BGMEA reports 99% compliance in workers’ Eid payments

Four of the six factories that have failed to clear April’s wages are located in Dhaka

Bangladesh’s export-oriented garment industry has reported near-complete settlement of Eid-related payments.

On Tuesday, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) announced that more than 99 percent of factories have disbursed festival bonuses and wages to workers.

The factory owners' body added that most of the members also paid in advance wages for the month of May.

The BGMEA members own roughly 4,500 facilities across Dhaka and Chattogram, with 2,134 of them currently operational.

Of these active units, 1,794 are located in the broader Dhaka region, while 340 operate in the port city of Chattogram.

According to the BGMEA, 2,128 operational factories -- representing 99.72 percent of the active workforce -- had cleared their April salaries as of May 26.

Festival bonuses have been paid out by 2,125 factories, translating to a 99.58 percent compliance rate.

Regionally, bonuses were cleared in 1,790 factories across Dhaka and 335 in Chattogram.

The BGMEA also highlighted that 2,023 factories -- nearly 95 percent of the active manufacturing base -- have already provided workers with their wages for the month of May.

As of Tuesday, only six factories had failed to clear April’s wages -- four in Dhaka and two in Chattogram -- while nine factories were yet to disburse Eid bonuses -- four in Dhaka and five in Chattogram.

The association maintained that these remaining units are currently in the process of clearing their dues.

Despite the optimistic figures presented by the trade guild, the ground reality remains tense in pockets of the industrial belts.

The announcement comes on the heels of a major labour disruption on Tuesday, where hundreds of workers from an RMG unit blocked the vital Dhaka–Chittagong Highway in Narayanganj.

The workers, demanding full salary and arrears, choked the economic artery for nearly three hours.