Sixty-eight factories, mostly readymade garment factories, have been closed in Savar, Ahsulia and Dhamrai of Dhaka, as well as in Gazipur over the past five and a half months since the 5 August political changeover with 10 of them shutting down operations temporally. Besides, Keya Group also announced the closure of their six factories.
People concerned said many factories became defaulters due to strict rules and regulations while operations of many factories were disrupted as factory owners who were close to the ousted Awami League government went into hiding. Besides, several factories could not cope with the rising production costs.
Fifty-one of those factories were in Gazipur and 17 were in Savar, Ashulia and Dhamrai. More than 50,000 workers were employed in these factories with many of them taking to the streets demanding arrears. Law enforcement agencies also struggle to tackle the protesting workers while factory authorities are looking for various types of assistance including loans to resume operations.
There are 2,176 registered factories, including 1,154 clothing factories, in Gazipur, which is known as an industrial town. Gazipur industrial police said 35 clothing factories did not pay workers’ wages for November; 45 per cent of clothing factories did not pay wages for December; currently, 5 per cent of clothing factories see worker unrest and 9 per cent of clothing factories face complexities over annual increment.
The ready-made garment factories closed permanently and temporarily including 16 in Beximco Industrial Park in the Sarab area of Gazipur city, TMS Apparels in the Sataish area of Tongi, Niagara Textile, Mahmud Jeans and Hardy to Excel in the Chandra area, Polycon Limited, Apparel Plus, TRZ and The Delta Knit in Konabari.
Parvin Akter, from Saghata of Gaibandha, had worked at Mahmud Jeans for six years. She told Prothom Alo, “Most male workers found jobs at other factories but middle-aged women like me are getting jobs nowhere. I contacted at least eight factories in a month but found no job.”
Gazipur Industrial police-2 superintendent of police AKM Zahirul Islam told Prothom Alo 51 factories were declared closed and 10 of those were closed temporarily. Many jobless workers took to the streets demanding arrears and reopening of factories, thus, Dhaka-Tangail, Dhaka-Mymensignh and Chandra-Nabinagar highways often remained closed and law enforcing forces struggled to tackle the protesters.
There are 1,863 factories including 745 readymade garment (RMG) factories in Savar, Ashulia and Dhmarai. According to the industrial police, 17 RMG factories had been closed permanently, and 10,081 people – 5,075 woman workers, 4,041 male workers and 965 officers and employees – lost jobs over the past five and a half months.
Asya Akter was a swing operator at the now-closed Generation Next Fashion. She said, “With an ailing husband and two children, I cannot run my family anymore. The factory was closed five months ago. Since then I went to many factories but found no jobs. I am running the family by taking loans. We worked to earn bread and butter now we are helpless. I worked at that factory for 15 years. They paid the arrears but no benefits.”
Closure list on the rise
Keya Group has been running factories in the Jarun area of Gazipur city for 20 years. They said in a notice on 2 January that four of their factories will be closed permanently from 1 May. They also announced the closure of two more factories on 21 January.
Keya Group said in the notice that the decision to close their RMG and apparel factories permanently was taken because of market volatility, inconsistency of accounts with banks, inadequacy of raw materials and lack of activities in factory production. All arrears of workers, officials and employees will be paid within the next 30 working days since the closure of the factories as per the labour laws.
Keya Group chairman Abdul Khaleque Pathan told Prohtom Alo on 23 January they could not export products for the past two years due to the non-cooperation from the bank. Yet they were operating the factoring through subcontracting. However, they now decided to close the factories due to worker unrest. There are 12,000 workers including 1,000 persons with hearing and speech impairment at these closed factories, he added.
BEXIMCO workers demonstrate
BEXIMCO Group, owned by the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman, announced the layoff of 16 factories of the BEXIMCO Industrial Park on 15 December due to a lack of work orders to export RMG products and export and the failure to open LCs (letters of credit) to import raw materials. About 30,000 workers were employed at these facilities.
Before laying off the BEXIMCO’s factories, the advisory committee on assessment of labour and business conditions of the industries at BEXIMCO Industrial Park held a meeting and decided to grant loan facility from Janata Bank for salaries and allowances of the workers. After that, no more assistance will be provided.
It is to be noted that the Janata Bank provided loan assistance to the BEXIMCO Group, which has a debt of Tk 500 billion to the banking system, following an order of the government after the political changeover.
The workers have been demonstrating demanding opening the factories. At a stage of the demonstrations on Wednesday, the agitated workers vandalised over 50 vehicles on Chandra-Nabinagar highway, and a goods-laden truck and three buses were set on fire.
Apart from this, they set fire to the ground floor of a 5-storey factory building of Grameen Fabrics at Tentuibari. A newsperson sustained injuries while collecting information related to the incidents.
BEXIMCO Industrial Park’s senior general manager (admin) SM Abdul Latif said, “The workers have been living inhuman lives. We have been asking for cooperation from the government to lift the lay off.”
The advisorial committee had a meeting on the BEXIMCO Industrial Park at the secretariat on Friday. After the meeting, labour adviser Brigadier General (retd) Sakhawat Hossain told the media that 16 of 32 factories of BEXIMCO Industrial Park do not even exist. A loan of Tk 120 billion was taken against those 16 factories; and 12 factories had been laid off by the management, not at the decision of the government.
Reason of shutting down factories
The factories have been shut down because of loan default, non-cooperation from the banks in some cases, politics, and failure to cope with increased production cost - the owner and labour leaders said.
According to them, owners of many factories took more loans from the banks than their capacity to repay during the regime of ousted government of Bangladesh Awami League, which sank them.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, National Garments Workers’ Association Bangladesh’s central organising secretary Md Ashrafuzzaman told Prothom Alo one after another factories are being shut down, with this the joblessness of the workers is also spiking. But the movement of workers cannot be blamed for the closing of factories. They demonstrated for their salaries and allowances in the past too but no factory was closed that time.
Most of the people involved with the politics of the previous government have been facing bigger dangers, he remarked.
The readymade garment factories provide the major share of Bangladesh’s remittance earning. The country exported RMG products worth USD 19.89 billion in the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year, which is 13.28 per cent more than the same period of the last fiscal.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) former vice-president Mahmud Hasan Khan also said Prothom Alo some factories are being shut down due to political reasons. Outside of this, some factories have been downsized as they could not cope with the rising production cost.
He, however, pointed out that many other factories have been taking the work orders of the factories that are being closed as the work order at those factories was less than their capacity.
Many such factories have been employing more workers due to the added work orders, Mahmud Hasan Khan added.
State has to take responsibility of workers
Syed Sultan Ahmed, the chief of the interim government’s labour reform commission, has been working on the rights of the workers for a long time.
Speaking to Prothom Alo about the closure of factories and rising number of jobless workers, he said, the state has to bear the responsibilities of the workers of factories that have been shut down after the political changeover.
He further said the government will have to take steps to pay the salaries of other service benefits by selling a factory if its owner does not pay those to the workers.
Syed Sultan Ahmed argued that the government also could take initiatives to help recruit the workers in other industries as per their efficiencies.
There should be initiatives to open the factories that were making profit, he added.
The labour reform commission head also insisted that business and politics have to be separated. Steps have to be taken against those who would provide loans to nonexistent firms and entities.