Ahead of the upcoming holy festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, around 700 garment manufacturing units are being monitored closely, apprehending workers’ unrest centring festival bonus and wages.
Reports maintained this adding that the Industrial Police and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) are closely monitoring these units even as the garment makers’ body (BGMEA), reportedly, maintained that the 700 factories are affected by the pandemic-led business slump while adding that these factories are being monitored to avoid any untoward incident.
The reports further added that BGMEA officials have, reportedly, already visited 554 factories, of which 510 units claimed they would overcome the payment issues before Eid while 44 factories were in talks to solve the problems even as according to the BGMEA, it has 1,938 factories registered with it, of which 271 are in the Chittagong zone and 1,667 in the Dhaka zone.
Meanwhile speaking to the media, BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim, reportedly, maintained that factories have been facing two types of challenges – payments and Eid leaves – while adding that for payments, they have requested the Government to allocate another stimulus for apparel manufacturers, but underlined that it could take some time even if Eid is just around the corner.
…we are negotiating with banks to help with the workers’ payments, reportedly, claimed Shahidullah while adding that already 367 factories have paid April wages and 583 factories disbursed festival bonuses amongst their workers already.