Garment workers besiege BGMEA office over unpaid wages

Around 300 garment workers today (7 July) took up positions outside the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) office in the capital's Uttara, demanding payment of their outstanding wages after the owner of their factory allegedly disappeared following its closure.

According to workers and senior BGMEA officials, the factory employed around 2,000 workers. It was shut down in mid-June under Section 13(1) of the Labour Act, a provision that allows an employer to close a factory in the event of an illegal strike. However, workers said no strike had taken place at the factory.

Since then, workers have held several meetings with officials from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), under the labour ministry, demanding either the reopening of the factory or payment of their legal dues if it is to remain closed.

A meeting was held at DIFE on 21 June, but neither the owner nor any representative of the company attended. The meeting concluded that, since there had been no strike at the factory, its closure under Section 13(1) was not legally justified.

Factory worker Anwar Hossain told The Business Standard, "The factory has remained closed since 13 June. Before Eid, 168 workers were laid off. Now the owner has neither reopened the factory nor paid the workers their dues."

"He was summoned to three separate DIFE meetings but failed to appear. He was also asked to inform the authorities by 28 June whether the factory would reopen, but he did not respond," he added.

"Now we are running from one office to another, enduring the scorching sun and heavy rain, but there is still no solution. Where are we supposed to go?" he asked.

Even in the evening, workers remained outside the BGMEA building in wet clothes, continuing their protest to demand payment of their outstanding dues.

According to information on the BGMEA website, the factory's managing director is Hasina Mannan. Repeated attempts to contact her using the listed phone number were unsuccessful.

Her son, Mahir Mannan, is also involved in managing the factory. Calls to his phone also went unanswered. A WhatsApp message outlining the matter had not received any response by the time this report was filed.

Contacted at 7:15pm last evening, Turag Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mustafizur Rahman told The Business Standard, "The workers are still blockading the area. They have blocked all the gates of the BGMEA office."

"We have been unable to locate the factory owner," he added.

A senior BGMEA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "We have also been trying to trace the owner but have not been able to find him. The owner is not paying the workers, but the workers have blocked all the gates and are not allowing anyone to enter or leave the building. We are effectively being held hostage."

The official said the company would require around Tk16 crore to settle workers' dues.

Another BGMEA leader, also speaking anonymously, said the owner might be deliberately trying to pressure BGMEA into paying the workers.

"This could be a tactic by the owner to force BGMEA to arrange the payments. But where would BGMEA get the money? How many factories could we possibly pay for?" he said.