After experiencing a period of unrest due to labour dissatisfaction for over two weeks, the overall situation in Dhaka’s Ashulia industrial zone has been gradually returning to normal since the beginning of this week.
Aside from a few isolated incidents, the first two days of the week, Saturday and Sunday, saw a normal working environment, and as of today (16 September), the situation remains stable in the industrial zone.
However, as today is a public holiday, many factories across different sectors in this region are closed.
Md Sarwar Alam, superintendent of Industrial Police-1, said, “Normal environment has been restored in the industrial zone. Most of the garment factories in the region have been operating for the past two days, and workers have been working enthusiastically. Today is no exception, though some factories are closed due to the holiday.”
He mentioned that there are a total of 1,863 industrial factories under the jurisdiction of Industrial Police-1, of which 1,400 are operating normally, while the remaining are closed due to the public holiday.
According to Section 118(1) of the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006, each worker is entitled to 11 festival holidays per year.
A senior official from an industrial group in the garment sector told The Business Standard that all their factories in the Ashulia area are closed today due to the observance of Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi.
The official added, “By law, workers are generally entitled to 11 festival holidays a year. However, it has been observed that factory owners often provide an extra one or two days of leave. Among these, the holiday given on the 15 August was imposed by the previous government, and in the list, the 15 August used to have a star mark next to it.”
However, labour leaders argue that no additional holidays are given beyond what is mandated by law.
They claim that the extra leave days factory owners mention are adjusted by having workers work extra hours during other times or by deducting them from the workers’ accrued leave.
On the other hand, as of 12pm, 11 factories in the Ashulia industrial zone remain closed today under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labor Act, based on the “No Work, No Pay” policy, as per BGMEA sources.
Additionally, one factory remains open but has ceased operations.
Due to the observance of Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, 156 garment factories in this region under BGMEA are closed.
