Amid worker protests in and around the capital for pay hikes, factory owners yesterday said they will come to a middle ground with labour rights representatives while deciding the minimum wage.

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

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

Yesterday, factory owners also threatened to shut down their production units and withhold wages if the workers continued demonstrations while discussions were underway.

Briefing reporters after the fifth meeting of the Minimum Wage Board at its office in the capital, Board Chairman Liaquet Ali Molla said owners will move up from their proposed minimum wage of Tk 10,400, although he did not give a figure.

"The minimum wage board is a bargaining process. We will increase our proposed figure, the workers will decrease theirs, and together we will settle on a figure we both agree on," Siddiqur Rahman, representative of the factory owners, told The Daily Star.

At yesterday's meeting, workers and owners also agreed to eliminate the first and second grades of the wage structure, he said.

The new wage structure is expected to come into effect next month.

At a separate meeting yesterday, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) decided to close down factories in line with section 13(1) of the labour law if the owners cannot run their factories.

Under this provision, workers do not get paid if they do not work.

This provision also allows owners to close factories and withhold payment if workers participate in strikes that are considered illegal. A strike is considered illegal if it is enforced without prior notice.

"There should not be any confusion about imposition of section 13(1) of the labour law which says that if any factories cannot operate, they will be shut down for the greater interest of the industries and for the country," said Faruque Hassan, president of BGMEA, the apex body of RMG factory owners.

The decision came from an emergency meeting of 200 factory owners held at the BGMEA office in the capital's Uttara.

Faruque Hassan directed the owners to shut down their production units if they cannot operate.

At a press briefing after the meeting, he said a few hundred factories were vandalised over the last one week.

In response to recent concerns regarding the garment industry, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has warned of tough actions against anyone "destabilising the garment sector" in the name of wage hike.

During his visit to the Cancer Hospital in Rangpur on Wednesday, the minister said discussions are underway to review the wage structure, aligning it with international labour standards.

Leaders of RMG factory owners held an emergency meeting with the home minister yesterday evening and informed him that they would shut down their factories from today and implement no work no pay.

Mahabubor Rahman, the chief of industrial police, confirmed the matter.

"Leaders of factory owners discussed the issues and requested for more security. We have already taken measures to beef up security measures.

"We believe there are outsiders' instigation behind the unrest. We have taken steps to identify the outsiders and take legal action against them."

Also yesterday, a section of garment workers observed work abstention and staged demonstration in Dhaka's Mirpur-11, demanding pay increase and protesting Tuesday's police action and attacks on workers, allegedly by some pro-government activists.

Garment factories around the area were vandalised, as workers were chased away by people wearing T-shirts with the word Awami League written on them, witnesses said.

Aminul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shah Ali Police Station, said a section of workers were throwing brick chunks at factories that were open.

Yesterday, about 300 people gathered in the area around 10:00am and blocked the road.

Clean Clothes Campaign, the international garment industry's largest alliance of labour unions, sent a press release saying that workers have a right to demonstrate.

"We are witnessing history repeating itself, as the playbook for the suppression of workers' demands, which was successful five years ago, is being used again this year by the government apparatus and the BGMEA alike. Furthermore, we call on the government of Bangladesh to stop politicising the wage protests and instead acknowledge the unrest as a direct reaction to the BGMEA's outrageous wage proposal, which would simply trap workers in poverty for another five years, regardless of the political landscape in Bangladesh," it said.

Taslima Akter, coordinator of a platform of unions and organisations fighting for better pay, said workers are fighting for their right to food.

"They came to the streets only because the factory owners proposed a minimum wage that is so much less than what they had demanded," she said.

Amirul Haque Amin, the head of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, called on the workers to stop the violence.

"But closing the factories is not a logical solution. Setting a new minimum wage quickly is."