An apparel factory in Narayanganj has amicably settled due benefits of its 'terminated' workers in the face of their legal initiative against alleged deprivation from the management, sources at the Labour Court said.
The workers, mostly unaware about their rights, took move to realise their due benefits with the support of Labour Legal Aid Cell (LLAC), a government agency formed last year for this purpose.
Under the 'out of court' settlement, the factory authorities recently paid Tk 278,000 to 19 terminated workers altogether as their due financial benefits, setting an imitable example for other RMG (readymade garment) owners to follow the less-troublesome ADR (alternative dispute resolution) solution.
Though the amount of money that the management paid is ostensibly quite less than that the workers calculated, some of them expressed their 'satisfaction' as they, at least, got some money without any long legal fight.
"We were raising our voice for realising some demands from the owners. Suddenly one day, the management barred us (about 28 workers) from entering the factory without showing any reason or paying the due benefits," Amir Hossain, one of the 19 workers, told the FE.
Making a list of some selected workers, they (management) on the day disallowed them to enter the factory for further work, he said. "Even, we were not informed whether we were still workers of the factory or not."
Then, the 'terminated' RMG workers went to the LLAC and sought redress in this connection.
On behalf of the workers, the LLAC sent separate grievance notices to the management of the apparel company, the name of which starts with the letter 'A', at Sanarpar area under Siddhirganj in Narayanganj.
In the notices, the LLAC called upon the management to settle the due payments amicably. Otherwise, it threatened to lodge cases against them with the Labour Court in Dhaka.
Having received the grievance notices, some workers said, representatives of the factory owners called them to a meeting, where the management offered a particular amount of money to each of the workers as due benefits.
Although the workers felt that the offered amount was much lower than their calculation, considering their limitations to bargain with and fight legally against the owners, the workers finally agreed with the proposal and received the money, they said.
Md Sifat and Md Masum, who were knitting operators at the factory, said they received the money though it was much lower than their claim.
The workers could not bargain strongly with the management mainly due to lack of knowledge about their own legal rights and their inferior position to the authorities.
An official connected with the Labour Court said that with the settlement under ADR, both the workers and management actually got relief from legal fight that causes wastage of time and money and also mental agony.
Law officer at the LLAC Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury told the FE, "When workers come to us, we first send grievance notices offering the managements concerned to amicably settle their disputes with the workers out of court."
"Because, it reduces the backlog of cases at the courts," Mr Chowdhury said.
"If the management does not pay heed to the notices, then we, on behalf of the workers, file cases against the authorities with the Labour Court for the sake of protecting legal rights of the workers," he added.
Mr Chowdhury urged workers at all types of entities to receive advice and necessary support from the LLAC in case of any violation of their rights. Hotline phone number of LLAC, located at the Shrama Bhaban adjacent to the city's Dainik Bangla intersection, is 01761-222224.
LLAC provides legal advice and other required supports to the workers free of cost.
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