Tuba workers agitate, govt mulls legal step against owners

Workers of Tuba Group, which owns several readymade garment (RMG) units including the fire-razed Tazreen Fashions, staged demonstration for dues on Sunday in front of ‘Hossain Market’ in the city’s Uttar Badda that houses five of its factories. Several hundred workers gathered in the street facing the 12-storey Hossain Market today and staged the demo to press for their demands including three months of unpaid salary and Eid bonus which their employers refused to pay. Meanwhile, the government is mulling steps to initiate legal action against Tuba Group if it fails to pay workers their unpaid salaries and allowances within the next 24 hours ending on Monday. Scores of Tuba workers have been on a hunger strike for the past seven days. State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu has said: ‘I have talked to relevant people. Now we are waiting to take action.’ But Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar was hopeful that by today (Sunday) the workers could be given a ‘final assurance’ about payment of their dues by the Tuba authorities. Around 1,600 workers of Tuba’s five factories started their fast-unto-death programme on July 28, the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, inside Hossain Market to get their overdue wages for the months of May, June and July, according to a news agency.