Law enforcing agencies are greatly concerned over possible labour unrest over the timely payment of salaries and festival allowances in the apparel industry in the port city ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Meanwhile on Thursday, several hundred apparel workers of Glory Industries Ltd in Bayezid area of the city took to the streets and put barricades on the roads bringing the traffic to a halt for two hours. The workers of the apparel factory belonging to Sunman Group took to the streets protesting the delay in paying off the arrear salaries. However, the labour leaders observed that any agitation by the workers could easily be averted if the factory owners pay off all outstanding wages and festival allowances before the biggest festival of the Muslim community. The trade union leaders in apparel sector of Chittagong urged the factory owners to pay off all the outstanding salaries and festival allowances well ahead of Eid to avert any untoward incident. At a meeting with leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on June 21, Abdul Jalil Mondal, commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, requested the factory owners to clear all arrears and allowances by July 15. The factory owners will not be able to avoid responsibility if any labour unrest erupts because of unpaid salaries and allowances, he added. Contacted, Abdul Jalil Mondal told The Independent that it was very inhuman not to pay off the outstanding wages and festival allowances. “I will urge the apparel factory owners to comply with the decision taken at the June 21 meeting. Every apparel factory owner will have to clear all the outstanding wages and allowances by July 15,” said the CMP chief. Meanwhile, industrial police in the port city have already prepared a list of 70 sick apparel factories which may trigger labour unrest. Tofayel Ahmed Mia, director of industrial police, Chittagong, said that they prepared the list of sick factories based on a number grounds. “The factories having no membership of BGMEA, running on sub-contract basis, having previous records of not paying off wages on time and having no work order have been included in the list,” added Tofayel. “We are on high alert. We are also going to hold meetings with the owners of the sick factories to ward off untoward incidents like labour unrest, agitation and vandalism,” said Tofayel. Abdur Razzaque, president of the Chittagong chapter of Bangladesh OSK Garment and Textile Workers Federation, said that the factory owners must comply with the government directive to pay off salary of June by July 10 and festival allowance by July 14. “You can hardly rule out the possibility of untoward incident ahead of Eid if the outstanding wages and festival bonuses are not paid off on time,” added the labour leader. Echoing the same demand, Tapan Dutta, president of the Chittagong unit of Bangladesh Trade Union Centre, said that the RMG factory owners must comply with the government directive to clear all outstanding dues by July 14. Mohammad Mamun, general secretary of Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha, Chittagong, claimed that only 30 percent RMG factories were abiding by the minimum wage structure set by the wage board of the country. “The apparel factory owners usually sack the workers on a fragile ground so that they don’t have to clear the payments ahead of Eid,” added Mamun. According to the BGMEA, 750 factory owners of Chittagong are members of the organisation. However, out of the total figure, only 400 apparel factories are running factory productions employing around 5 lakh people. While talking to the BGMEA, MA Wahab, director of the BGMEA, said that they directed every member of the organisation to pay off the outstanding wages and allowances on time so that no untoward incident could take place.
