Unrest over arrears in pay

EVERY year, readymade garments (RMG) workers clash with management over arrears in pay and bonus when Eid festivities approach. The most recent incident took place on July 9 when nearly 500 workers blocked the Kuril Bishwa Road in the capital city for nearly two hours over alleged non-payment of two and a half months' salary and Eid bonus. And as expected, law enforcers handled the situation using means at their disposal that left many workers injured and public and private property damaged. Last August, we witnessed a similar incident in Hemayetpur, Savar where angry workers went on the rampage and blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway for an hour.
The repeated commitments to pay arrears and regular breaking of such promises are hardly conducive to business which comes to a standstill when commotion erupts. And when that violence breaks out and leads to closure of important highway road links, it affects the country at large. Surely, something needs to be done to address workers' demands. In case of serious labour unrest, factory owners go for shutdown and police action only helps to temporarily cap the labour fermentation, which inevitably explodes at the slightest pretext the next time round.
Workers have a right to wages and bonuses. Without proper trade associations and unions functioning at factory level, such incidents will continue to plague the sector. We believe it is in everyone's long-term interest to have collective bargaining agents to negotiate terms of payments and other outstanding issues workers have with managements.