At least 177 garment factories in Savar and Ashulia were declared closed on Sunday as protests over wages and employment conditions spread across the industrial belt, disrupting production and triggering road blockades.
The demonstrations began in the morning when workers at several factories in Ashulia’s Nishchintapur area, including Al-Muslim, Trouser Line and New Age, stopped work and staged protests. Workers subsequently left their workplaces and took to the streets, with employees from other factories joining the demonstrations.
Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial Police-1, confirmed the factory closures at around 5:30pm. He said workers had initially staged work stoppages before blocking roads at several locations. Police were working to contain the unrest.
At around noon, protesters gathered outside Ananta Garments in Narsinghpur, where clashes involving chasing and counter-chasing broke out as police attempted to disperse them.
The unrest later spread to the Dhaka-Aricha Highway, where workers gathered near Hemayetpur bus stand at around 3:30pm and blocked traffic. Police cleared the highway at approximately 5pm.
Workers said they were demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000, an end to blacklisting and a halt to arbitrary dismissals. They also accused some factory authorities of laying off workers under various pretexts.
Raju Ahmed, an operator at Comfort Collection, said helpers at his factory receive monthly wages of only Tk 8,000 to Tk 8,500, significantly less than workers at some other factories.
He also said the factory provides an attendance bonus of Tk 500, compared with Tk 1,500 at some other garment factories.
Workers have taken to the streets to demand fair wages and allowances, he said.
Khairul Mamun Mintu, legal affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garment and Sweater Workers Trade Union Centre, said the workers had three principal demands, led by an increase in the minimum monthly wage to Tk 30,000.
He noted that the government had formed a wage board to consider the issue.
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