Garment workers protest in Gazipur on the second day

Workers at a garment factory in Gazipur blocked the Dhaka-Joydevpur highway for the second day in a row to demand payment of back wages and benefits. Seven people, including police officers and a magistrate, were injured in the attack. A case has been brought against 150 people in the incident.

Due to the long blockage of the important main road to enter the city of the district, the patients going to the hospital together with the emergency service vehicles and the locals are suffering immensely.

Gazipur Industrial Police Inspector Islam Hossain said workers at Gazipur City Corporation’s Laxmipura Area Style Crafts Limited paid the remaining 35 percent of their September and October wage arrears of 60 percent and salary November, overtime allowance and maternity allowance. Protests At one point, they blocked the Dhaka-Joydevpur highway near the factory from 3:30 pm to 9:30 pm. At around 9:30 p.m., the factory owner announced that the workers’ November wage would be paid on January 8 and the December wage on January 19.

Apart from this, the other worker fees are subject to negotiation and will subsequently be paid in phases.

Agitated workers did not accept the decision and were agitated. At this moment they begin to throw bricks. Rezwan Ahmed, additional deputy commissioner of the GMP, Wasiuzzaman, executive magistrate of Gazipur, and Samir Chandra Sutradhar, inspector of industrial police, were among the seven injured in the attack. To control the situation, the police chased and dispersed the workers carrying truncheons. When agitated workers left the area, traffic resumed on the road about six hours later.

Meanwhile, in the face of labor unrest, last night the authorities announced a holiday at the factory today Friday and tomorrow Saturday. The factory opening notice was hung on the door the Monday after next Sunday’s weekly holiday.

As usual, workers came to the factory on Friday morning to join the job and were upset to see the notice. At this time the workers gathered at the factory gate and began to protest demanding the payment of their fees and the reopening of the factory. At one point, they began to protest blocking the road next to the factory for a second day around 8 a.m. Hundreds of vehicles were stuck on both sides of the road, causing long traffic jams. The main road leading to the district town has long been blocked and the locals, including the sick who go to hospital, are suffering.

Industrial Police Inspector Sameer Chandra Sutradhar said police rushed to the scene after receiving news of dissatisfaction from workers. At that time, the police tried to get the workers off the road to control the situation. But the workers did not lift the blockade. The workers demanded the presence of the factory owner and to dialogue with him about the payment of wages. At that time, the police took the initiative to reach an agreement with the owners through the discussion of the workers’ representatives. Until this report was written at noon-thirty today, workers were protesting by blocking the road. As the roadblock continued for a second day Friday afternoon, passengers and pedestrians were suffering.

Gazipur Sadar Police Officer in Charge (CO) Rafiqul Islam said a case was brought against 140 to 150 unidentified people in Thursday’s incident.

According to the protesters, the authorities have paid 75 percent of the workers’ wages for September and October. The factory has around five thousand five hundred workers. For the past few days, workers have been demanding payment of the remaining 35 percent of their quotas in September and October, 60 percent of arrears and the current payment for November. But the authorities keep making excuses. The factory authorities did not pay the workers’ fees even after setting the date more than once. The workers began to get agitated as they did not pay their wages even on the last scheduled Thursday.