Garment workers took to the streets and kept a road blacked at Mirpur Section 12 in Dhaka on Friday for nearly three hours in protest against relocation of a factory without prior notice.Workers complained that the employers had relocated the factory from Mirpur to Mohammadpur without informing them.Factory worker Shahin Hossain said they found the factory closed on Friday morning when they went to the factory just like every days. ‘Sensing the issue that the factory might be closed, we tried to talk to the factory owner several times in last few days,’ he said.‘But no one talked to us and closed the factory on Friday throwing hundreds of workers in utter uncertainty,’ he added. ‘The factory authorities have been shifting sewing machines, fabrics and other equipment for last few days, but they have not informed us about what was going on,’ said Harun-or-Rashid, a factory worker.He also alleged that in last two weeks about 10 to 12 factory workers were terminated from their jobs on various grounds as the employer had a plan to shut it down.‘Around 600 workers of Trust Trousers Limited staged demonstration blocking the road in Mirpur-12 Bus Stand area from 9:00am to 12:30pm,’ said Kamal Hossain, an additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Pallabi zone.‘The workers had misunderstanding with the factory authorities over the termination benefits for several days,’ he said.Traffic movement remained suspended at the point during the blockade and people had to take alternative roads to reach their destinations, police and locals said.The factory workers said they withdrew their blockade after local MP Ilias Uddin Mollah and police officers assured them of taking steps to reach a solution over the issue.
