All BGMEA member factories have given Eid bonuses to their workers, while about 90 percent have paid the salary for the month of May as well.

Some 150 factories will disburse the salaries today, which is the last working day before the garment factories break up for the weeklong Eid holidays, said Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The development means there will not be any of the characteristic scenes of worker unrest that spoils the festive mood ahead of Eid.

The BGMEA though worked exhaustively to avoid any industrial unrest this year.

“We identified 916 factories that needed special attention with regards to salary and bonus. We specifically worked with all these factories and mitigated their issues,” Huq added.

However, Abdus Salam, director general of Industrial Police, said four or five small factories that are neither members of the BGMEA nor the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association are still facing problems in paying the bonus and salary.

“We are in talks with the owners of those factories so that they can also pay the workers ahead of Eid,” Salam said, adding that the number of workers in the factories range from 150 to 250.

Sirajul Islam Rony, a former workers’ representative at the minimum wage board for garment workers, acknowledged that all big factories have paid their bonus and salary.

“But some small and medium factories did not pay yet. I hope they will complete the payment by today as their workers are still working for final shipments of goods ahead of the Eid vacation.”

However, there is yet to be any incidence of unrest over the payment issue, he said.

Earlier, in a meeting held at the ministry on May 23, the government’s crisis management core committee headed by Begum Monnujan Sufian, state minister for labour and employment, decided to complete the payment of bonus by May 30 and salary of at least 20 days by June 2.

At the meeting, leaders of the BGMEA, BKMEA and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association agreed to stick to the payment schedule.

Published On : 03-06-2019

Source : The Daily Star