RMG workers block Kalyanpur road over back pay

Workers of Monde Apparels Ltd have blocked the road in Kalyanpur for one and a half hours, demanding three months of back pay and bonuses.

As many as 150 workers have taken positions under the Kalyanpur overhead footbridge since 1:30pm, obstructing traffic on both sides of the road, bdnews24.com correspondent Masum Billah reports from the scene.

Traffic snarled as cars were unable to turn onto Kalyanpur road from Gabtali. The lines of traffic have now extended to Gabtali.

“We have not been paid our wages since April,” garment factory worker Nasima Akhter told bdnews24.com. “They kept promising us we will be paid, but even today we have not received our wages. This is why we have taken to the streets”.

“Eid is coming. The owners have not been to the factory in three days. Instead of returning home for Eid we have been forced to protest," she said demanding wages and bonuses from the company.

Workers called off the protests around 3pm after police pledged to confront the owners over the matter.

Monde Apparels is owned by Nur-E-Alam Siddiqi, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association or BGMEA. bdnews24.com attempted to contact Siddiqi over the phone but was unable to reach him.

An earlier statement by the BGMEA claimed that its members had paid all their workers before Eid.