Two garment workers sustained bullet injuries during protests in the Kachukhet area of Mirpur in the capital on Thursday.
The injured workers, identified as Al Amin, 17, and Jhuma Akter, 15, are employees of San Tex Fashion Garments in the area.
Both were receiving treatment at the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), according to Inspector Md Faruk of the DMCH police outpost.
Al Amin's father, Abdur Rahman, reported that his son was on duty at the factory in the morning. Upon seeing the protest outside, he tried to exit the factory and was shot while doing so.
Jhuma's sister, Morjina Begum, said: “Jhuma, a sewing operator at Centex, was hit in her right leg and was discharged after initial treatment.”
Around 10am, workers from Diana Garments took to the streets in Kachukhet, demanding payment of overdue wages and other benefits.
During the protest, workers reportedly threw brick chips at law enforcement officials, and at one point, set fire to a military vehicle and a police van.
Police reportedly hurled tear gas shells and fired shots to disperse the protesters.
Creative Designer workers demand a Centex chief's resignation
A source told the Dhaka Tribune that the Creative Designer worker’s protest was not related to demands for wages, bonuses, allowances, or other benefits.
Regarding the protests, Jashimuddin, Centex's managing director, said: “The Creative Designers’ employees had been calling for the resignation of a line chief of Centex following an aggressive beating of a factory operator by the line chief's relative.”
The factory implemented Section 13 (1) of the Labour Law, which enforces "no work, no pay" through meetings with the army, labour, and law enforcement.
Most RMG factories operating normally
Meanwhile, operations at their factories at major industrial hubs like Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur, and the capital were normal despite some sporadic incidents.
In Savar and Ashulia, a factory named Anjuman Designs Ltd was closed under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, enforcing a “no work, no pay” rule.
Moreover, another factory in this area, Generation Next Fashion Ltd, has been on general holiday for the last several weeks due to a financial crisis, including a delay in paying wages for August and September.
An industry insider, seeking anonymity, told Dhaka Tribune that the factory's chairman, Touhidul Islam Chowdhury, was in hiding.
Touhidul Islam is the husband of former Bangladesh ambassador to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem.
The factory's managing director, Rajiv Shetty, an Indian citizen, fled the country, so the matter was unresolved.
The factory, employing about 4,000 workers, has an arrears of about Tk18 crore worth of wages.
In Gazipur, eight factory units were closed after the workers started protesting for their arrear wages and allowances.
TNZ Apparel Ltd, Basic Clothing Lt, and Apparel Plus Eco Ltd, subsidiaries of the same conglomerate, TNZ Group, have been closed for the past week.
While contacting the group, a senior official, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that they could keep factories operational for only 8 days last month. For this reason, they missed shipments worth Tk200 crore.
“We have not paid September wages yet as we didn’t get any loan facilities. For this reason, the workers are demanding their arrear wages. However, we only have one month’s wages in arrears,” he added.
They are trying to arrange the required funds, and with the administration's help, they convinced the workers, who withdrew the protests.
Moreover, five factories of Islam Group were declared closed at Gazipur due to illogical demands by the workers, most of which were already addressed through 18-point demands.
On Thursday, seven factories were closed in Dhaka, most of which are in the Mirpur-14 and Kachukhet areas.
Moreover, during the protests, the Chittagong, Narayanganj, and Narsingdi belt factories also witnessed zero factory closure incidents.
On Monday, 99.24% of the 397 factories in Savar and Ashulia remained operational. In Gazipur, 99.08% of the 871 factories were functioning, and in the DMP area, 97.67% of the 301 factories were operational.
Nationally, 99.15% of factories operated normally, or 2,101 out of 2,119.
