Govt directs owners to clear wages, bonuses by April

The government has directed the ready-made garment (RMG) factory owners to pay workers festival allowances and wages for March before the Eid vacation.

State Minister for Labor and Employment Mannujan Sufian gave the directive on Monday at a tripartite meeting with government officials, factory owners and trade union leaders at Shrama Bhaban in the capital.

She asked the factory and industrial owners to allow workers to enjoy the government-declared holiday.

If it is not possible to pay the full month's wages for April, the state minister asked the owners to pay workers at least 15 days' wages for the current month.

"Since the government holiday starts on 29 April, all arrears, salaries and festival bonuses have to be paid by 28 April," she added.

The instruction is applicable for all the formal, informal, public and private companies and enterprises, said the state minister.

The directive is applicable to all formal, informal, public and private companies and enterprises, the state minister said.

According to Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB), the number of workers in the country's 3,805 export-oriented factories is a little over 28 lakh. But, entrepreneurs in the garment sector claim that the number of workers in the garment sector alone is over 35 lakh in 2400 export-oriented and 600 subcontracting factories.

 Dipta Apparels workers go for work abstention demanding arrears in Savar

Some 3,000 workers of Dipta Apparels, a garment factory in Shampur area of Dhaka's Savar went on a strike on Monday morning demanding salary, bonuses and holiday pay. Later, workers returned to their homes at around 3:30 pm after receiving their salary.

Confirming the matter, Sub-Inspector of Industrial Police-1 Korban Ali said that the workers ended their strike and the factory authorities promised to discuss the rest of their demands.