Labour leaders at a rally in the city on Friday demanded 50 per cent dearness allowance and introduction of rationing for the garment workers from the current month. Leaders of six like-minded garment labour rights bodies organised the rally in front of the National Press Club. Addressing the rally, Samajtantrik Sramik Front general secretary Razequzzaman Ratan said that the workers of the garment factories were low paid as they get only Tk. 5,300 minimum wage per month. So, it has been difficult for the garment workers to run their families with the soaring prices of the essential commodities. He called on the government to announce 50 per cent dearness allowance for the garment workers before announcing the next wage board for them. Sramik Nirapatta Forum general secretary Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said that the government already implemented new pay scale for the government employees, but did not form wage commission for the workers of the nationalised sector. Chaired by Jatiya Garments Kalyan Federation president Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, the rally was addressed, among others, by labour leader Mokaddem Hossain, garment labour leaders Mohammad Touhidur Rahman, Mahtab Uddin, Nasrin Akhter and Shefali Hossain. The leaders of the garment labour organisations announced month-long mass contact programmes including holding view exchange meetings with the leaders of different labour rights bodies and holding rallies and processions in the garment industry belts in the country. The rally was followed by a red flag procession that paraded different city roads.
