Wages of garment workers
The New Nation, Bangladesh
A REPORT on the killing of a female garment worker and the injury of twelve other workers has appeared in the press. The workers of a garment factory at Gazipur near the Capital city staged a demonstration against the officials of the factory, who failed to pay dues on the day. The demonstrators called for the payment of overtime arrears along with monthly wage fixed as per tripartite agreement for the month of March. The owners of the factory called in the Police forces, who opened fire on the workers
Members of the police reportedly, tried to persuade workers to stop the demonstration and also avoid setting up barricades on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway. But workers set barricades on the road and damaged some transports moving on the same. The problem that caused workers to set barricades on the highway was the non-payment of wages for the month of March by the owners of garment factory. Along with that, owners were reportedly trying to reduce the actual hours of work, when workers were doing overtime duty for extra pay.
Agitation and even strike at some garment factories in the country have been observed frequently. The owners of garment factories and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturing and Exporters Association (BGMEA) seem to have apparently not succeeded to make all their members to ensure formal employment of workers and payment of wages. Instead of ensuring effective management of the industries in the garment sector, that turned good export earners over the years, some owners opted for paying lower wages and benefits to workers.
Non-payment of arrear wages to workers has turned into a major problem in some garment factories. Some owners of garment factories have reportedly closed their factories with the ultimate end of not paying the due wages and benefits to hundreds of workers. The BGMEA has reportedly asserted before the press that the non-payment of wages and arrears thereof, is an “unintentional fault” of some owners of garment factories. As such, the Association may not take any measure that may look like a punishment of owners for their failure to pay due wages and benefits to workers.
The overall situation in the garment sector has been brought under monitoring by the official agencies. These agencies have so far recommended the waiver of various duty and charges amounting to five hundred crore of Taka in recent years. But some owners of garment factories and exporters of finished garment seem to have failed to appreciate the support of the government. Some of them seem to have set their mind only to earn profit and avoid diversification of their investments at home and abroad. The prevailing mismatch in the management of the garment sector should be done away with.
© Copyright 2003 by The New Nation
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