RMG factories will stay shut from tomorrow if unrest continues: BGMEA chief

Garment business owners will keep their factories shut from Sunday under the Labour Act if the workers’ protest continues, said Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, he also warned that the factory owners could boycott the ongoing government-backed talks aimed at raising workers’ wages.

He also said that a vested group, potentially with varying interests, were deliberately plotting to destabilise the ready-made garment sector -- and claimed that the labour leaders were failing to contain the situation, despite repeated attempts.

BGMEA and BKMEA jointly hosted the presser at BGMEA’s head office in Uttara in the capital.

At least 147 garment factories had to stay closed in the industrial belts of Gazipur, Ashulia and Savar on Saturday amid work boycotts by the employees and persisting street demonstrations, Mahmud Hasan Khan told reporters.

The shuttered factories employ around three lakh workers, he said.

If the work boycotts and violence continues on Sunday, more factory owners would shutter their factories indefinitely under Section 13(1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, the BGMEA chief said, referring to the legal provision that allows businessmen to halt production for an extended period without providing wages.

The workers will not get wages during factory closures under the “no work, no pay” basis, Mahmud Hasan Khan said.

The owners’ representatives will propose increased wages for workers during the meeting of the Wage Board on Monday, he said. However, the owners will hold a prior discussion to reconsider joining the Wage Board meeting if the workers’ protest continues, he said.

Workers protests demanding wage hikes were legitimate until the government formed the Wage Board for revising the pay structure on 1 November, he noted.

However, the protests have continued through the next two weeks, signaling ill-intention among the protesters, the RMG chief alleged.

The workers could be protesting to pressurise the owners into agreeing to their desired pay structure, or there might be other “ill-intentions” behind the continuing unrest, he said.

The labour leaders have proposed Tk32,000 minimum pay at the Wage Board talks, an almost 156% hike from the exiting rate. The owners are expected to submit their counter-proposal on Monday.

Potentially hinting at “other including political goals of the protest,” Mahmud Hasan Khan said that neither BGMEA nor BKMEA serve political interests.

Potentially in a bid to assuage “anger of vested political groups” directed at BGMEA and BKMEA leaders, he said that some members of the two bodies may have political links but the organisations as a whole do not have any political agenda and work with whatever government comes to power, without harbouring any political preference.

He alleged that frightening and chaotic atmospheres are being created at factory floors, and sometimes, workers are being forced to vandalise factory equipment.

Many a time, the workers are only signing on attendance sheets and leaving the factory immediately afterwards without performing any other task, Mahmud Hasan Khan alleged.

On Friday, leaders of five labour groups urged the protesting workers to have patience as the talks for hiking wages continue.

They urged the workers to return to duties and avoid engaging in any act that could disrupt Wage Board discussions.

They also called upon the workers to avoid “wrongdoings” and provocations.