Around 5,000 readymade garment workers have been fired from their jobs for their alleged involvement in the recent labour unrest for wage hike in labour-intensive industrial belts of Ashulia, Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj. According to Industrial Police officials, a total of 4,899 workers of garment factories have been sacked till Sunday over the labour unrest for pay hike.Labour rights groups, however, claim that over 7,000 RMG workers have so far been dismissed from their jobs while more than 30 cases were filed with several police stations against nearly 3,500 named and un-named workers.Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, countering that the number of dismissed workers would be lower than claimed by labour organisations, said factory owners had every right to terminate workers as per the labour laws.An Industrial Police source said that they collected information about dismissal of workers over the recent labour movement from Ashulia, Narayanganj and Gazipur and till Sunday a total of 4,899 workers were terminated from their jobs in the areas.Other areas including Savar and Dhaka city, where labour unrest took place, were not under their jurisdiction, he said.‘Although the government and factory owners had committed that no innocent workers would be harassed over the labour movement demanding wage hike between December 10, 2018 and January 13, 2019, factory authorities filed cases against nearly 3,500 named and un-named workers and dismissed over 7,000 from their jobs,’ IndustriALL Bangladesh Council secretary general Salahuddin Shapon told New Age on Monday.He said that as per the data collected up to Monday, many factory owners terminated workers indiscriminately while many faced harassment by police.Shapon claimed that the number of terminated workers would increase as factory owners in several areas were terminating workers almost every day.It was concerning that the workers who were involved with trade union practice faced termination and were harassed by police, he claimed.‘We have sent a letter to the state minister for labour Monnujan Sufian seeking her appointment to tell her that the decision of tripartite committee for not harassing innocent workers was violated by the factory owners,’ Shapon said.IBC, the platform of 13 trade union federations, in a press release on Monday demanded an end to dismissal and arrest of workers indiscriminately and requested the factory owners for responsible conduct.Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Md Siddiqur Rahman said that they instructed factory owners and police stations not to harass any innocent workers.He said that the factory owners could terminate the workers as per the labour laws and the number of terminated workers would be much lower than what IBC claimed.Siddiqur said that they also instructed that factory owners to comply with labour laws in terminating any workers.The government in November, 2018 announced new wage structure for apparel workers increasing the minimum wage to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300. Workers alleged that the wages in other grades did not increase proportionately and they took to the streets rejecting the new wage structure.In the face of labour unrest, the government on January 13 announced an upward revision of the new wage structure of RMG workers.There are about 4,000 apparel factories in Bangladesh that employ about four million workers, mostly women.Bangladesh is the second highest apparel exporters in the global market and the major export destinations are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Canada.
