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Garment makers seekTk 2,OOOcrto give salary, bonus

BSS, Dhaka
Garment manufacturers seek Tk 2,000 crore in a 'rescue fund' to meet urgent requirements ahead of Eid, as workers are mounting pressure on factory owners to pay two months' salaries and festival allowances.
The workers and employees are demanding two months' salaries and full festival allowances. Traditionally, workers or employees are entitled to festival allowance for their job for a minimum of one year.
A meeting of garment owners held at Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday observed that the government could release Tk 2,000 crore ahead of Eid from the Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package declared in the 2009-2010 national budget.
Although the garment industry is losing orders and prices of RMG items are declining across the globe due to recession, the owners will have to pay salaries and festival allowances to workers and employees, it was observed at the meeting.
Garment owners alleged that workers’ leaders in some of factories are making "illogical demand" and mounting pressure on the owners, which they feared might create a volatile situation any time.
The government has so far made commitments of prodding assistance to the RMG sector, effective measures are yet to be taken, some of the discussants at the meeting said.
Considering all these, if the government provides rescue funds, many factory owners who have been put in trouble for failure of making profits due to poor exports and lower prices could overcome the coming volatile situation, they added.
RMG owners urged the BGMEA leaders to inform different quarters of the government about the situation for persuading release of the amount as rescue fund.
One-tenth of the lawmakers (31 out of300 parliamentarians) are represented from the RMG sector and can play a vital role in overcoming the situation through raising the issue at the highest level of the government, the participants ofthe meeting said.
Besides, the participants demanded that the government provide assistance for 270 sick companies in the RMG sector from the stimulus package so owners of those industries could overcome the situation.
Referring to recent unrest in garment factories, the RMG owners said appropriate measures should be taken to avoid such incidents and as part of it the parent of salaries and festival allowances should be made ahead of Eid.
They said in recent past, various incidents took place with such demands and unrest situation and clashes were created and some factories were set ablaze in Gazipur, Savar and other garment belts.