Labour protest in Savar: General holiday announced in 20 factories

At least 20 garment factories in Savar declared a general holiday on Sunday after garment workers held a protest at Padmar Mor area of the upazila's Hemayetpur.

The workers were protesting against the wage board's proposal of Tk10,400 minimum wage for the garment workers and demanded the implementation of the minimum wage of Tk20,390.

Additional Superintendent of Industrial Police-1 Mahmud Naser Johnny told The Business Standard that the workers of a closed factory of the DIRD Group gathered in front of the factory demanding pending arrears.

"Later, some workers tried to turn the gathering into a wage movement. They vandalised factories by throwing bricks," he alleged.

"Police arrived at the spot and tried to settle the agitated workers. When the workers started throwing brickbats at them, the police fired tear shells and dispersed the workers."

Afterwards, 20 factory authorities declared a general holiday today due to labour protests, the police officer added.

Refuting the police's statement, Kabir Hossain, joint secretary of the Central Committee of the National Garment Workers Federation, told The Business Standard, "None of us labour leaders knew about this.

"Around 7am, suddenly some workers of the Standard Group came down on the road and started blocking buses carrying workers of all the garment factories. They gathered around 30,000 to 40,000 workers from 20-30 factories."

An official of the Standard Group, on condition of anonymity, told TBS, "None of our workers were involved. This morning, our workers and officials were coming to the factory peacefully.

"There was a procession outside. People were throwing brickbats. So we later declared a general holiday at our factory for the sake of safety."

A Standard Group factory worker, on condition of anonymity, told TBS, "Some outsiders created the chaos. They are not from any of the factories here."