Metropolis Report-
Hundreds of garment workers in Gazipur’s Konabari and Targach areas have been staging protests to demand pay adjustments under the new wage board.
The Dhaka-Tangail highway is still closed to traffic because, at 7:45 a.m., about 700 employees of Meigo Bangladesh (Bay-Economic Zone) Ltd blocked the route to fulfill their six-point demand.
Police and factory sources claim that at around 7:30 am, the workers staged their six-point demand outside the Dhaka-Tangail highway. Later, at around 7:45 a.m., the workers blocked the highway.
The workers stated, “We have to be included in Grades 1 through 4 according to the new wage structure announced by the government,” referring to their six-point demand. To cut costs for the authorities, however, the majority of our employees are now classified as Grades 3 and 4. Tafsil ‘A’ and ‘B’ should be used to determine the salary structure. The salary should be set at eight hours per day rather than ten.
They said that workers who demonstrate their rights cannot be fired and that the basic salary and overtime rate should be set by government regulations.
Md. Khalid Hasan, the administrative manager of Meigo Bangladesh (Bay-Economic Zone) Ltd., stated that although the workers’ salaries had increased, they did not appreciate it. In addition, he stated that efforts are being made to find a solution.
The officer in charge of the Konabari Police Station, Muhammad Ziaul Islam, reported that some workers staged a protest in front of the Bay-Economic Zone early in the morning.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Operation and Intelligence), Md Imran Ahmed, of Gazipur Industrial Police-2, reported that the workers have been protesting for the past few days. They continued by blocking the road today.
Around 8:00 am, more than one hundred employees of Moonlight Garments Ltd. and Ehsan Garments began demonstrating in the Targach area.
When contacted, Sub-inspector Sharmin, a duty officer at the Gacha Police Station, stated that they would investigate the situation even though they were unaware of the demonstration.
Over a hundred employees of the two factories, according to labor leader Azizul Islam, have been demonstrating in favor of a pay increase through the introduction of a new wage board.
The employees claimed that their pay did not correspond with their grade levels for work done in first and second grade. They were depicted as workers in Grades 3–4. for the authorities at the factory to pay us less. It appears that our senior operators are junior.
Ataur Rahman, senior administrative officer of Moonlight Garments Ltd. and Ehsan Garments, was reached by phone by our Gazipur correspondent but did not answer.
