300 garment factories shut amid lingering protests

Nearly 300 garment factories were shut amid lingering protests by workers in Gazipur and Ashulia today to press home their demand for an increase in the minimum wage, according to industrial police.

Of the factories, 220-225 are in the Gazipur industrial area, said Superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police Sarwar Alam.

In Ashulia, 60 factories were closed today, according to Sarwar Alam, superintendent of police of Ashulia Industrial Police-1.

As of Wednesday, 300 more factories located mainly in Gazipur, Konabari, Bason, Mouchak and Kashimpur areas, were shut because of the ongoing unrest, he said.

The agitating garment workers gathered in various places in the areas early this morning and demonstrated on the roads demanding a raise in their wage, Alam said.

In Dhaka's Mirpur area, there are around 235 factories and a good number of them have remained closed, said Masuk Mia, additional deputy commissioner of the Mirpur division of Police.

He, however, could not say immediately how many workers took to the streets. Roughly, 3,000 workers gathered at each protest site, he added.

The latest flurry of protests came after garment manufacturers proposed a minimum wage that is nearly half of what the workers are asking for.

A week ago, garment manufacturers proposed Tk 10,400 in the minimum wage against the workers' proposal of Tk 20,393.

Currently, the minimum pay in the readymade garment sector is Tk 8,000, which was set five years ago.

In some areas, demonstrations turned violent.

Faruque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said a few hundred factories were vandalised over the last week.

In response, the platform decided to keep the factories closed.

The decision came at a meeting of the leaders of the BGMEA and factory owners at the BGMEA office in Uttara on Wednesday. Later, they conveyed their decision to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.