April 16 Deadline: 370 RMG factories didn’t pay workers

At least 370 garment factories have failed to pay their workers' salary within the stipulated time of April 16, said the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).

The DIFE will serve the defaulter factory owners with show-cause notices soon, it warned, adding that if the owners fail to respond, their licences may be suspended for renewal which is scheduled in July this year.

Shibnath Roy, inspector general of the DIFE, yesterday said, "If the owners of the respective factories cannot come up with satisfactory replies, we will recommend the Ministry of Labour and Employment to file cases against the defaulters with the labour courts."

According to the DIFE official, a total of 158,091 workers worked in those 370 factories.

He, however, did not specifically mention when the show-cause notices would be served. Besides, the amount of the due salaries could not be known as most of the units were shut for coronavirus outbreak.

Of the factories, 122 are in Dhaka district, 120 in Gazipur, 30 in Narayanganj, 58 in Chattogram, 11 in Mymensingh, three in Pabna, six in Narsingdi, one in Munshiganj, three in Dinajour, two in Rangpur, five in Cumilla, four in Faridpur, two in Rajshahi and three in Khulna, as per the DIFE.

Meanwhile, some factories went for layoffs to avert the labour unrest, Roy said, adding that the DIFE was investigating whether the layoffs were executed lawfully.

Earlier on April 14, in a statement, the DIFE asked the factory managements to disburse the workers' wages by April 16.

The DIFE came up with the statement as the garment workers continued their protest demanding their wage for March, and against the termination of workers from their jobs.

WHAT DOES BGMEA SAY?

In a statement, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday said 95 percent of the workers' salary had been disbursed.

"We would also like to mention that we are trying heart and soul to achieve the disbursement of the rest of the workers' salary shortly," the statement read.

According to BGMEA, 2,370,917 workers had been paid out of total 2,472,417 as of yesterday, which is 95.89 percent of total workers.

Out of total 2,274 BGMEA member factories, 2,071 disbursed the workers' wages which is 91.07 percent of the total factories, BGMEA added.

LABOUR UNREST CONTINUES

The workers in Ashulia and Chattogram continued their protest yesterday demanding the wages for March.

Around 350 workers of Penta Forth Apparels Ltd in Ashulia's Kathgora area demonstrated in front of the factory.

Workers of the factory said, factory management assured them for multiple times regarding salary but to no avail.

Workers gathered for salary as factory authorities previously assured the workers' leaders that they would pay the salary yesterday. But they alleged that they could not find the authorities of the factories inside when they reached there.

"We are waiting in front of the factory gate. We will not go back to home until we get our salary," the workers said yesterday.

Al Kamran, vice president of Shadin Bangla Garments Shramik Fedaration, said the top executives of the factory went into hiding although they assured the workers of payments by yesterday.

In another incident, more than 500 workers of a garment factory in Chattogram city blocked Agrabad road area from 11:00am to 01:00pm demanding their last month's salary.

According to the police and workers of Frank Garments (pvt) Limited, workers of the factory were assured by owners of payments by Saturday, but they did not get anything.

Sadit Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Double Mooring Police Station, told the Daily Star, "We conducted a meeting with top officials of the factory around 12:00am and they promised to disburse all payments by April 28."