Apparel worker leaders have threatened movement unless they get paid their wage for August in full, festival allowance and other dues about a week before Eid-ul-Fitr, to be celebrated either on August 31 or September 1.
The leaders also demanded introduction of low-price shops for apparel workers, increase in minimum wages and an end to termination of the job of workers without satisfactory reasons.
They urged apparel factory owners to stop night-shift duty of workers in Ramadan.
The low-paid apparel workers will not be able to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr if they were not paid their wages for August and the festival allowance before Eid, the Garment Workers' Unity Forum president, Mushrefa Mishu, said.
The Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association president, Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, told New Age that about 80 per cent of the factories would be able to pay the workers their wage for August in full, festival allowance and other dues by the time the workers are demanding.
He, however, said, 'The apparel industries are now facing hurdles such as bad business, fresh global economic recession and other problems.'
He said that they should be getting the incentives the government gives them now to pay the workers.
Mohiuddin said that they had already instructed the members of the association to pay the workers the wages, the festival allowance and other dues in time.
Some organisations of apparel workers have demanded that the workers should get paid by August 20 while some others said that they should get paid by August 25.
The Garment Workers Unity Forum has demanded the wage for August in full and the festival allowance by Ramadan 20.
Mushrefa said that workers were ill-paid and if they were not given the full wage for August and the festival allowance, they would not be able to celebrate Eid with their families properly.
'The festival allowance should be equal to the amount of full wage of a month,' she added.
The Garment Workers Trade Union Centre general secretary, KM Ruhul Amin, echoed what Mushrefa said.
He added that the owners should stop firing workers without satisfactory reasons and stop harassing them physically and mentally.
Taslima Akhter, a leader of the Garments Workers Action Council, a combine of nine organisations working for apparel workers, called on the government to take necessary steps so that the workers get the wage for August in full, festival allowance and other dues by Ramadan 20.
There will be unrest in the apparel sector if workers are not get paid in time, Taslima said.
She also said they would go on demonstrations to push for their four-point demands that include introduction of low-price shops for apparel workers, increase in minimum wages and end to the firing of workers without satisfactory reasons.
The combine has announced to hold a human chain on August 16 and a rally on August 19. It will also hold rallies in August 15–20 in areas that are home to apparel factories.
The National Garment Workers Federation president, Amirul Huq Amin, demanded that the workers should get paid by Ramadan 25. He also urged owners to stop-night shift duties of workers in Ramadan.
The apparel sector alone accounts for 76 per cent of the total export earning but the interest of workers in the sector have always been ignored, he added.
Amirul Huq said that most of the workers were women and from remote villages. About 25 lakh of the 35 lakh people employed in the sector are women.
The Jago Bangladesh Garments Sramik Federation president, Bahrene Sultan Bahar, echoed Amirul Huq.
The labour leaders said that there had been unrest before Eid in the past as the workers were not paid their wages and the festival allowance. They feared that if the workers were not paid well before Eid, there might be unrest again.
The home minister, Sahara Khatun, at an inter-ministry meeting on law and order in the apparel sector on August 7 instructed the owners to pay the workers their wages, allowance and dues in time to stave off any untoward incidents before Eid.
The meeting also decided to open a control room in the labour ministry to monitor the situation in the apparel sector throughout Ramadan.
It also directed the crisis management committee to hold a meeting every other day to avoid trouble in the sector.
The inter-ministry meeting also asked the Bangladesh Bank to take steps to keep open the banks on weekly holidays for smooth transactions before Eid.
The labour and employment minister, Khondker Mosharraf Hossain, state minister for labour Monnujan Sufian, state minister for home Shamsul Haque, representatives of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters' Association and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters' Association and senior officials of the law enforcement agencies, among others, attended the meeting.
Source : New Age
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