Several hundred workers of a ready made garment (RMG) factory yesterday took the street in the capital’s Mirpur area demanding payment of their arrears.
A huge gridlock was created from the Mirpur-1 intersection to the Technical intersection for about one hour as the workers of Padma Sweater Limited were staging demonstration by putting blockade on the road in the area.
The agitating workers took the street around 10.00am. The vehicular movement became normal when police took the situation under control around 11:00am, police said.
At one stage, some agitating workers entered the building of another factory, Vortex Fashion, asking its workers to join them. Later, they threw brick chips at the Vortex Fashion leaving its windows broken as the workers of Vortex denied to join the agitating workers of Padma Sweater.
On information, police went to the spot and fired a dozen of shells of tear gas to bring the situation under control. Being dispersed from the area, the demonstrators went to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in the capital’s Kawranbazar area to press home their demand.
Mizanur Rahman, an agitating worker, said they were not getting their wages for the last three months.
Demanding the arrears, they were observing work abstention since Thursday last. But the officials and the owners of the factory did not pay heed to their demand, he said.
“We will continue our demonstration until our demand was not met” said another worker Mostarin.
“When we demanded our arrears last week, officials and owners had just left the factory,” she said.
Sakhawat Hossain, assistant commissioner of police of Mirpur circle, said: “The factory owners and their associates have gone into hiding. We are trying to find out them.”
Additional police have been deployed in the factory area to avoid any untoward incident, he said. Visiting the factory premises, the Dhaka Tribune did not find any official or representative of owners of the factory yesterday.
Rafiqul Islam, additional secretary for labor cell of the BGMEA, said: “We have came to know that the owners of the factory would not pay arrears for the month of October and for the five days of September.”
“We are trying to communicate with the factory owners. Once we get, we will hold discussion with them about the payment.”
Police picked up two staff of the factory suspecting that they were representatives of the owners. Later, they were released as they were found not to be the owners’ representatives, said Aminul Islam, sub-inspector of Mirpur Model Police Station. No complaint was filed in this regard till filing this report around 8:00pm.