151 garment units vandalised since Jan

Jasim Uddin Haroon brAt least 151 garment factories were vandalised between January and August as tens and thousands of workers protested over low wages and rumoured deaths of their fellow labourers, the industry said Monday. brThe crisis management cell of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said sweater factories made up nearly 50 per cent of the list of vandalised factories.brRumour over workers death caused most of the damage, as workers -- acting like an angry political mob -- took to the streets and attacked factories to trace out their missing colleagues, the cell said.brOut of 151 factories vandalised till August, 109 have been attacked due to rumour over workers' death, Mansur Khaled , BGMEA joint secretary who heads the crisis cell, said, adding the rests were due to protests over low wages.brIn almost every case the missing worker was later traced out to be in sound health. We have investigated these rumour incidents but still don't have idea how they were spread and who were behind.brThe crisis cell said the factories damaged during the period were bigger in size, each employing an average 8000 workers and most of them have good payment and labour relations record.brTogether they make up some 40 per cent of the country's RMG exports., Khaled said, adding since January at least 12 factories had to be shut down sine die following vandalism. brBangladesh has some 4500 garment factories, which accounted for 76 per cent of the country's US$14.11 export earnings last year. brThe factories also make up 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product and 40 per cent of the country's total industrial workforce. brMale workers aged between 18 and 23 years with a minimum educational qualification of matriculation were behind the attacks, the cell's findings said. brBGMEA chief Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, who ordered the in-depth study on the labour unrest, said the findings pointed that vested quarters was out to destroy the country's single largest export earner and employer.brWe have seen that most of these factories have very good payment and compliance records. Yet why they were being targeted deliberately, asked Parvez.brThe fact that rumours over workers' death were causing most of the unrest proves that some vested quarters are out to smear the image of Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, he added.brParvez did not specify the vested quarters but blamed the government for a poor law and order situation in the industry.brIn most of the incidents, the government's law enforcing agencies acted late and lazily, leaving the workers to do whatever they wanted. The government even did not issue a statement condemning these incidents, he said.brFazlul Hoque who heads the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, a group of some 1200 factories, termed the incidents mysterious.brThe more you analyse these incidents, the more you become confused. It is a mystery that only the good factories are being attacked, Hoque said. brUnion leaders rubbished the conspiracy theory, saying the escalation of unrest was mainly due to protests over low wages, as the country's more than 2.5 million garment workers have been the worst hit by sky-rocketing prices.brWorkers hit the streets and sometimes attacked factories because of mistreatment by the owners and very poor and irregular payments, Amirul Haq Amin, general secretary of National Garments Workers Federation said. brOver the last two years, rice prices have doubled, house rent shot up while cost of living rose by more than 70-80 per cent. Yet the workers were hardly been compensated, Amin said.brIn the last ten years, we have seen most of the big owners multiplying their assets and factories. Yet, workers salaries' remained almost the same, said Shamima Nasrin, the president of Swadhin Bangla Garments Federation.brNasrin also blamed physical torture and harassment by mid-level managers for the escalating unrest.brThere are hundreds of girls and boys who have been tortured by the managers, she said. brThe escalation of labour unrest came despite a 20 percent increase in garment exports during the period, which buttressed the country's economic growth in a year of natural calamities and soaring inflation. brManufacturers said growth would have been much higher had the government ensured security at the factories.br