said: "These workers have eaten nothing for five days and they seek another week's time. They're just making mockery of it."
Criticising the move to release managing director of Tuba Group, she said they had received wages and other financial benefits for the months of March and April last when their owners were in jail.
Tania Akhter of Tuba Fashions, who fell sick on the fifth day of their hunger strike, said she had been leading the life of an absconder as her landlord had been pressing her for house rents for the last three months.
"Now, we've nothing to eat. I could not do shopping for my family members and even afford special foods during the Eid-ul-Fitr," she said with tears in her eyes.
As many as 85 workers on strike had fallen ill so far and 10 of them had to be hospitalised, according to Dr Mojibul Haq Arzu, convener of Progressive Doctors Forum, who have been attending to the on-strike workers since Wednesday last.
The protesting workers also put forward their five-point demand.
The five demands are: immediate payment of unpaid wages, overtime bills and festival allowance, the factories must be kept open so that the workers can retain their livelihood, compensation for workers who have fallen ill, scrapping the bail of Tuba Group MD Delwar Hossain and giving him the death penalty, and compensation for the victims of Tazreen Fashions fire.
According to bdnews24.com, the High Court granted bail to Tuba Group MD Hossain on July 24.
The bench of Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder granted the bail on July 24, but it became known Thursday.
State counsels, however, could not confirm if the copy of the court order had been issued.
Deputy Attorney General Shafiul Bashar Bhandary said Friday: "The court has granted two-month bail to Delwar in the Tazreen fire case issuing a rule that asked why he won't be given permanent bail."
Asked whether Hossain is going to be released, he said: "He won't be freed without a written order. I can't confirm if the written order has been issued or not, though the bail was granted on July 24.
State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu on Thursday said Hossain got bail and might be released by Sunday or Monday.
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