300 workers, staff members of Crony Apparels protest for unpaid wages at Narayanganj

Around 300 RMG workers and staff members of Crony Apparels in Narayanganj's Fatullah have staged a demonstration in front of the factory, demanding several months of unpaid wages.

The demonstration lasted from 9am-12pm today (16 March), and included workers who have yet to receive two months of wages and staff members who are owed up to five months of pay.

"Staff members have not been paid for five months from November to March and the workers have not received their January and February salaries. Instead of paying, they have been laying off workers one by one. There have been several protests last month over this issue. After today's protest, workers rejoined work following a promise of payment by next Tuesday," said Anwar Hossain, a former staff member of Crony Apparels. 

Billal Hossain, one of the protesting workers, said, "We haven't received any salaries for the past two months. How are we supposed to survive without our salaries with rising prices during Ramadan? We can't pay rent. Even the grocery stores are refusing to give us items as we already have thousands of dues there."

During the demonstration, the protesting workers occupied the factory's front for about three hours, during which the industrial police intervened to negotiate between the owners and the workers. 

Around noon, the protest ended after the management promised to pay the wages.

"The staff members had occupied the front of the factory demanding their due wages, but did not block the road. They were sent back to work before any untoward incident could occur, with the management promising to settle the unpaid wages within the week," said Selim Badsha, inspector (Intelligence) of Narayanganj Industrial Police.

Attempts to contact Aslam Sani, the managing director of Crony Group, for comments were unsuccessful.