At least 30 garment factories in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, declared holidays on Saturday as workers took to the streets demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka and other benefits.
The workers staged demonstrations and blocked the Bismile-Zirabo road from around noon, disrupting traffic for nearly three hours.
According to police and local sources, workers of Naim Knitwear in the Kathgara area first stopped work inside the factory on Saturday morning. They later came out and staged demonstrations on the road, throwing bricks and stones at several nearby factories.
The situation escalated, leading to clashes and chases between protesters and police.
Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Industrial Police-1, told Daily Waadaa that workers had taken positions at several points before police persuaded them to leave the road in the afternoon.
“At least 30 nearby factories have declared holidays for security reasons. One of our police personnel was injured in the head by bricks thrown by protesters and is receiving treatment at a hospital,” he said.
Harun Or Rashid, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Ashulia Police Station, told Daily Waadaa that factory owners had declared holidays after the protests began. He said there had been no major confrontation involving regular police, although a member of the industrial police was injured.
An official of a garment factory near the protest site said almost all factories in the area had declared holidays, except for one or two in Kathgara Amtala. The authorities would assess the situation before deciding on further action, the official added.
Meanwhile, Khairul Mamun, legal affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Sweaters Workers Trade Union Centre, said garment workers had long been demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka.
He also called for an end to the blacklisting of workers and arbitrary dismissals.
Mamun said workers were increasingly frustrated because the promised formation of a wage board by October had not materialised.
Meanwhile, Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury has urged garment workers to return to their workplaces and refrain from further protests and vandalism, saying the government will form a new wage board on Sunday, November 1, to revise their minimum wages.
“There is no logical reason for factory vandalism or continued protests now,” the minister said at a press briefing on Saturday after a meeting with representatives of the country's two major apparel industry associations at the Labour Building in Bijoynagar, Dhaka.
The minister said the decision to form the wage board on November 1 was finalised following nearly five hours of discussions with labour leaders on Friday. Representatives of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) also agreed to the decision.
He said the meeting also discussed arrangements to ensure that workers receive their monthly wages by the seventh day of each month. Factory owners assured the government that outstanding salaries would be paid as soon as possible, he added.