Workers clash with police, vandalise factories in Mirpur, Dhaka for the demand of better wages once again, read the whole story ...
More than 40 people, including 10 policemen, were injured after thousands of garment workers blockaded a key road in the capital on Wednesday demanding reopening of a factory and better wages.
Owners said a number of factories were shut down on the day after the workers went on a rampage attacking several units, putting up barricades and burning tires on the busy Rokeya Sarani that links northwestern part of the city with the central Dhaka.
Image : ittefaq.com.bd
Police said law-enforcers fired rubber bullets, lobbed teargas shells and used water canons to disperse unruly workers. They brought the situation under control after four hours of sporadic street battles.
Police said the trouble began at about 8:15am after workers of Outright Fashion Ltd in Shewrapara, who came to join their duties, saw a closure notice hanging at the main gate.
The workers, angered by the closure notice, called workers of the adjacent factories using loudspeaker to join the protest that spread to all of the factories along a five-kilometer stretch of road in the Kafrul and Mirpur areas, a sub-inspector of Kafrul police station told the FE.
"There were tens of thousands of workers on the street holding protest rallies over wage hike and reopening of the closed factory," he said, adding 10 policemen, including officer-in-charge of Kafrul Police station Delwar Hossain, were injured in the skirmish.
The police officer said the workers hurled brickbats and stones on them seconds after they barred the protesters from using the loudspeaker.
Protestors alleged the factory was to reopen Wednesday morning after a four-day closure following the labour unrest over non-payment of annual increment in time. "We'll not accept the closure notice. We'll prevent the illegal move at any cost," a worker of the factory said.
An official of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said nearly 25 factories at the troubled zone stopped operation for the day for fear of more vandalism.
Traffic movement on Rokeya Sarani at Kafrul was disrupted for nearly four and a half hours following the violent protest that hit the city after days of violence in Ashulia industrial belt last week.
The agitating workers calmed down as local lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Mazumdar urged them to stop demonstration and assured them of settling the issue after talks with the owners.
The workers' unrest is the latest in a series of violent protests over low wages that jolted the country's highest foreign currency earning sector for the last several months.
Last week hundreds of factories in Ashulia industrial zone, 25 kilometers away from the capital, were briefly shut down following days of violent protests, which owners said created panic and anarchy.
News: The Financial Express
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2 comments:
Workers unrest is getting a big problem for Bangladesh Apparel industries. Factory owners, BGMEA, Govt. and other related bodies should look into this matter immediately. Otherwise industry may face the shutdown of RMG business in Bangladesh.
This is something serious for the industry.
@Saidul, You are right. We hope that Govt. and other body like BGMEA will not let it happen. This is our biggest export earning source. Thousands of people are working in this industry.
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