Tuba workers lay siege to BGMEA headquarters

The agitating workers of Tuba Group Tuesday hemmed in employees and office bearers of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association inside the BGMEA headquarters for two hours amid police intervention, in an unflinching stance on realising full payment of their dues.
Witnesses said even police baton charge couldn't deter the slogan-canting workers from laying the pre-announced siege to the owners' association office, at the height of their demonstrations continuing since before the Eid festival.   
Several hundred protesters marched on the office of country's apex trade body at Karwan Bazar in the capital at about 11:40am. Police were reinforced, and they charged baton to drive back the protesters.   
"They got dispersed but soon regrouped. The demonstrators then staged a sit-in blockading the entrance to the BGMEA office," says a firsthand report on the squatting.  
At the demonstration rally, the agitators under the banner of Tuba Group Sramik Sangram Committee warned the apparel-makers, the government and a section of workers' groups of tougher movement soon unless their five-point demands are met.
A tripartite committee to resolve the Tuba crisis made a decision in a recent meeting on clearing three months' wage areas in two phases, only to be rebuffed by the workers.
Rejecting the decision, one of the agitating workers, Suman, said those who took the decision never visited the unpaid workers who have been on hunger strike for nine days.
He said the BGMEA leaders made the decision in league with the pro-owner workers' leaders and they're yet to inquire about the Tuba workers' physical, financial and mental condition even though nine days have elapsed through the crisis.
"We've completely rejected the so-called decision. We want full payments of dues, including overtime bills and festival allowances, on a single date. And the arrears will have to be cleared from the factory premises where the workers are on hunger strike," he added.
Speaking on the matter, a key member of the Sangram Committee, Taslima Akhter Lima, convener of Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati (BGSS), said the 7th floor at Hossain Supermarket, which houses three units of Tuba Group, has now been turning into a temporary hospital with workers falling sick one after another because of their fast-unto-death strike.
"But the owners have made an agreement in respect of payment of the workers' dues without consulting the protesting workers and labour groups. It's nothing but eyewash," she said.
Terming the labour groups that took part in the tripartite committee as paid ones by the owners, President of Bangladesh Textiles Garment Workers' Federation Mahbubur Rahman Ismail said the apparel-makers are trying to divide the workers' groups to foil the ongoing movement.
"And it will have negative impact on the US$15 billion industry-the owners should accept the logical demands of the workers without wasting any more time as workers are becoming violent by the day," he said.
President of Bangladesh Sramik-Karmachari Federation Jahirul Islam Jahir called upon the BGMEA not to do "politics" with the workers' arrears and movement, which will be very costly.
"If the workers' full payments are not cleared by Wednesday evening, the owners and the government should be ready to face tougher movements like work abstention and strike in the country's apparel industrial belts," he warned.
Miraj, another worker of the embattled Tuba Group, said no workers of the conglomerate will take partial wage from the BGMEA office tomorrow (Wednesday) as decided by them.
"We work for Tuba Group. Then why we should take due payments from the BGMEA. Please accept our demands … don't force us towards violent activities," he said.
The agitating workers and their leaders were also critical over BGMEA's move to get released Delwar Hossain, Managing Director of Tuba Group, saying that his release will further inspire the owners to continue anti-worker practices.