Eight organisations of the garment workers on Friday called a daylong strike in all RMG factories across the country for Sunday in support of their seven-point demand, including the arrest of Rana Plaza and its factory owners. Prior to the work abstention, the organisations working on garment workers’ rights, will hold black-flag processions across the country on Saturday apart from observing the dawn-to-dusk strike. The announcement came from a joint press briefing at PragatiConferenceCenter, Mukti Bhaban in the city. The organisations are Garments Sramik Oikya Forum, Garments Sramik Trade Union Kendra, Garments Sramik Sangram Parishad comprising Bangladesh Textiles Garment Workers Federation, Garments Sramik Sanghati, Jago Bangladesh Garments Sramik Federation, Samannita Garments Sramik Federation, Bangladesh Garments Sramik Mukti Andolon and Biplabi Graments Sramik Sanghati.
Earlier the organisations held a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club in support of their seven-point demand, including immediate arrest of the owners of Rana Plaza and the RMG factories housed in it.
The other demands are: making a precise list of the dead and injured workers, proper compensation for the affected people, proper treatment for the injured, announcing 50 percent dearness allowance and fixing the minimum wage at Tk 8,000 and ensuring the right to form trade union in the sector.Workers leaders Moshrefa Mishu, Adv Montu Ghosh, Adv Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, Kazi Ruhul Amin, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Komol Devnath, Sathi Akhter, Shabnam Hafiz, Taslima Akhter and Dipak Roy, among others, spoke at the press
conference.
Talking to UNB, Bangladesh Textile-Garment Workers Federation president Mahbubur Rahman Ismail said both the injured and the relatives of the dead workers must be compensated on the basis of loss of future earning to those affected by the tragic incident.
“The compensation for an affected worker will range from Tk 40 to 45 lakh on the basis of loss of future earning, but the owners and the government always deprive the affected workers as well as the relatives of the dead workers of that amount,” he added.
Garment Sramik Oikya Forum president Moshrefa Mishu told UNB that the government must mount pressure on the RMG owners to treat the workers as human being.
Asked about the consequences of the Rana Plaza collapse on the RMG sector, she said, “It’s the owners who are responsible for the destruction of the sector. They’re failing to ensure the safety of the workers. As a result, the big retailers in the global market are moving towards other RMG-producing countries.”
“We urge the RMG owners to announce the closure of all the factories in the country for Apr 28 to allow the workers to observe the strike peacefully,” said Mishu.
Bangladesh Garments Sramik Oikya Parishad and Jatiya Garment Sramik Federation also arranged a separate rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
Jatiya Garment Sramik Federation president Amirul Haque Amin said the two organisations will bring out a procession on April 29 and submit a memorandum to the Home Ministry.
So far, 294 bodies have been recovered from the debris of the building that crashed on Wednesday morning.
Of the bodies, 255 have been handed over to their families, while 39 unidentified ones sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue early Friday.
Courtesy of The Independent
