Traffic resumes on Chattogram road after RMG workers end six-hour blockade over arrears

Workers of Azim Group claim unpaid overtime of four months and outstanding salaries of one and a half months

Traffic has resumed on a road in Chattogram city, six hours after workers from two sweater factories blocked it over salary and overtime arrears.

The blockade began around 11am on Saturday at the C&B intersection on the port city’s Arakan Road, police confirmed.

Around 6pm, Chandgaon Police chief Nur Hossain Mamun told bdnews24.com: “A meeting is under way at the police station with the owners and workers’ representatives to discuss the issue of paying the dues.

“Vehicular movement has now returned to normal,” he added.

The meeting started after 5pm, sources said.

The workers were spotted on the streets well even after 5pm, disrupting road communications between Bahaddarhat and Kalurghat and affecting routes to Rangunia, Boalkhali Upazilas in Chattogram district and Kaptai Upazila in Rangamati.

Workers from the Azim Group sweater factories involved in the protest said they were not paid overtime of four months and the regular salaries of one and a half months.

They claim that despite repeatedly raising the issue, the management has only provided assurances.

Faced with continued procrastination over their payments, the workers took to the streets.

According to police, over 1,500 workers are employed at the two Azim Group factories in Kalurghat.

Superintendent of Chattogram Industrial Police Abdullah Al Mahmud said: “The owners claimed that they haven’t booked any orders for several months.

“Yet they paid the workers' salaries. But the workers have taken to the streets for overtime wages," Abdullah added.