Why does labour unrest drag on?

Following the political changeover on August 5, the country's main export-earnings sector, the garments industry, witnessed a large-scale and drawn-out spell of labour unrest in industrial belts such as Savar, Gazipur, Ashulia, Zirabo and Zirani.

The weak law-and-order situation at the time contributed to the long period of agitation, which took hold in mid-July.

This seriously affected the shipment of goods, impacting both transportation and production.

The issue was only settled in the first week of October following the adaptation of a tripartite agreement in the last week of September.

The 18-point demands made by the garment workers had some logical requests and all of them were accepted.

For instance, a number of garment factories failed to pay timely salaries while around 5 percent failed to fully implement the minimum wage structure that came into effect in December last year.

The workers are unable to trust union leaders or factory owners as they were not paid timely despite several assurances, said a labour leader

Other demands included the removal of abusive mid-level managers as well as increases in attendance bonuses and tiffin allowances.

Union leaders also demanded swift amendments to the labour law, which has some anti-union clauses that hinder workers from forming unions unless they adhere to stringent conditions.

For example, they demanded revising the rule that requires at least 20 percent of workers to participate for the formation of a union in garment factories.

The workers also demanded a review of the minimum wage structure and the Ministry of Labour and Employment formed a committee to re-evaluate it in light of persistent inflation.

The decision on whether another minimum wage will be formulated for garment workers will be made by April next year.

The spate of labour unrest caused direct losses worth more than $100 million although indirect losses, as a consequence of delayed shipments, expensive air shipments, providing big discounts and cancellation of work orders, were far higher.

Moreover, the timing of the episode meant that local exporters received nearly 10 percent fewer work orders for the next autumn and winter seasons.

However, normalcy has been restored with the adoption of the 18-point charter as a majority of factories implemented the measures outlined in the agreement.

However, 19 factories could not implement it fully. As a result, unrest broke out again in those factories.

They failed to implement the changes due to a plethora of reasons, including the fact that some of the owners are abroad while others are in jail because of their political affiliations. Others are failing to avail loans from banks and are overburdened with instalments

AHM Shafiquzzaman, secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said the problem had been resolved at two to three factories.

The owners of the affected factories are either in jail, abroad or do not have the financial capacity to pay salaries, he said.

For the latest resolution, the government lent Tk 16 crore to TNZ Group so it could resolve problems in paying the workers of its Gazipur unit. Of the amount, Tk 10 crore was sourced from the finance ministry and Tk 6 crore from the Central Fund.

Following such assurances, workers withdrew their blockade along the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway on Monday night.

Newly-appointed Adviser to the Ministry of Labour and Employment M Sakhawat Hossain yesterday warned factory owners to pay workers timely and to implement the minimum wage structure.

"Otherwise, the government will appoint administrators to those factories," he said.

Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation, said the financial condition of garment workers is dire now due to inflation, which has hovered above 9 percent since March last year.

"On top of that, they do not get timely wages from factory owners," he lamented.

Some workers have not been paid for two to three months, so they took to the streets to realise their demands, he said.

He added that the latest spell of unrest took place in specific factories because they were not paying workers timely although a tripartite agreement in September said arrears would be cleared very soon.

Md Towhidur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Apparels Workers Federation, echoed Amin's views.

The workers are unable to trust union leaders or factory owners as they were not paid timely despite several assurances in the past, he said.

Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, the immediate past president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the association had warned factories to pay workers timely.

All factory owners are not adhering to the conditions in the 18-point agreement, he also said.

As a result, workers are taking to the streets to demand timely payment, he added.