Workers being fired only to be hired on contract

A large number of readymade garment (RMG) factories in the capital and other industrial areas have cut jobs of a segment of their workers blaming it on workers' unrest and difficulty in implementing new wage structure.
Factory owners, labour leaders and leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have confirmed such job cuts.
Some labour leaders have said the owners are retrenching  regular workers in order to create a mechanism for running their factories with workers on contractual basis. Irregular workers lose rights to demand due benefits.
They, however, could not give the actual figure of workers already fired in different factories.    
BGMEA President Md. Atiqul Islam said the factory owners are facing a heavy financial burden due to wage hike and prevailing workers' unrest.
"It's early to speak about the figure of job cuts in the garment industry. But an owner cannot simply bear the wage hike unless he/she is able to carry on his business without facing any obstacles," said Mr. Islam.
He felt the need for return of normalcy on the political front to help stop job-cut and survival of the industry as well.
Sources at Narayanganj said the Ruposhi Bangla Garments has closed down three of their four units and the Liberty Knitting Dyeing is running its production by employing workers on contractual basis.
They said in December last the Metro Knitting and Dyeing  terminated around three hundred workers by paying their salaries.
When asked, the Metro Knitting and Dyeing authorities admitted the termination of workers.
Amal Podder, managing director of the Metro Knitting and Dyeing Mills, said they had closed one unit by paying the workers' wages as they could not bear the burden of new wage hike.
"The wages of the workers were hiked by around 43 per cent under the new structure. The buyers have not increased the prices in line with the wage hike," Mr. Podder told the FE.
He, however, blamed labour leaders and the government for the situation that has compelled them to suspend operation of his production units.
"Around 99 per cent workers are production-friendly. But the workers' leaders and the government have failed to contain the unrest in the industry," Mr Podder said.
He said the apparel industry will not be able to overcome the prevailing crisis unless the industry-friendly policies come into effect.
The officials of the Micro Fiber Group said recently they closed its knitting and dyeing factory Liberty following the workers' pressure in implementing the new wage structure.
"We requested our workers to give time for implementing the new wage hike. But they refused to do so and the factory was closed amid workers' pressure," said Md. Mizanur Rahman Patwary, general manger of the Micro Fiber Group.
He said their factory later was re-opened to run production on contractual basis.
"The workers will get wages as per new structure when the factory will have a plenty of orders. During the sluggish period, they will get only Tk 5300," said Mr. Patwary.
Kawser Ahmed Polash, executive president of the United Federation of Garment Workers, said some factory owners have slashed jobs of many workers as regular workers will have to be paid higher amount as per new wage structure. "It's a mechanism of running the factories with workers employed on contractual basis," Mr Polash said.
He said a worker employed on contractual basis will not be able to demand his/her due benefits. "The owners now prefer workers' employment on contractual basis as they can be terminated at any time," said Mr Polash.   
Tawhidur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Apparel Workers Federation, said some factories in Mirpur area also terminated a section of their workers.
According to Mr Rahman, the Pro-Star Apparel, the Trust Trouser and the N.C.R. Garment have retrenched some workers.
"However, some of the workers have been re-employed with the agreement that they will lose their jobs after one month," he said.
Among other labour leaders, president of the National Garment Workers Federation Amirul Haque Amin said some factories in Savar and Gazipur have fired workers ahead of the new salary structure implementation.
"The factories that do jobs under sub-contracting arrangement are cutting jobs of workers due to lower volume of production and prevailing hostile situation. Other factories are also facing problems in implementing the new salary structure," said Mr Amirul.