RMG worker dies in Savar amid unrest over pay hike

A readymade garment factory worker at Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka has died amid street demonstrations for a hike in wages.

Savar Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 8 Jan 2019, 05:38 PM
Updated : 8 Jan 2019, 05:44 PM

Police and doctors could not confirm how Sumon Mia, 22, an employee of Anlima Textile in the Ulail area, died.  

“I took Sumon to hospital after finding him in an unconscious state inside the factory. I don’t know how he died,” said ‘Ripon’, one of his co-workers who brought him to Savar Upazila Health Complex on Tuesday afternoon.

“There was no unrest in the factory today,” Savar Police Station OC Abdul Awal said.

He declined comment on the cause of the death before getting the post-mortem examination report, for which the body has been sent to the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the capital.

Savar Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Amzadul Haque told bdnews24.com that Sumon was brought to the health complex around 4:15pm but the doctors found that he had already died.

There was a wound on the left side of Sumon’s chest, Amzadul added.

Sumon lived in Savar’s Karnaparha, according to the health complex’s registrar.

The RMG workers hit the streets in Dhaka on Sunday blocking key Airport Road for hours over several demands, including implementation of the new wage structure announced one and a half months ago.

The workers started protest alleging the owners were not paying them as per the new wage board. They also alleged different forms of injustice.

As the unrest continued for the third day on Tuesday, the government announced a new committee to review the new wage board which set Tk 8,000 as the minimum monthly pay.

At Savar on Tuesday, workers from at least 10 factories at Ashulia and Hemayetpur joined the protests.

A number of protesters were injured during running battles with police who fired gunshots and teargas to disperse the agitating workers.