There have been no complaints regarding the payments of wages, allowances and bonuses to the workers of the RMG sector ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.
According to both manufacturers and workers' leaders, more than 95% of the factories have already completed these payments to their workers.
However, some factories that will remain open on Saturday due to emergency export issues have not yet paid the wages and bonuses.
There were no problems with holidays as most of the big factories have already fixed how long they will be on Eid holiday through internal meetings before the directives of the Labour Minister, said BGMEA sources.
Meanwhile, according to data from the Industrial Police as of 7 July, 99.60% of overall industries have paid their wages and 100% of them have paid the bonuses for the Eid-Al-Adha.
Mohiuddin Rubel, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said that nearly 100% of factories have paid the Eid bonuses to their workers.
They also said that if there were any problems with the payment of wages and bonuses, they will work to solve these and hoped that there would be no major problems with the payment of wages, allowances and bonuses this year.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Babul Akhtar, chairman of Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), said that the factories which have been closed on Thursday have cleared wages, allowances and Eid-al-Adha bonuses to their workers.
He added saying that there are some factories that will remain open till Saturday and they will clear all payments on that day.
“There are more than 5000 factories in the country including member and non-member (sub-contract). As of today, 95% or more of the factories have already paid the wages, bonus, and started the Eid holidays.”
There was no complaint of any hassles during this time around, he said.
However, every time there are problems in non-member and sub-contract small factories as they cannot pay wages and bonuses at the stipulated date which leads to labour unrest but the scenario is different this year.
Earlier, State Minister for Labor and Employment Begum Mannujan Sufian instructed employers to pay wages and bonuses to the workers in all sectors, including garments by July 7.
In the statement of the State Minister, the employers urged to pay Eid-ul-Adha bonus to the workers of all sectors including state-owned, private, institutional and non-institutional, including the RMG.
If any worker has arrears of any month's wages-allowance, the statement also called for its payment by July 7.
It was decided at the meeting that the employers would give holidays to the workers through employer-worker discussion in conjunction with the Eid holiday.
However, in case of emergency export, holidays can be given conveniently subject to discussion with the workers.
Earlier, the State Minister issued the directives in a statement on July 3 as per the decision of the meeting of the tripartite consultative council on RMG (TCC RMG) on June 28 and the national tripartite consultative council (TCC) meeting on June 29 chaired by the State Minister.
