Pay Eid bonus, salary by April 16, Ctg industrial police tells factory owners
Industrial Police of Chattogram has urged the factory owners to pay salaries, arrears and Eid bonuses to workers by April 16 to avoid any unrest before Eid-ul-Fitr.
Industrial Police has already sent letters to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) in this regard.
"We have issued letters to RMG owners asking to pay the arrears, salary and Eid bonus by April 16," said Mohammad Solaiman, superintendent of Chittagong Industrial Police.
April 20 is the deadline for those who are unable to clear the payment by this time, he SP said.
"We have identified around 67 to 70 RMG factories which have a history of workers' unrest before Eid over payment issues," said the SP.
Industrial Police has organised a meeting in this regard, to be held at Chattogram BGMEA office later in the day.
According to the Industrial Police and Department of Inspector for Factory and Establishment, 4,94,581 workers have been working at 1,480 different RMG and non-RMG factories in Chattogram.
Among the factories, 780 are apparel factories located in CPEZ, KPEZ and other parts of the city.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA said due to dollar crisis and global economic unrest following the Russia-Ukraine war, RMG work orders declined significantly. They feated that it it would not be possible for all factories to fulfil the workers' demands before Eid.
BGMEA First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam said yesterday, "It's true that the global crisis has put some organisations in a vulnerable situation. We will talk to the police and seek their findings so that we can work jointly to fight the issues."
Wishing not to be named, a police official of IP Chattogram told the newspaper, "We can't contact the owners on time when their workers take to the streets for salaries. This year, we don't want to take any risks. April 20 is the last working day, so we are pursuing the owners to clear the salaries as well as the Eid bonus by that date."
Asked, Chattogram IP's Additional Superintendent of Police Nadira Noor said, "Our police officers are going to talk with factory administrations. Apart from that, there is also communication with the workers to know about their demand before Eid.
"We hope this year there will be no unrest in the apparel sector in Chattogram before Eid," she said.
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