Several hundred workers of a readymade garment factory on Monday staged demonstration in front of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association in the city as the factory authorities had shut the unit without any prior notice.The workers of SHB garments Ltd, situated at Khilgaon Chowdhury Para in the capital, alleged that the factory authorities hanged a closure notice on the factory gate during the vacation of Eid-ul-Fitr without any prior notice.In the closure notice, the factory owners said that under the national initiative the ILO conducted a safety inspection in the factories and suggested for necessary remediation.But the blinding owners were not willing to fix the safety faults and buyers were reluctant to provide orders to the factory.In the face of continuing business loss, the factory authorities were unable to run the unit, the notice said.The notice also mentioned that the BGMEA had also directed the factory authorities to suspend production in the unit.The BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu, however, said that BGMEA did not give direction to any factory to shut the unit. He said that the BGMEA would sit with the workers’ representatives to resolve the crisis. ‘The factory authorities on June 24 announced a nine-day vacation for Eid-ul-Fitr and today we found the closure notice on the factory gate,’ Md Shawan, one of the workers of the factory, told New Age.After hearing the news of closure notice all the workers of the factory gathered in front of the factory on Monday noon and later on they besieged the BGMEA headquarters demanded reopening of the factory or paying the dues and lawful benefits to the workers, he said.‘I worked for 10 years in the factory and it is disappointing for me that the authorities shut the factory without any prior notice. I want reopening of the factory or payment of all lawful benefits for my 10 years job,’ Sheuly Akter, another workers of the factory, said. According to the agitating workers, they put forward eight-point demands to the BGMEA including wages for the month of June and July, festival allowances for coming Eid-ul-Azha, four months basic as notice pay and payment for maternity leave and gratuity.
