Ready-made garment workers vandalised at least 20 vehicles on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, this morning while staging demonstration in protest against the disparity in their new wage structure.Nearly 15-20 people were injured when police charged batons and used water cannon to disperse the protesting workers around 11:00am, our Savar correspondent reports quoting witnesses.Some of the passengers were injured when the workers threw brick chips targeting the windows of the vehicles.Police use water cannon and charge batons on the readymade garment workers, who blocked Dhaka-Tangail highway at Ashulia point, on the outskirts of Dhaka, on Saturday, January 12, 2019 protesting disparity in their new wage structure. Photo: Palash Khan/StarEarlier around 9:30am, hundreds of workers of five garment factories took to the streets in Jamgora area for the sixth day, halting traffic movement on the highway.We started the movement to meet our demand but police charged baton and used water cannon to disperse us,” a protesting worker alleged.A chase and counter chase was going on between police and the workers when the report was filed this morning.
WHAT ARE THE WORKERS DEMANDING?
The workers have alleged that the monthly wage in the seventh grade increased to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300 as per the latest gazette published by the government last year. But, the salary of the workers in other grades did not increase at the same rate.The salary hike for the entry-level workers was more than that of their senior operators, who have been working for more than seven to eight years. The new wage has been effective from December 1. Major disparity in the salary hike was noticed in the third and fourth grades as their salaries were not raised like that of entry-level workers.In most of the grades, other than the seventh, only Tk 500 was raised in the new salary structure, whereas an entry-level worker’s salary had increased by Tk 2,700 at one go.
