Islami Bank Bangladesh, the financier of Swan Garments over the last 30 years, plans to donate Tk 1.39 crore to clear the workers’ one-month salary, the bank’s Managing Director Mohammad Abdul Mannan said yesterday. Mannan hopes the bank’s Board of Directors will agree to give away the fund as a lifeline to the company. “If the board gives a go-ahead, we will take the issue to the central bank.” The bank cannot invest further in Swan Garments, which has 1,300 workers in two units, as the company does not have any legal owner now, he said. Islami Bank will need the central bank’s permission to further bankroll the factory, the loans of which have already been classified, Mannan said. Disputes over Swan’s ownership need to be settled first to resume its operations, he said. The bank will hand over the fund to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments or DIFE, said Syed Ahmed, inspector general of the department. DIFE is supervising the issue of Swan Garments on behalf of the government and will pay the workers in the absence of the owner, he said. The problems in finding a successor arose when some people claimed to be the legal owners of the company after the death of the factory’s Chinese owner and managing director, Ming Yuen Hon (Toby) in April. “The issue of a legal successor of the factory is yet to be resolved.” Since the death of Toby, the workers of the company took to the streets demanding payment of arrears. They demonstrated in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka for two weeks, but they changed the nature of the movement yesterday. “We will not sit in front of the press club for realising our demand. We will continue to organise programmes in parts of Dhaka, where the number of garment factories are high, said Ruhul Amin, general secretary of Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre. “The DIFE has assured us of paying the workers a month’s salary by August 6. We will now demonstrate for the reopening of the factory.” Amin said they will distribute leaflets particularly among the workers today to inform the workers about the situation.
