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Pay salary, arrears, bonus

RMG workers demand

Staff Correspondent
Protesting police atrocities on readymade garment workers (RMG) at Uttara and Uttarkhan in the city on Tuesday, workers' leaders at a press conference yesterday demanded their arrears, including Eid bonus before Ramadan 27.
They also demanded steps by the government to sell the property of the factory owners, who laid off their factories without paying workers' dues, on auction to pay the arrears.
At the press conference organised by National Alliance for Protection of Garment Workers and Industries at Dhaka Reporters' Unity, speakers said that in some garment factories workers are unpaid for months and even in Ramadan they remain unpaid.
The alliance leaders placed their seven-point demand and declared to form a human chain on September 27 at Topkhana Road in the city if their demands are not met by the time.
Their demands include payment of 50 percent dearness allowance until the minimum wage of RMG workers is fixed by the wage board, lifting all sorts of restrictions on trade union activities, arrest and punishment to the garment owners who violated the labour laws and payment of arrear bills of workers of Honour Way Textile and Apparels (Pvt) Limited that was laid off illegally.
Helena, sister of Hosne Ara who was critically injured during the police atrocities on Tuesday, during a sit-in in front of Honour Way Textile and Apparels (Pvt) Limited at Uttarkhan said, "Suddenly on July 15 the authorities declared the factory closed saying that the owner had died.*
During the last 14 years the authorities closed the factory at least three times, every time saying that the owner had died, she added.
The workers of the laid-off factory said that the authorities fabricated the story only to misappropriate Tk 13 crore of the Provident Fund of the workers.
They also said that discontentment and frustration among RMG workers have been prevailing for long in the sector and there might be an outburst any time paralysing the sector, which is the largest foreign remittance earner in the country.
Convener of the alliance Abul Hossain and its central committee members Shaheeb UUah, Golam Kadir, Rafiqul Islam Sujan, Mohammad Hossain Mollah, Zannatul Ferdous and Joynal Abedin attended the press conference.
Meanwhile, women members of National Garment Workers' Federation staged a sit-in at its central office onTopkhana Road.
Federation President Shahida Sarkar, General Secretary Amirul Huq, Vice President Faruk Khan and
Joint Secretary Kamrun Nahar were present.
Over half of the garment factories across the country have not yet paid Eid bonus and other arrears, they said demanding interference of the government, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BKMEA) to ensure payment of Eid bonus and other arrears before Ramadan 27, says a press release.
Sramabikash Kendra, another platform of RMG workers, formed a human chain in front of the High Court yesterday demanding implementation of tripartite agreement among the government, RMG workers and garment owners signed in 2006.
About 70 percent garments of a total of 4500 garments across the country pay workers Tk 1200 only per month as salary instead of Tk 1662.50, which was fixed by the deal, they said, adding that if the workers demand salary as per the deal, owners of the factories threaten to lay off the factories.
Leaders and workers of Bachteshikho Nari, Garment Sramik Karmachari Federation and RMG workers from different garment factories in Gazipur attended the human chain, said another press release.