State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu, Kaler Kantho editor Imdadul Haque Milan, former BGMEA president Annisul Haque and Bangladesh Pratidin editor Nayem Nizam, among others, are seen at a roundtable on ‘garment workers’ salary and bonus ahead of Eid festival’ in the conference room of East West Media Group Ltd in Bashundhara Residential Area on Tuesday. sun Photo Factory owners said some
15 factories are running the risk of non-payment of wages by July 26 ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr while the remaining RMG units will pay salaries and allowances as per their capability within the government-set deadline. State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu has urged the garment factory owners to ensure payment of salary and allowance to the workers by July 26. He also urged the workers not to take to the streets instead of settling any issue they might have with the factory owners. On the other hand, the garment workers claimed that some dishonest garment workers are taking this opportunity to wage unrest as bonus is not included in the garment labour law. The garment workers are demanding the inclusion of bonus in the law, but the owners are opposing the demand. Meanwhile, expressing support to the demand of the workers, the state minister urged them to submit a written proposal. The minister made the remarks at a roundtable discussion Tuesday, organised by daily Kaler Kantho on garment workers salary and allowance. Speakers at the roundtable hoped that Eid will be celebrated by all in a happy mood. Litterateur and Kaler Kantho Editor Imdadul Haq Milan moderated the roundtable held at the conference hall of East West Media Limited. IFIC Bank, Banglanews24.com, ABC Radio and 71 Television assisted the programme. The state minister said despite hundreds of obstacles, the garment owners and workers of the country took Bangladesh to the world’s second position in RMG export. And they are struggling to achieve the first position although this garment industry started its journey through immense mismanagement and obstacles. Mujibul Haque Chunnu said, “I do not find any reason for discussing payment of salary and bonus to the workers as it is a routine work for the owners to pay salary and bonus. However, there is also a crisis management committee as the garment industry is a vast sector.” “We have sat for the meeting with the owners two months ago and they told me that they will pay 15-day’s salary with festivity bonus, but I asked them to pay the workers the full-month salary ahead of Eid. They later agreed to pay as much as possible.” He said international conspiracy can’t be ruled out in this growing and important sector. But the government is very alert in this regard. In the wake of garment workers’ demand, the minister sought written proposal from them to include bonus in the law and said he will consider the issue. At the same time, he mentioned that a total of 188 trade unions have been given permission in the apparel sector over the last one year. Bangladesh Pratidin Editor Naem Nizam said, “We could not include the word ‘Bonus’ in the law for garment workers. Despite having such a massive incident likes Rana Plaza, no database of the garment workers has been created yet. It is a great sorrow. The buildings where we opened garment factories are residential buildings in many cases. So it was not possible to get rid of accidents completely.” He said the interest of the workers must be considered as they bring prosperity to the economy and at the same time, the owners have to be saved as well. This industry has to be advance forward through a good relation between the two sides. The moderator of the discussion, Imdadul Haq Milan said: “We mostly emphasis on the emotion of the people. The emotion will prevail among the workers and the owners. This event has been organised to strengthen the relationship. We want everybody share their joy through emphasising the emotion.” Former BGMEA president Anisul Haque said the apparel sector is facing immense challenges. “If the owners and workers are not united to face the challenges together, we will be at risk. So, everyone has to work properly, not only driven by emotion.” Acting president of BKMEA Md Hatem said, “It is our regular task to pay salary and bonus ahead of Eid. We have already taken preparations to pay wages. Through discussions with the owners, we are solving the problems of the garments which are facing difficulty in giving the salary and bonus ahead of Eid.” Md Hatem, however, opposed the inclusion of ‘Bonus’ in garments workers’ act as proposed by the labour leaders. He said “Although there are 7000 members with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), only 3500 member factories are actively operating their businesses. The rest of the factories are facing loss while many others remain closed. All of them are not same level of businessmen. Some are big businessmen and some are small businessmen. If any law is formed, they will be bound to obey. It depends on the understanding between owner and worker and the ability of the owners.” He said the RMG workers are not involved in any conspiracy against the apparel sector. Calling for investigation to prevent international conspiracy, he said the investigation report of Standard Garments has not been submitted yet. Md Hatem said India is Bangladesh’s only competitor in apparel export. President of Garments Sromik Oikko Forum Moshrefa Mishu said: “We fought for the country’s independence with a dream of a society based on equality. But nowadays, the difference between garment owners and workers is huge. The aristocratic life of the owners and the miserable life of the workers represent the level of discrimination in the society.” He said “We surveyed 300 garment factories till the 20th of Ramadan and 85 percent of them denied to talk about payment of salary and bonus.” Since the government fixed July 27 for payment of salary and bonus to workers, Moshrefa Mishu demanded that the execution status of the directive should be monitored properly. Director General of Industrial Police said if salary and bonus can be brought into specific law, there will be no issuers regarding payment of wages of the workers. He said there are 3355 garment units and 1033 other industrial factories in the industrial zones outside Dhaka. Among them, 351 factories are at risk that they will not be able to pay salary and bonus. Most of them are not member of any trade bodies like BGMEA and BKMEA. Those factories must be brought under membership of any trade body. Chairman of Garments Sromik Kormochari League Sirajul Islam Roni said “In some factories, salary is due for the last four months. Some factories were closed without any prior notice. Earlier, there were shortage of workers, but many workers can not find work now.” “Owners can also be involved in the conspiracy,” he alleged. Chairman of the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishment Syed Ahmed said “When we look for factories those are not paying salary and bonus to workers, we found that around 700 to 800 factories who are not member of any trade body.” He also suggested making a specific structure of salary and bonus for the RMG workers. Riaz-Bin-Mahmud, vice president of BGMEA, said: “We have started working on this matter before Eid and hope there will be no problem this time.” Describing the July 24 and 26 as very crucial for the RMG units, he said disturbance may occur on these days. “If the owners keep their mobile open and answer calls there should be no problem.” Chairman of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation (SGSF) Najma Akter said they are trying to solve problems through discussion with the owners. “But when they do not want to understand the matter, we have to take to the streets,” she said.
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