Narayanganj's Crony Apparels accused of laying off 58 workers without pay

Crony Apparels' in Narayganj has allegedly laid off 58 workers without paying them the salaries of three months.

Workers claimed the factory management is pressuring them into signing resignation letters after paying them for only 25 days in February.

The laid-off employees gathered in front of the factory in the Kashipur area of Narayanganj's Fatullah this morning (27 February). After a three-hour standoff without any solution, they left without their dues.

"We were informed on the night of Shab-e-Barat that we had been laid off. Upon arriving at work today, I saw that a list had been posted at the gate, terminating 58 of us without prior notice," said Mahadi Hasan, senior officer (IT) at Crony Apparels.

"We are owed salaries for the last four months, with no payments since last November. The HR department has stated they will only pay until 25 February and require us to sign resignation letters dated two months prior," he added.

He said, "According to company rules, terminating an employee requires three months' salary payout. Most of us have worked at this factory for eight to ten years. With Ramadan and Eid approaching, we face a dire situation without salaries and layoffs.

"We do not wish to cause any disruption but will approach the labour court if our demands are unmet," Mahadi added.

Today's stand-off is the third instance within the factory in the last three months over workers' lay-offs.

"It's indescribable how we have survived the past three months. Most of those laid off here are educated individuals. We were laid off because our job tenure was increasing," said the factory's assistant manager Afaz Khan.

"Landlords are constantly pressuring us, and we have thousands of taka dues to the local shopkeepers. We have to enter our homes in the darkness of night. In such a condition, the owners have laid us off inhumanely, even though we have given our all for Crony," he added.

When contacted about pressuring officials to sign resignation letters, the HR Admin of the factory, Maidul, tried to avoid the subject.

"I am a bit busy, I cannot talk," he said after hearing the question.

On 25 December, the Crony Tex Sweater Limited factory of the Crony Group announced a layoff, resulting in nearly 800 workers being laid off.

Earlier on 8 February, workers from the same group's Abanti Colour Tex Limited protested, demanding two months' unpaid wages.