Hundreds of garment workers from several factories blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway in the Palli Bidyut area of Gazipur on Monday, demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka and the fulfilment of several other demands.
Mohammad Amjad Hossain, superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police-2, told Daily Waadaa that workers from different factories began gathering in the area in the morning to stage demonstrations.
He said members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had been deployed alongside police and other law enforcement personnel to help control the situation.
The latest protests come amid growing labour unrest across major garment manufacturing hubs, disrupting production at hundreds of factories on Sunday.
According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), at least 529 garment factories in Gazipur, Mymensingh, Mirpur and the Savar-Ashulia-Zirani industrial belt suspended operations on Sunday as workers left their workplaces amid protests over wage increases.
Of the affected factories, 276 were in Gazipur and Mymensingh, 68 in Mirpur and 185 in the Savar-Ashulia-Zirani areas.
Amid concerns over production disruptions, BGMEA held a meeting with representatives of its member factories on Sunday afternoon. More than 250 participants attended the meeting, representing up to 700 factories, including former association presidents and other industry leaders.
Speaking to Waadaa, Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said factory owners were increasingly concerned about production losses and uncertainty over the continuation of operations.
“According to our report, around 529 factories in major industrial areas, including Mirpur, Ashulia, Gazipur and Savar, could not operate on Sunday as 980,000 workers left their factories without working,” he said.
Hatem said manufacturers could no longer afford to open factories in the morning only to suspend operations an hour later because of unrest.
He stressed that the immediate priority was to end violence and restore normalcy in industrial areas. He also urged workers and labour leaders to exercise restraint and act responsibly to prevent further disruptions.
Meanwhile, garment manufacturers warned that they might shut down their factories on Monday if the unrest continued.
They said they would consider suspending operations under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act as they struggled to maintain production amid ongoing protests over wages.
The government on Sunday formed a new wage board to determine the minimum wages of garment workers amid ongoing protests demanding a monthly minimum wage of 30,000 taka.
Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury announced the formation of the six-member board issuing two separate notifications appointing representatives of employers, workers and neutral parties to review the existing wage structure and recommend a new minimum wage.
The notifications instructed the chairman of the Minimum Wage Board to initiate the process of determining the minimum wage for garment workers in consultation with representatives of employers, workers and neutral members.
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