Workers of an apparel factory at Ashulia of Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, on Saturday rallied to push for their demands that include an wage increase.
Workers and the police said that several hundred workers of the Envoy Group at Jamgora rallied in the factory. The workers sat in in the morning on the factory premises, sources said.
The workers said the management had closed the factory during June 17–20 amid unrest. But the workers, who had lived at Ashulia at the time and were ready to join work, demanded salary of all the days when the factory remained closed on a BGMEA decision during the unrest.
They said that their demand for wage increase was logical but the management did not heed their demand. They further said that they had been harassed in various ways.
The apparel workers started rallying on June 11 and continued with the demonstrations for seven days. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association then closed the factories for an indefinite period and later reopened them on June 21.
‘We want the salary of those days’, one of the workers said. They said that the management should rethink the demand for wage increase.
The factory officials could not be reached for comments.
The Ashulia police officer-in-charge, Badrul Alam, said that the workers had joined work at noon after the demonstrations in the morning as the management assured them of meeting their demands.
The situation is now under control and police deployment has been reinforced, he added.