RMG workers demonstrate at Al-Muslim Group after mass layoffs

More than 1,800 workers have been laid off from several ready-made garment (RMG) factories of Al-Muslim Group in Savar, prompting protests by retrenched workers outside the factories on Saturday.

Demonstrators said they staged protests after arriving at work in the morning and finding their names on layoff notices posted at the factory gates.

Sources said later, the situation calmed after industrial police and factory authorities assured workers that any complaints regarding payments would be resolved through proper procedures.

They informed that of the total, 1,286 workers were laid off from AKM Knitwear Limited in the Ulail area, 529 from Pacific Blue Jeans Wear in Radio Colony, and 53 from Al-Muslim Apparels in Ashulia.

Several workers alleged that proper procedures under the Bangladesh Labour Act were not followed.

One of the retrenched workers said, “Before the Eid holidays, they gave us 20 days’ salary, and we have been laid off without any notice. Today, I learned that I no longer have a job. We regularly worked overtime, yet now they say there is no work.”

Workers and union leaders allege the dismissals breached Section 20 of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, which governs lay-off procedures. Under the law, the most recently recruited employees should be let go first -- a rule workers say was ignored.

Legal Affairs Secretary of Bangladesh Garment and Sweaters Workers Trade Union Centre Khairul Mamun said the future employment of retrenched workers should be considered. Workers whose salaries increase through increments and promotions are frequently laid off.

President of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation Rafiqul Islam Sujan said the law was clearly not followed.

“Many long-serving employees had also been laid off here,” he said, adding that workers were also not paid their full lawful entitlements.

Sarwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Garments Workers’ Unity Federation, also alleged that layoffs were not carried out in accordance with labour laws.

Superintendent of police for Ashulia Industrial Police-1 Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan said the workers had gathered and formed a human chain but the situation became calm.