Gazipur garments workers protest to get overtime

Garments factory workers in the Gazipur-Kaliakoir region have staged a protest to press for their seven-point demand, including payment of overtime wages.

Gazipur Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 7 August 2014, 03:16 PM
Updated : 7 August 2014, 03:16 PM

Hachong BD workers blocked the Nabinagar-Kaliakoir road on Thursday morning.

They gathered at the factory square at 8am, said Industrial Police Gazipur-2 ASP Md Moniruzzaman.

They set fire to some car tyres around 9am. "The workers started throwing bricks and stones at the police when they tried to control the situation. Police fired a round of tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the gathering. At least 15 workers were injured in the confrontation. The injured were treated in the local hospital", said ASP Monir.

Traffic returned to normal after half an hour, he said.

Workers staged protest as Hachong BD authorities stopped paying overtime, for the work done after 5pm, since last June by changing the previous system.

Factory authorities, however, claimed that the change was affected to bring parity with the system followed by other sweater factories and to link it with production.

The workers have been protesting for not getting their overtime pay since last Sunday.

Thereafter, they came out with seven demands in accordance with labour law. The demands include payment of bonus on production, attendance bonus of Tk 600, annual leave, minimum pay of Tk 6820.

The factory owner, Dulal Kumar Bondey stated that they had decided against overtime work. Hence, there was no need to pay them overtime, he said.

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