At least five people were injured when the police charged batons to disperse workers of a garment factory rallying on the Dhaka-Tangail highway on Tuesday.
Several hundred workers of Fashion It located at Jamgora in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital went out on demonstrations for the third consecutive day protesting at termination of fellow workers.
Sources said the workers of became agitated when they saw the notice announcing termination of 115 fellow workers. They engaged in a heated exchange with the security guards when they refused to allow the terminated workers to enter the factory. The workers staged demonstrations and rallied on the Dhaka-Aricha highway.
Sources said the workers of Fashion It garment factory had started agitations on Sunday demanding overtime pay and suspension of some factory officials for misbehaviour. The management terminated 115 workers on Monday night for the protests.
Ashulia industrial police director Golam Rauff Khan said some workers had been agitating in the factory for last few days to press their demands which the management refused to accept.
Some ‘miscreants’ set fire to the factory generator room on Monday and the police were investigating the incident, he said.
Tuhin Miah, a terminated worker of the factory, said that the management had terminated them illegally without paying all their dues.
He said the workers would go for tougher action programme if the management did not review its decision.
The managing director of the Chinese-owned factory ordered payment of all dues of the terminated workers, factory sources said.
Meanwhile, workers of Multi-Modern Apparels at Dhonaid staged demonstrations on the factory premises on the day demanding reopening of the factory immediately.
Industrial police inspector Mukhlesur Rahman said police had been deployed in the industrial belt to avoid any troubles.