70% factories yet to pay March salary

Around 70 percent of the factories in Bangladesh are yet to pay the salary of March as of today, according to industrial police.

However, around 70 percent of the production units have already paid the festival bonus of the workers.

As of today, around 99 percent out of the nearly 9,500 industrial units and factories under eight industrial zones paid the salary of February.

It is expected that the industrial units and factory owners will pay the workers in the next two days before the beginning of the Eid holidays.

The industrial zones are located in Ashulia, Savar, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Cumilla, Chattogram, Khulna, Sylhet and Narsingdi.

Earlier on March 27, State Minister for Labour and Employment Nazrul Islam Chowdhury urged the industry owners to clear the payment of workers' salaries and festival bonuses before the start of the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

The state minister made the call at a press briefing following a meeting with the representatives of the National Tripartite Consultative Council at the labour ministry.

No specific date was fixed then, but he wanted the payments to be cleared before the start of the government holidays for Eid.

He further clarified that the workers' Eid holidays will be equal and not shorter than the government-declared holidays.

Moreover, no worker can be terminated or laid off before Eid, Chowdhury said.

The payments should be cleared in time to avoid any untoward protest for salaries and bonuses before Eid, he said.