No unrest reported in Gazipur factories after two weeks

Industrial areas in Gazipur today saw a day without any workers’ demonstration after over two weeks today. No demonstration of workers was reported in the industries of the district today and the factories operated in full swing. Many factories that were shut to unrest have reopened today.

Workers of ‘Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited’ in Tongi were first to initiate demonstrations on 21 August after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August. The workers of the factory started a demonstration to press home their 6-point demand. Later, workers of other factories also started demonstrations.

After a lull period of several days, unrest resumed in different factories on 1 September which continued till Saturday.  The agitating workers attacked, vandalized and torched different factories to press home their demands. As a result, many factories were shut for indefinite period.

Gazipur industrial police’s superintendent Mohammad Sarwar Alam told Prothom Alo that no unrest was reported in Gazipur till 5:00pm on Sunday. The factories operated without any disruption from the morning. Police men were deployed in places to ensure security of workers and factories.

According to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, there are a total of 2633 registered factories in Gazipur. Of them, 1120 are readymade garment (RMG) factories  and the rest are other factories. Besides, there are 400 to 500 more unregistered factories.

Around 2.2 million people work at the factories in Gazipur.

Meanwhile, four out of eight factories shut on Wednesday for an indefinite period reopened today. These factories are: Asrotex Limited in Sreepur, Apparels-21 Limited in Joydebpur, SM Knitwear Limited in Joydebpur and Basic Clothing Limited in the Bason area.

The factories were shut as the section 13 (1) of the Bangladesh Labour Act – 2006 that states “An employer may, in the event of an illegal strike in any section or department of any establishment, close down either wholly or partly such section or establishment and in cases of such closure the workers participated in the strike shall not be paid any wages.”