Bangladesh witnesses unrest in Ready Made Garments sector

Image collected
Bangladesh is witnessing frequent unrest in the Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector with workers blocking road and resorting to strike to press for release of their salaries and other issues.

In Sonargaon upazila of Narayanganj near Dhaka workers of an RMG factory clashed with police today. Officer In charge of the Sonargaon police station said that the agitating workers hurled brickbats injuring 10 policemen.

Workers claimed that more than 20 protestors were injured in the clash when police charged batons and fired tear shells to disperse the protesters who had blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway today around noon time.

Workers were protesting against alleged lay off, late payment of salary and denial of maternity leave.

In another incident, RMG workers blocked a road in the Mirpur area of Dhaka for many hours today alleging that the factory has not paid them salaries for the last four months. The blockade caused heavy traffic jam in the adjoining areas.

In January 2019, thousands of garment workers had staged protests for increased minimum wages.

Bangladesh has witnessed sporadic incidents of RMG sector workers  protesting for wages, arrears and against retrenchment in recent months.

Bangladesh has the world’s second-largest garment industry, behind China. It contributes almost 16 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.  RMG sector exports in the fiscal year ending June 2019 was 34 billion dollars. About 78 per cent of the yearly foreign exchange earnings of the country comes from this sector.
Source: http://www.newsonair.com

Tags :

Share this news on: