Payment promise turns a hoax

Garment factory workers lay siege to BGMEA headquarters for salaries and festival allowances
Owners of a garment factory at Savar went into hiding Saturday after giving its workers false hope that their dues would be cleared before Eid.
Before going into hiding, the owners of Season Sweater also made a pledge to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the police that the workers’ salaries and festival allowances would be disbursed before Eid.
Being cheated by the owners, more than a hundred workers of the factory laid siege to the BGMEA headquarters Saturday evening, demanding that the leaders of the apex body of garment exporters intervene immediately and make sure their dues were paid before the festival. The workers were staging protest in front of the BGMEA headquarters till 9:00pm.
‘Forget about celebrating Eid…I cannot even go home…I have been staying out for the last 10 days to avoid my landlord who is looking for me for unpaid rent…,’ said Safar Ali, a Season Sweater worker staging protest.
His co-worker Noor Banu said the factory management was in the habit of paying the workers’ salaries irregularly. The workers have not been paid wages and overtime bills for the last two months, she said.
Talking with New Age, some other workers made similar allegations. ‘Being a bad paymaster, our employers have not paid our wages and overtime bills for the last three months, let alone the Eid bonus.’
‘I can barely afford the bus fare to go to my village home to celebrate Eid,’ Noor Banu said gloomily.
At about 9:00pm the BGMEA president, Abdus Salam Murshedy was seen giving instruction to the organisation’s labour officers to try to calm the workers.
Talking to New Age Murshedy hinted that the BGMEA would arrange a lump sum amount for each worker so that they could go home at least.
‘It is really unfortunate that Season’s owner Ziaul Amin, has gone into hiding leaving the workers unpaid before Eid,’ the BGMEA president told New Age. He claimed success in persuading many other factory owners to settle payments before Eid.
On September 6, Season Sweater factory was closed down and its distressed workers approached BGMEA and the Savar police to help settle the payments.
‘He [owner of Season Sweater] told the police and BGMEA [leaders] several times in the last few days that he would pay the workers before Eid,’ said Monwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ashulia police station.
Since Saturday morning Ziaul Amin could not be contacted anymore, he added.
Mushrefa Mishu, convener of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Forum said, ‘Police and law enforcers become ‘excessively active in different industrial areas even on hearing a mild protest by workers.’
Nazma Akter, convener of Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said that generally payments in industries before Eid were batter this year though a few factories, like Season Sweater, left their workers unpaid.
Nazma, who represented workers in the 2006 tripartite commission for reviewing garment wages, said labour leaders and local administrations had helped put pressure on some factory owners to clear workers’ dues before Eid.

Courtesy of NewAgebd