Over 50 garment factories in Ashulia suspended operations on Sunday as workers staged protests for a second consecutive day, demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000, an end to blacklisting and the fulfillment of other demands.
The unrest began at about 8:00am when workers chanted slogans demanding a wage increase before entering their workplaces.
Workers at Al-Muslim Apparels in Nischintapur, Trouser Line Limited and a factory under Newage Group later stopped work and staged protests inside their respective factories.
At about 11:00am, workers from several factories gathered on the Abdullahpur-Baipail road in the Narsinghpur area, chanting slogans in support of their demands.
They later blocked the road despite a heavy police presence outside major garment factories.
‘Workers have taken to the streets and blocked roads. All factories in the area declared closure by 2:00pm,’ Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial Police-1, told New Age.
He estimated that between 50 and 60 factories had suspended operations.
He said factory owners had declared holidays to avoid any untoward incidents. Police remained deployed in the area to keep the situation under control, he added.
Authorities at several factories, including those under Ha-Meem Group, Dekko Isho Group and Pretty Group, declared general holidays on Sunday amid the unrest.
Khairul Mamun, law affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Sweaters Workers Trade Union Centre, said protesting workers had told him that no factory representatives had discussed their demands with them.
The lack of communication had left workers uncertain and fuelled their frustration, he said.
Some workers also tried to mobilise employees from other factories to join the protests, Khairul said, urging factory authorities to take the situation seriously and hold talks with workers without delay.
A protesting worker, Arafat Molla, said the atmosphere inside his factory was unusual when workers arrived in the morning, with supervisors reluctant to maintain regular workloads and officials busy in meetings with the owners.
‘After receiving calls from fellow workers, we rushed to the streets. Nobody stopped us,’ he said.
Several workers told this correspondent that they were still unaware of whether the government had taken implementable initiative to address their demands.
‘I have come to know that a committee has been formed. But we want visible steps on the wage increase. Hundreds of committees have been formed to address our oppression, but none has produced results,’ said protesting worker Amena Khatun.
On Saturday, at least 25 factories in Jamgora, Narsinghpur, Nischintapur, Kathgara and Zirabo suspended operations amid similar protests.
Production resumed at those factories on Sunday morning before fresh unrest disrupted work.